Play Dead (D.I. Kim Stone, #4)(42)

Kim realised from the dates Stacey had given her that Catherine had been at Bromley until she was eighteen years old. No wonder the outside world was difficult for her to navigate.

‘At Westerley I thought I was safe,’ Catherine continued, looking around the small living room. ‘But I have to leave now. I can’t possibly go back.’

‘Sleep on it, Catherine,’ Kim advised. ‘Don’t do anything rash. It might not be over yet.’

‘I don’t understand. You know everything, so you have to understand that I can’t go back there. If it’s about the investigation I’ll let you know…’

‘It’s not about the investigation. I’m just asking you to ease off. At least until tomorrow. Will you do that for me?’

She could feel safe here for the moment. The article wasn’t out for the next hour or so and she had CCTV.

Kim handed her a card. ‘If you have any trouble, any unwelcome visitors or even noises you can’t explain, call me. Got it?’

Catherine nodded eagerly. Kim had given her options. The logical mind of the grown woman knew her captors were not coming back, but the fear of the little girl would never go away.

Catherine used her index finger to trace a line around the edge of the card. A slight tremble was still present and some tension in the jaw.

‘What is it?’ Kim asked, sensing there was still fear in this woman’s mind.

‘Do you have to tell them – at Westerley, I mean?’ She bit the inside of her lower lip. ‘I just don’t want to be treated any differently and they’ll have questions which will take me back to that time. And I don’t think I can bear that.’

Kim understood that better than anyone. She saw no reason to divulge what she’d learned to the woman’s work colleagues. She had made her life as Catherine Evans and it was her prerogative to share her past with whomever she chose.

Kim shook her head. ‘It won’t come from me but you’d better start thinking up an explanation for your sudden departure today.’

Catherine swallowed and tipped her head. Her face had lost some of its ashen colour.

‘Inspector, you’re not quite the person I thought you were.’

Kim offered a half-smile. ‘Neither are you, Catherine Evans.’

Kim stood. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow, okay?’

‘Thank you,’ Catherine said.

Bryant followed silently to the car.

‘You know, guv, I hate to have to say this but none of what I heard in there completely rules her out.’

Kim knew he was right. But despite her team’s suspicions, she still felt they were looking for a man.

She opened the passenger door and tossed Bryant the keys. A clear indication that she needed to think.

‘Bryant, drop me home and head back to Westerley. I’ll meet you back there later.’

He frowned. ‘What the hell are you going to try and do for her?’

Kim said nothing but stared out of the window. She couldn’t tell Bryant what she was considering.

Because it meant bedding down with the devil.





Thirty-Four





Isobel crawled along the darkness of her own mind.

There was no light anywhere. The blackness was trying to consume her.

The warm sensation on her hand had disappeared. Had it ever really been there?

She wasn’t sure where her body had gone. She had the sensation of being only a head. A picture came into her mind of body parts arranged in place but unconnected.

For a moment the darkness was alight with the vision, only for it to be swallowed again.

And yet it hadn’t properly disappeared. The darkness was not as black any more. There was a greyness somewhere in the distance. The vision had left behind a trail of light. A cord for her to reach. A guide out of the dark.

But she didn’t know how to reach it. Her heart began to beat loudly in her chest as she pictured the lifeline disappearing completely and returning her to the infinity of the dark.

Please don’t go, she cried to the grey speck that both tantalised and taunted her at the same time. Take me with you. Don’t leave me.

Suddenly the total emptiness of the darkness was terrifying as she began to wonder what it meant.

The beeping increased and hands were touching her. Maybe they were joining her back together again.

Her heart returned to a normal rate and the speck of grey returned.

She didn’t feel quite so alone while the speck was still there.

Out of the darkness she heard a voice, words that broke through the haze. But she didn’t understand what it meant when it said, ‘One for you and one for me…’





Thirty-Five





Kim glanced at her watch. Her companion was already ten minutes late.

She pushed away the weak coffee that had bought her a seat. The culinary offering was not the reason she’d chosen this place. A greasy shed on a Brierley Hill trading estate was not somewhere she would normally have chosen for a meeting. But Joe’s Diner was out of the way and they would not be seen.

She itched to walk out but damn it, she wanted this meeting more than the person she’d invited.

She watched as a wasp entered through the open window and landed beside the sugar bowl on the next table. She was instantly reminded of Elvis and, in turn, Catherine, who was her reason for being here.