Chapter 56

‘And how is she now?' Kim asked, perching herself in front of the coffee machine.

‘The doc is with her at the minute,' Penn said.

She glanced at the clock. ‘You know you're getting nowhere near her tonight?'

It was almost seven and the doc wasn't even finished. Olivia would need a meal and a rest before being questioned.

‘I know, but I don't think it'll do her any harm,' Penn said.

‘You think she knows something?' Kim checked. They weren't in the habit of arresting people for no reason.

‘There's something she's not telling us, and Logan won't give her the chance to speak. To be honest, boss, she's terrified of him.'

‘What are you saying?' Kim asked, folding her arms. This case was changing shape in front of her eyes.

Penn took a breath. ‘I think we may have a serious domestic violence situation between mother and son.'

Although rare, they all knew this happened. The signs were no different whatever the relationship.

‘She becomes smaller when he's around, as though she's trying to turn in on herself, shrivel up, make herself invisible. He doesn't allow her to speak, and we've not managed one minute alone with her.'

Kim saw the glance between Penn and Tiff. ‘There's more?'

‘I don't think it's just domestic violence. I think he's been keeping her prisoner in the house.'

‘Penn, are you…?'

‘Logan unlocks the door every time. Always him. It takes him longer than it should, as though he's setting the stage. I don't think she has access to her own mobile phone; there's no landline, and the neighbour hasn't seen her outside the house in almost two years.'

‘Go on,' Kim said, now understanding their suspicions.

‘When we arrived, Logan was apparently helping her back to the house, except that's not how it looked initially. Looked more like he was strong-arming her back. And the story about posting a letter was rubbish.'

‘How so?' Bryant asked.

‘No post-box within a half mile. She had no jacket, no brolly, she was wearing flip-flops and she had no house keys to let herself back in. Coincidentally it was bin day.'

‘You think she saw that as an opportunity to try and escape?' Kim said.

Penn nodded his agreement.

‘Hang on,' Bryant said. ‘If that's true, why didn't she say that when you turned up?'

‘Probably thought we wouldn't believe her,' Tiff offered. ‘If she had spoken out and we'd done nothing, what punishment would she have faced from Logan?'

‘What about the search?' Stacey asked.

‘The search team turned up right behind us. We left with Olivia while Logan was arguing the toss with Planty.'

Kim knew no kid was going to stop Inspector Plant from doing his job.

‘What did you get on the warrant?' she asked. There was no way they were getting a full search on the information they had.

‘Fishing equipment in external areas including garage,' Tiff answered.

‘Not bad,' Kim said.

‘Does anyone else wanna grab the kid by the throat and give him a taste of his own medicine?' Bryant asked through gritted teeth.

‘I think this week is bringing up a lot of emotion for all of us,' Stacey said. ‘I've phoned my mom every night just to tell her I love her. She's been my best friend my whole life, and I can't imagine it being any other way.'

‘Never even once talked back to mine,' Penn offered. ‘She had her hands full with Jasper, but I never felt like I got less from her because of it. I still don't know how she pulled that off, but the house was always full of love.'

‘I was a little shitbag, to be honest,' Bryant said with a smile on his face. ‘I was always up to something. My mum wasn't overly demonstrative so I don't know if I was trying to get a rise out of her most of the time. We found our groove when I hit my twenties. I sometimes think she wished I was a girl, cos Jenny had a totally different relationship with her.'

‘My mom prefers all my brothers to me, but I've learned to live with it,' Tiff added. ‘Her own mother was like a throwback to the Tudors and valued boys more highly, so I understand where it comes from. Anyway, I console myself with the fact that I'll probably be the one to choose her care home.'

Despite the jokey manner of delivery, Kim knew it had taken Tiff a long time and a lot of heartache to reach this stage of acceptance.

Everyone in her team seemed to have different relationships with their mothers, and this case seemed to be provoking emotions in all of them. All except her.

She looked around the room. She'd intended to do a full debrief, but they all looked shattered. At this point, she had no clue if the killer was done and could only pray that there were no more victims to come, but running her team on empty wasn't going to help. ‘Go home, guys. We'll regroup in the morning and?—'

‘Hang on, boss,' Stacey said, standing. ‘I almost forgot. I've got something to show you.'

She reached behind her and produced a large colourful plastic ring.

‘Hell, no,' Kim said as Stacey stepped into it.

Bryant laughed as Penn covered his face, and Tiff's eyes opened wide in excitement.

‘Honestly, boss, I was dead good at it when I was a kid,' Stacey insisted.

She marched to the centre of the room and pulled the hoop up above her waist. She let go of the hoop and thrust her hips to the side. The hoop fell dolefully to the ground.

‘Just out of practice,' she said, picking it up.

She tried again – same result.

‘What am I doing wrong?' she asked as she tried for a third time.

‘Not sure,' Bryant said, wiping at his eyes. ‘But that thrust is becoming a little bit disturbing.'

As the laughter from all of them, including Stacey, increased, Kim felt her will to live ebbing away.

‘Honestly, boss, I know I can?—'

‘Put it away, Stace,' Kim advised. ‘You can't manage to fill two seconds never mind a couple of minutes.'

She turned to Bryant. ‘Hope you've got something for tomorrow.'

‘Guv, I've already told you—' Bryant stopped speaking as Penn's phone rang.

He answered, listened and thanked the caller while punching the air.

They all waited.

‘Fishing stuff. All of it tucked away in the back of the Denches' shed.'