FIFTY-SIX

3.30 A.M.

‘Got it,’ Kim called out, pulling the box from around a third of the way down the bin.

She didn’t even want to think about what she’d rifled through to get it.

Thank God for the evidence gloves Bryant seemed to have in every item of clothing. It had saved her bare skin but not so much the sleeve of her leather jacket. She was sure Bryant had some wet wipes somewhere in the car.

Hearing no response from her colleague, she called out again.

‘Oi, I said I’ve got the box.’

‘Yeah, guv, I’m afraid you’ve got a bit more than that.’

His torch was illuminating a group of around fifty people and only two uniforms.

Between the two uniforms was a woman holding a set of keys.

Bryant had warned her that she’d probably activate some kind of alarm, and the two uniforms had been unable to control the massing crowd, who had moved to get a closer look.

Bryant had a look of mild amusement on his face.

‘Someone wanna let me out?’

She wasn’t going to scale the fence again when there was a perfectly good set of keys on the other side.

The woman looked to the constables for confirmation. Kim was a detective inspector, but there was no authority like a uniform.

The officer nodded, and the keyholder released her.

‘Well, thanks for coming, but I’m good now,’ she said, heading towards the car.

‘And what might you have there, Inspector?’ the male uniform asked.

‘Just something I threw away earlier that I realised?—’

Kim stopped speaking as she took a look up the road. Even more people were heading their way.

The constable followed her gaze and, slow as it was, the realisation dawned.

‘Hang on, this is something to do with that treasure hunt on the news,’ he said, looking to the box. ‘Come on then – open it.’

The crowd was heading their way at speed, their eyes alight with interest and expectation, and Kim realised just how entertaining this was to people who didn’t have all the details.

And she was sick of it. A man’s life was at stake.

‘This is no game, Officer, so wipe that smile off your face.’

Her boss would love reading the incident report on this.

She turned to the keyholder. ‘I didn’t damage anything while retrieving the box, but if you want to make a complaint, feel free,’ she said, heading towards the car.

Yep, Woody would love that too.

She was almost at the car when a blue Toyota sped into the space behind Bryant’s Astra.

A man in his late thirties jumped out almost before the car stopped moving. He wore jeans, sweatshirt and baseball cap.

‘You the team working the wild goose chase?’ he asked with the animation and manners that only came with one breed of professional.

He was a journalist, most likely from one of the neighbouring boroughs’ daily sheet.

She chose to ignore his question and opened the car door.

‘How’d you get it, Inspector?’ he asked, looking to the box in her hand.

‘Not your business,’ she said, placing the box on the passenger seat.

He frowned. ‘So you stole it?’

‘Excuse me,’ she said, fixing him with a hard glare.

‘Police disregarding rules again. Viewers are going to love that.’

‘Viewers?’ she asked as her blood ran cold.

‘Yeah, I’m Steve Ashworth, a correspondent for Sunrise News.’

‘Sunrise are gonna run it?’ Kim asked of the newest news streaming channel.

‘Yeah, if I can make it juicy enough. And I think you’ve just given me exactly what I need.’

Of everything that had happened, she was sure Woody was gonna love that news the best.