‘It’s Mary, Kim.’
‘Yes,’ she said, thinking,Say it. Say it.
‘Kim, I’m ringing because she hasn’t got long left. We’re talking days.’
Kim said nothing. She’d readied herself for the words and they were nowhere to be seen.
‘She didn’t want to go to a hospice so we’ve made her as comfortable as we can here.’
Kim’s mind screamed at the words she was hearing. ‘Want’ and ‘comfortable’. Who cared about the monster’s comfort? Was she suddenly supposed to give a shit about the woman who had ruined her life?
‘I’m ringing for your sake, Kim.’
‘I know,’ she answered, feeling her throat thicken at the woman’s tender tone. She’d been Kim’s main contact at Grantley for over twenty-eight years. She had called periodically, offering Kim the opportunity to visit, and she had only accepted once: a couple of years ago when her mother, Patty, had hoodwinked the authorities into thinking that she was safe for release. Kim’s presence at the hearing had disabused the panel of that opinion, when Patty had been goaded into revealing that she hadn’t changed at all and was as dangerous as she’d been thirty years ago.
‘I appreciate the call, Mary, but nothing’s changed. I hate her as much now as I always did. There’s no forgiveness in me.’
‘I understand, but I just wanted you to know where we were and that you’re welcome here any time.’
‘Thanks, Mary.’
‘Take care, Kim.’
She stared at the phone for a full minute after the call ended. She knew that Mary would not bother her again. The kindly woman clearly felt that it would benefit her to offer her mother forgiveness.
But it wasn’t in her. It just wasn’t there.
‘You know the lock on your back gate is knackered, don’t you?’ Leanne asked, walking back into the room.
Kim put down the phone and mentally shook herself back to reality. She had enough problems in the present without going looking for ones in the past.
‘There’s nothing back there,’ Kim said. She only kept the back garden decent for Barney.
‘So you won’t have noticed that the house opposite has built a rockery wall, making scaling the fence into your garden a piece of piss.’
No, she hadn’t known that. But more to the point. How had Leanne?
‘It’s pretty dark out there.’
‘Oh, glad you’ve finally noticed,’ Leanne said, glancing at her watch.
‘Feel free to turn in for the night. It’s been a long day,’ Kim offered, just to get her out of sight. She was sure her inspection of the house had highlighted which was the spare room.
Leanne took a sip of her lukewarm coffee.
‘I’m good, thanks, Inspector, and shortly you’ll understand that for tonight there is a lot more to be done.’
‘Who are you, bloody Scrooge? Are the spirits coming too?’
Leanne shook her head. ‘I’m sure the penny will drop soon that you’ve got a damn sight more to worry about than ghosts.’
SEVEN
Symes pushed himself further into the shadows of the house at the end of the road.
He had watched her return with that woman but he had no idea who she was. A friend? A girlfriend? he had wondered initially.
His brief saunter up and down the street had confirmed that there was no police vehicle in the area. The local force had to know that he had escaped and that he was coming for her.