She quickly took a look at the ‘event’ screen. The date screamed out at her. There was something happening tonight.
Stacey suddenly knew that this was too much for her alone. This was not a can of worms but a drum of electric eels, and she could not contain them without help. She had to let someone know what she’d found. Yes, it would mean coming clean about her activities and the laptop but this needed to be investigated; right now.
She checked the message that had come through on her phone.
It said simply:
The laptop is outside
Stacey frowned. The sender was ‘unknown’.
What did it mean? Outside her home? Outside the station?
Her finger hovered over Bryant’s number, desperate to share what she’d found. But if there was a chance she could get the stolen laptop back she had to take it.
She stood and headed out the door. If the laptop had been returned, no one would ever know she’d lost it. She would ring Bryant the second she had it in her hand.
She tore past reception and out of the building.
She looked around the perimeter of the wall, nothing.
She took a few steps forward, her eyes scanning every inch of the car park, and kept moving, increasing her field of vision with every step.
Something to her far right caught Stacey’s eye.
There was a kerb that gave way to a small planted area. A silver shape protruded from the shrubs.
She began to head towards it, taking her around the side of the building.
Each step confirmed to her that it was indeed the stolen laptop.
She inched, crab-like, past a blue transit van parked too close to a Renault and retrieved it.
A relieved smile began to tug at her lips ? just as a sudden pain on the back of her neck caused Stacey to fold to the ground.
SEVENTY-SIX
Kim tapped impatiently as they waited to gain entry to the hospital ward. The nurse’s station was unmanned. Kim prepared to buzz again, as an auxiliary appeared at the door.
She pressed the button to release it.
‘If you just wait over by the counter, a nurse will be with you in a sec.’
Kim ignored her and carried on walking.
She’d had enough of waiting. It was time to make Billy Cowley speak. Unlike Bryant, Travis didn’t try and soften any of her pointy edges. He didn’t apologise on her behalf or explain or justify her behaviour.
She rounded the wall into the ward. The curtain was around Billy Cowley’s bed. She experienced a moment of panic but then she heard his voice and it sounded loud and clear, like a petulant child, as he cried: ‘Aarrgghh, that hurts.’
Kim looked to Travis, who smirked in response. Damaged vocal chords indeed.
She guessed the staff were changing the dressing on his neck.
He cried out again, and Kim had to stop herself from laughing out loud. She glanced at Travis, who was having the exact same problem.
Another shriek and Kim had to step away. She had known braver three year olds. Even the woman tending him sounded like she was losing patience.
Suddenly the curtain opened and a stressed-looking nurse appeared.
‘May we?’ Kim asked, holding up her ID and nodding towards the curtain.
‘Absolutely,’ she said, pushing back the second curtain.
Kim saw Billy Cowley’s eyes fill with panic. He looked around but there was no one to hold his hand this time.
Kim took the left side of the bed, while Travis took the right.
‘Good to hear your voice is back,’ Travis said, sarcastically.
Like Kim, he was obviously sick and tired of people thinking they were clever by trying to hide the truth.
‘Which is good because we really need you to answer some of our questions.’
Travis ignored the seat and sat on the edge of the bed with his back to the rest of the ward. Kim took a seat in the easy chair so she could see them both.
‘Before I start asking questions I’d just like to make sure we are understanding each other.’
The quietness of his voice did not detract from the steely note of authority he exuded. Billy’s eyes were fixed on Travis’s face, and Kim was ready to watch with interest.
‘Billy, I know you’re not stupid, even though you’re acting pretty dumb at the moment. You know that we’ve found bones on your land, and do you know what? I like you, so I’m going to give it to you straight. Three bodies we’ve found, Billy, did you know that?’
Billy continued to look ahead but his rate of nervous blinking had increased.
‘Now, we’ve just discovered there’s a good chance these victims were hunted like wild fucking animals. Do you understand what I mean?’
Billy nodded slowly. He reminded Kim of a child being told a bedtime story, except his jaw was not slackened with wonder but fear.
‘Now, what’s interesting is that we think at least one of the victims was killed with the same gun that shot you in the neck. Isn’t that just weird? But we’ll come back to that,’ Travis said in true Columbo style. ‘Now, clearly you didn’t shoot yourself in the neck, and your father has been arrested for—’
‘He didn’t shoot me,’ Billy offered swiftly.
‘Well, thank you for that clarification and, although it’s nice to finally hear your voice, you may have spoken prematurely.
‘We haven’t arrested your father for your accident. We’ve arrested him for murder.’
Billy visibly paled, and the blinking went into overdrive.
‘Because we think he put them there.’
Billy began to shake his head.
‘You don’t know that for certain though, do you, Billy?’ Travis asked. ‘And seeing as you won’t share what you do know, we’re forced to draw our own conclusions.’
‘Have you arrested my sister?’ he asked.
‘Now, why would you ask us that, Billy?’ Travis asked. ‘Why on earth would we arrest your sister?’
Kim had a sudden thought. She raised herself from the chair, as Travis continued speaking, and headed back to the nurse’s station. The harassed woman who had tended to Billy was busy rubbing someone’s name from the board. Kim hoped it was because they’d been released.
‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘Could you tell me the last time Fiona Cowley was here to see Billy?’
The nurse shook her head. ‘Not for a couple of days, now,’ she said.
‘Are you sure?’ Kim asked. Fiona had been fiercely protective of her younger brother.
‘Trust me, officer, I feel like I’ve barely left the place myself for the last six days except for a few hours’ sleep. If she’d been to visit, I’d know.’
Kim thanked her and headed back towards the bed thoughtfully.
‘… can you even begin to imagine the pain of one of those traps snapping around your ankle?’ Travis was asking, making a grabbing gesture with his fingers.
The horror was written all over Billy’s face.
‘Officer, I want to speak to my sister.’
Yeah, Kim thought, funnily enough, so do I.
SEVENTY-SEVEN
Bryant threw his jacket and scarf onto the spare desk and headed to the coffee machine. It was the same sludge they’d left a few hours ago but it would be wet and warm while they waited for Stacey.