‘It’s a security issue,’ Bryant snapped, losing patience.
‘Is everything okay, officer?’ she asked as her eyebrows drew together.
‘Not really. Can you call the police?’ he asked.
‘But you are the—’
‘Please, just do it,’ he said, heading towards the door. He sprinted across the car park, taking out his phone. The detective constable answered almost immediately. ‘Stace, get backup on the way.’
‘From here?’ she asked, clearly checking she’d heard him correctly. They all knew it was a forty-minute drive.
‘Just in case,’ he answered.
The local police were busy and might not be able to free anyone up for a while. It didn’t hurt to have other help on the way.
‘We know Stephanie went through the ticket shop,’ he explained as he reached the gap in the hedge. ‘But we don’t know who with.’
‘On it, Bryant.’
‘And check out ownership of these cars,’ he added. He read off the make, model and registration numbers of the two vehicles still parked on the car park. One probably belonged to Brenda and the other was likely going to belong to their murderer.
‘Got it. Let me get backup moving towards you and I’ll call you back with the details,’ she said, ending the call.
He put his phone away and surveyed the view. There was no sign of the guv. Surely, after the last time, she wouldn’t have been stupid enough to put herself at risk.
There was a young girl in danger, he thought, answering his own question.
He took a step forward before a blinding pain ripped through his head and the world turned black around him.
SEVENTY-FIVE
Kim headed down towards the ruins, her eyes darting around the vast space as she approached. She was making for the south transept of the church. Its eastern wall had an arcade of three arches which opened into the chapels. The south wall had two blank arches with lancet windows above that stretched up into the sky. In addition to the church itself, there were remains of the nave, library and chapter house to search.
Bryant should be with her any minute but she couldn’t hang around waiting for him. The seed of anxiety in the pit of her stomach was growing into nausea which she swallowed down. She shook her hands to loosen up the tension that was stiffening her fingers. It was her idiocy in going it alone that had already almost cost her her life.
Where the hell was he? she wondered, looking behind. He should have been with her by now.
‘For God’s sake, woman, sort yourself out,’ she growled to herself as she moved forward slowly. She was a police officer. This was what she was paid to do. She didn’t relish searching alone, but whoever was here could get Stephanie to the car without anyone seeing a thing and then they’d have no clue where she was.
Kim had found herself warming to the young woman. Despite her prickly attitude, there was a humour and warmth just ready to come out. She’d been through the mill but had come out the other side with help from Megan and was prepared to give love a chance. And just look at what she was going to get for her trouble. The first person she’d found the courage to meet was likely going to try and kill her. But as long as she was alive, she could recover, Kim told herself as she edged around the side of the topiary bushes that filled the cloister garden which sat against the infirmary wing.
She passed an octagonal structure embellished with carvings of Christ and the apostles that looked eerie in the fading light that was playing havoc with her senses, causing her to see shadows everywhere. She passed a bush sculpted into the shape of two swans. The shadow of their long necks looked like arms that were going to reach out and grab her. She shuddered and stepped out of its range.
Come on, Bryant, she willed silently. Having someone else with her would stop her getting so spooked. She’d stop seeing danger and torment in grass and sculpted animals.
She moved around the south-west side of the ruin, keeping her back to the stone and pausing every couple of seconds to listen intently. Her heart started to pound in her chest. What if she’d missed them and they’d bypassed Bryant somehow? Stephanie could be on her way to just about anywhere.
Time was slipping away from her and she knew it. She wasn’t sure this was what Woody had meant when he’d said, ‘take it slowly’, and she was trying to follow instructions after what had happened the last time, but she wasn’t willing to risk the life of a young girl because she was a bit jumpy.
Another shadow moving through the ruins on the other side of the priory church drew her eye.
Her breath caught in her throat. Only this shadow was wearing a blue jacket.
Bryant, where the hell are you? she cried silently. The undulations in the grassy mounds prevented her seeing back up to the car park. She took out her phone and scrolled to his number. She put the phone to her ear and listened as it rang and rang until voicemail kicked in.
‘Shit,’ she whispered as she put the phone back in her pocket.
If she didn’t move soon, she’d lose track of where that blue jacket had gone. They could circle back around the library and the west wall and head back up to the car park.