Every ounce of his rage for everything he’d ever lost was directed at one single person, and he was about to do something that would rock her world.
NINETEEN
It was after five when Kim walked Gavin Daynes out of the mortuary doors. It had been a harrowing experience, and she had seen him grow paler with each viewing.
At one point she’d considered asking him about Rozzie’s pregnancy but had decided against it for two reasons. He honestly looked as though he could take no more and, secondly, Rosalind was far more likely to have shared that information with a blood relative, perhaps her sister.
‘Okay, Keats, anything more to note?’ she asked, walking into the morgue. Bryant and Leanne had remained outside the viewing room, and Penn had continued to observe the post-mortems.
‘Just working on Helen and there’s little out of the ordinary. All organs appear to be healthy and functioning normally. Wear and tear on a couple of joints but nothing that was going to cause any major issues.’
That destroyed any notion she might have had that some kind of terminal illness had prompted a psychotic episode.
‘Height and weight all in normal parameters, and her last meal was some kind of pasta dish.’
‘Little,’ she said, fixing her gaze onto the pathologist. ‘You don’t use the wrong words or misspeak. You said there was little out of the ordinary. You didn’t say nothing.’
Keats smiled that secret smile that meant he was playing games with her. Luckily, she’d been on the pitch for the same number of years as him.
‘Yes, Inspector, you are correct and this may be nothing but…’
‘I’ll be the judge of that,’ she said, moving closer to the metal dish.
Keats lifted the sheet and brought out Helen’s right arm. He offered no explanation and allowed her to see for herself.
‘Is that a bruise?’ she asked, looking at the discoloured skin around the wrist.
He nodded as he placed the arm back beneath the sheet.
‘She may have knocked it, hit it during a fall or bruised it for any number of reasons. The colouring tells me it’s no older than a day or two at the most.’
‘Okay, Keats, thanks,’ she said, heading for the door. She paused for just one second. If Keats had any bombshells to drop, he normally waited until she was halfway out the door.
There was nothing.
She continued into the corridor.
‘Okay, I think we’ve got just enough time to go take one last look at the house before we announce the incident at the six o’clock press conference.’
‘You can’t do it,’ Leanne said from behind.
Bryant jumped as though even he had forgotten she was there.
‘Why the hell not?’
‘Because you can’t.’
‘Oh, okay.’
‘Really?’ Leanne asked.
‘Hell no. Are you out of your mind?’ Kim asked as they exited the building as a threesome. ‘I bloody hate press conferences but they’re part of my job. We’re getting hammered with press requests, and I’m not going to be told what I can and can’t do by you.’
‘Feel better now?’ Leanne asked calmly.
‘Much,’ she said, smiling at Bryant.
‘Is that your final word?’