‘No involvement from us,’ she said with a sigh.
‘How can we not be involved?’ Penn asked.
‘We know him,’ Stacey agreed.
‘Which was raised with Woody last night, but he wouldn’t hear of it. Apparently Symes named me specifically when he beat the girl’s mother and threw her out of the car.’
Stacey closed her eyes and shook her head, and Penn’s fist clenched.
‘It’s a goad,’ Leanne added.
‘It’s a missing bloody child is what it is,’ Kim snapped. ‘No one seems to get that I don’t give a shit about the games and the power play he thinks is going on. I couldn’t care less about whether or not he triumphs in rattling me or pissing me off or if he’s trying to force me out of the woodwork to beat me to death. What I care about is that there’s a seven-year-old girl now in the clutches of a madman and there’s fuck all I can do about it.’
TWENTY-EIGHT
The image she’d seen of Emma Bunting on the news was still on her mind when Bryant pulled up outside the home of Rachel and Daryl Hewitt. Bryant was under strict instructions to keep the police radio on for any news. Every muscle in her body ached to go after Symes and bring that little girl back alive, but Woody didn’t threaten her lightly, and she’d been ordered to keep her attention on the murder of the Daynes family.
She’d asked Zach and Gavin to meet them there and was pleased to see their car in the driveway.
‘You okay, guv?’ Bryant asked as he turned the engine off. The journey from the station had been made in silence.
‘Yeah, I’m fine,’ she said, getting out of the car.
‘Now I know you’re lying,’ he said. ‘Normally any concerns as to your well-being would be met with a short, hostile response containing a curse or two.’
‘Bryant, fuck off.’
‘Better but too late,’ he said as they walked up the drive. As usual, Leanne wasn’t too far behind.
‘Don’t speak,’ she instructed Leanne after knocking the door.
That wouldn’t be too hard, Kim realised. They’d been joined at the hip for around thirty hours now, and the number of sentences uttered by the protection officer had barely reached double figures.
The door was opened by Daryl Hewitt, already dressed in a shirt, tie and suit trousers. He was clearly planning on getting off to work as quickly as possible.
‘Thank you for accommodating our request, Mr Hewitt,’ she said, stepping inside.
His gaze narrowed towards Leanne.
‘Don’t mind her,’ Kim offered. ‘She’s observing to see if she wants to be an actual police officer.’
Leanne cleared her throat, showing Kim she’d understood the jibe.
Kim stepped into the formal lounge as she had the day before.
Gavin and Zach sat side by side on the three-seater sofa she and Bryant had occupied.
She nodded in their direction, surprised to see how much they looked like visitors.
She’d seen siblings in each other’s homes before, where they had free movement, familiarity, comfort and ease borne of frequent visits. The two men sat as though they were the new neighbours who’d been invited for a cup of tea and really didn’t want to stay.
‘Is Rachel here?’ Kim asked.
‘She’s sleeping in the baby’s room. She often drops off in there after one of the feeds. Do you need me to wake her?’
‘Absolutely,’ Kim said, taking the single chair.
Rachel definitely needed to hear what she had to say, and Kim was not going to do the woman out of the opportunity to say I told you so after her vocal and resolute protestations about her mother’s innocence.