‘Yep,’ Kim said, feeling empowered. Who knew she could get her own way by just being firm with the woman?
Leanne took out her phone and pressed a button.
She put it on loudspeaker and Kim was surprised to hear her boss’s voice.
She stopped walking.
‘DCI Woodward, we have a problem,’ Leanne said.
‘And it took this long?’ he asked. ‘I was way off in the sweepstake.’
‘Sir,’ Kim protested.
‘She wants to return to the station to do a press conference,’ Leanne offered in the vein of a head girl telling the teacher another kid had been running in the corridors.
Woody was silent for a good ten seconds.
‘Stone, you can’t do it,’ he said eventually.
‘For fu—’
‘For a number of reasons,’ he continued. ‘Firstly, we need you to stay away from the station as much as—’
‘Sir, how can I do my job?’
‘Not altogether, Stone, but as much as possible. You’re harder to find if you keep moving.’
‘Who’s on the run, me or him? Okay, never mind. I can do the press conference away from—’
‘Impossible. I need Leanne to be right by you at all times, and she can’t be on camera. You know what her job is.’
‘Yeah, ruining my life.’
‘A bit dramatic, even for you, Stone. I’ll take care of the press conference.’
The line went dead, giving her no more opportunity to argue.
Leanne put the phone back in her pocket.
‘And you can take that look off your face, Leanne,’ she said, storming towards the car.
Calling her boss was pretty low.
‘I’m gonna bet you told tales at school. You do know that snitches get stitches, don’t you?’
‘Was that a threat, Inspector?’ Leanne asked, getting into the back seat of the car.
She could see the amusement dancing in Bryant’s eyes.
‘And you can shut up.’
He chuckled as he put the key in the ignition.
‘One minute,’ she said, taking out her phone.
Stacey answered on the second ring. Kim hit loudspeaker.
‘Hey, boss, been waiting for you to come back.’