THIRTY-THREE

4.50 P.M.

‘I swear to God that if Stacey ever wanted to spend more time in the field, we’d be fucked,’ Kim said as they pulled up outside the first maisonette block on the Hollytree Estate.

Kim couldn’t enter the area without a shudder. Not just because it was a cesspit that had collected the worst of humanity or even because every ounce of hope in the place had been shot down by addiction, crime and gang-controlled activity. The shudder was an involuntary physical reaction to being back where the most important thing in her life had been taken from her. Never would she visit this place and not recall the sensation of her twin brother’s body against hers as he slowly starved to death.

But she was here right now because one of her team was an absolute star. Stacey had managed to take a seed of information and grow it into an entire garden which included the address of the woman who had left the box at Dudley Zoo.

She knocked on the door of the second property along.

As it opened, Kim saw the pushchair folded against the wall and the pink jacket from the CCTV frame Stacey had sent hanging above it.

‘Joanne Deary?’

The woman nodded, and Kim knew immediately that she hadn’t lived on Hollytree very long. The place bred a hatred of the police, and the expressions on the faces of most long-term dwellers were usually full of disgust.

‘May we come in?’ Kim asked as they both held up their IDs.

Joanne’s expression faltered, but she stood aside. Another indicator that she was new to the estate. Most residents wouldn’t let them over the threshold.

They squeezed in between the door and the pushchair and felt the instant oppression of the home.

This side of the maisonette had a covered concrete walkway outside to support the walkway on the floor above, rendering the space dark and claustrophobic.

‘Can we talk in here?’ Joanne asked, pushing open the kitchen door. ‘The kids are asleep.’

Kim knew these properties well enough to bet that she’d find a small table against the wall immediately on her left. The space didn’t allow for it to be anywhere else.

Bryant entered the kitchen and placed himself in the far corner. Kim took one of the seats and quickly appraised the woman and her surroundings.

She made no judgement on the fact that the sink and countertops were filled with plastic plates and cutlery, that the floor was covered in crumbs or that food had landed on the cupboard doors and not been wiped away. She already knew that Joanne Deary was on her own.

‘We went to the zoo,’ she said as though reading Kim’s thoughts. ‘Haven’t had time to clear up yet.’

And that was the moment Kim knew that this was not their sicko. This was a woman with two young children who was just trying to get by. How could she judge a woman who although probably tired and frazzled had chosen to take her kids for a day out and worry about the mess later?

‘We know you were at the zoo,’ Kim said, and then to be sure she was correct, ‘but Mr Deary wasn’t there with you?’

‘How would you know that?’ she asked suspiciously.

Kim said nothing.

‘There is no Mr Deary. Well, there is, but I don’t know where he is.’

Kim waited.

‘Covid,’ she said. ‘And no, he didn’t die from it. The virus killed our marriage. He’s a chef. He was furloughed. He realised he didn’t like his kids that much after being stuck with them night and day. Took off to Brighton, I think.’

Ah, that explained a lot. At a guess, Kim would imagine the change in income had forced her to move and she’d been placed at the mercy of social housing.

‘This isn’t forever,’ she said, waving around the space. ‘Just until I get sorted.’

‘No family in the area?’ Kim asked.

A slight hesitation before she answered. ‘Not really.’

Kim chose not to pry further. It wasn’t the reason for her visit.

‘You placed a lockbox at the reptile house earlier today?’ Kim asked.

Just because she wasn’t their sicko didn’t mean they couldn’t learn something. Perhaps she even knew who their sicko was.

Joanne nodded. ‘I didn’t break any laws, did I?’

‘Of course not. I just need to ask a couple of questions.’

‘Okay.’

‘Did someone give you the box to put there?’ Kim asked.

Joanne shook her head. ‘It was a trail to follow.’

‘Is this something you do often?’

‘A couple of times a month. After Drew left, I had to come up with ways to keep my eldest occupied while getting him some fresh air. My uncle suggested it, and my boy loves it. We only do the simple ones though. And I only do them where there are lots of people around.’

‘Do you use the Seekers website?’

Joanne nodded.

‘And how did you find out about this one?’

‘I get a notification when a new trail is laid.’

Kim made a mental note to speak to Stacey, who was supposed to be keeping an eye on the website.

‘And what did it say?’

‘I’ve forgotten the exact wording, but there was a cryptic clue to locate the box, where to leave it and the promise of a reward.’

‘What was the collection point?’ Kim asked. He had to slip up sometime and reveal himself.

‘It was behind the bin in the zoo car park. I mean, it wasn’t hard, but I got there right before two other families.’

Kim was still surprised that this hobby was so popular and she’d never heard of it.

‘Did you look inside?’

Joanne shook her head. ‘No, you have to follow the instructions.’

‘And the reward?’ Kim asked.

‘Eighty pounds. Enough to get us into the zoo and for a slap-up lunch at The Oak Kitchen,’ she said with a wide smile. ‘Kids enjoyed every minute of it.’

And she was clearly thrilled to bits to have been able to give her kids such a great day out.

‘Can you tell me how the money was left?’ Kim asked.

‘In a plastic see-through envelope, you know, like a parking ticket.’

‘Did you keep the envelope?’

The woman frowned. ‘Why would I?’

Damn it. Any chance of prints was completely lost to them.

Kim could see nothing else to gain here. The woman was a courier. She’d seen an opportunity for a reward and a way to treat her kids.

‘Maybe I could help more if I knew what this was all about,’ she said as Kim pushed herself to a standing position.

‘I think you’ve answered all of our?—’

‘Just a couple more,’ Bryant interrupted.

Joanne Deary turned in her seat to face him.

‘You had a notification that a new trail was live, but we’re on the same site, so why didn’t we get the same notification?’

‘Depends what you’ve signed up for. There are different areas. We don’t subscribe to the adult section – it’s too expensive, and the trails are too hard.’

Kim groaned internally as she realised what Joanne was going to say and the reason they hadn’t spotted it.

‘We only subscribe to the section that’s for kids.’

Kim felt her fists clench. The bastard was one step ahead of them again.

‘Last question and then we’ll leave you in peace,’ Bryant said with the affable smile that seemed to win most people over.

Joanne proved no exception as she nodded obligingly.

‘You said you only ever do trails when there are plenty of people around. Any reason why?’

Kim hadn’t caught that, but he was right to ask. Other than their sicko, the hobby appeared to be squeaky clean.

‘The rape,’ Joanne said as though expecting them to know all about it.

‘What’s that now?’ Kim asked.

‘A woman was sexually assaulted following a trail just outside of Stourport. Six or seven months ago now.’

Ah, a West Mercia case.

‘Go on,’ Kim urged.

‘The trail was set on a free website called Little Trekkers. I got the link through Mumsnet. No joining fee or subscription, just different activities put on for mums with kids but not much money. The woman was attacked walking through a field that led from one clue to the next. Police didn’t believe her about following a trail. They thought she’d arranged to meet a guy, it got a bit rough and she needed a way to explain it to her boyfriend.’

‘How do you know all this?’ Kim asked.

‘Mumsnet.’

Kim wondered if she should maybe go to Mumsnet to get help with catching the Jester.

‘You’re sure it wasn’t a secret meeting?’ Kim asked. Much as she hated to admit it, there had been women who had cried rape, making it all the harder for the countless genuine victims.

‘She was with her seven-year-old daughter.’

‘Ah,’ Kim said. It would take a special kind of woman to arrange a secret sexual encounter with her child in tow. Kim’s interest was growing. ‘And you think the trail was from the Little Trekkers website?’

‘No,’ Joanne said, shuddering. ‘I know it was because I was going to do it as well.’