Kim shook her head as Victor pressed the call button and looked at her in an ‘I’ll show you’ kind of way.
She heard Jessica’s voicemail kick in. He ended the call and tried again.
‘They won’t be able to answer, Mr Gardner. They don’t have their phones. They are under arrest for the murder of—’
‘I’m not listening to this hogwash for another minute. I don’t know what you’re playing at, Inspector, but believe me when I say I’ll see you in court for bogus charges before my children set one foot into a courtroom. You’ve obviously framed them because you don’t like us or what we do here.’ He smiled triumphantly as if he’d just discovered the answer. ‘That’s it, isn’t it? This will never even get to court. You’ve made a mistake trying to frame this family, and by the time I’m finished, I’ll have your badge, your reputation and—’
‘They’re both on their way to Halesowen police station,’ Bryant said, stopping his tirade.
Victor looked to his wife for either guidance or permission.
‘Go. Get Donald and get there as quickly as you can.’
Kim could hear the tremor in her voice.
Victor grabbed his jacket, gave Kim a filthy look and left the room.
‘They didn’t do this, Inspector,’ Celia said as the door slammed behind her husband. ‘I don’t care how it looks or what you think you know, but my children didn’t do this. Neither of them are capable of hurting anyone. They didn’t do it, I tell you.’
‘They did, Celia,’ Kim said, quietly but definitely. ‘There is no doubt in our minds.’
Celia shook her head and was clearly fighting back the tears.
‘We have three victims all linked to this clinic: Jamie Mills, Sarah Laing and Liam Sachs. All three spent time here attempting to change their sexuality. All three failed.’
‘So what does that have to do with Jess and Eric?’
‘Have you heard the term “honey trapping”?’ Kim asked.
Celia nodded.
‘That’s kind of what Jessica and Eric have been doing. They’ve been making contact with ex-patients, pretending to be gay and tempting them into clandestine meetings. The ones that resisted are still alive. The ones that responded are dead.’
‘Why would these people agree to meet Jess or Eric? That doesn’t make any—’
‘They used a code name for all the accounts. The victims didn’t know who they were messaging.’
‘So it could have been anyone behind that fake account. You have no way of proving it was Jess and Eric. You’ve framed them for this. My husband was right.’
‘He might have been if we hadn’t caught them in the act just over an hour ago. They were in the process of kidnapping Stephanie Lakehurst.’
‘Stephanie?’
Kim nodded. ‘Another ten minutes and she’d have been victim number four.’
‘I d…don’t believe you,’ she said but with less conviction.
‘It’s true, Celia. Jessica admitted it, all of it, and she even told me why.’
Celia was shaking her head in denial as though her body was telling her it’s what she was supposed to do as a mother, but she was listening.
‘Everything about this family is tied up in this clinic. You brought it to life, and your entire family lives it and breathes it. They believe in it wholeheartedly. They believe in you. You’ve drummed your beliefs into them so well over the years about same-sex relationships that they dare not have any different opinion. They feel that your love for them is tied up with their support and belief in this, your first and favourite child.’
‘You’re saying this is my fault?’
Kim thought hard before nodding.
‘Yes, Celia, it is. You haven’t given them the chance to grow their own beliefs or opinions on homosexuality. You’ve fed them their opinion their whole lives. I don’t for a minute think you intended this outcome. Of the things I think you’re guilty of, murder isn’t one of them, but think about it, if it wasn’t for the strength of your convictions, your absolute faith in being able to change sexuality, three people would still be alive and your children wouldn’t be facing the next thirty years in prison. They did it for you, Celia. They were destroying the evidence of your failure.’