Page 45 of Hidden Scars

Page List


Font:  

Yes, she could wait for the man to leave the building. It was almost four, but she could be sitting here for hours. She considered making a few choice hand signs at the camera that was watching her, except, she realised, that it wasn’t actually watching her.

She followed the trajectory of the lens.

Got it.

She stepped closer to the Jag.

‘Hear that, Bryant?’

‘Hear what, guv?’

‘A noise from the boot.’

‘Guv, I don’t…’

‘Yeah, your hearing isn’t great. Call it in. Sounded like a child to me.’

Bryant took out his radio as she went and leaned against the Astra Estate.

Kim considered the differences in the two places she’d visited. The What Centre in Stourbridge was based just off the Stourbridge high street, open and welcoming. This place was locked and bolted out of sight on a trading estate.

‘You do know this is gonna result in a formal complaint?’ Bryant said, standing beside her.

She knew it. She also knew that right now she had a bit of leeway with Woody. Just a bit.

‘Bloody hell,’ Bryant said as they heard the siren in the distance. ‘That was quick.’

Kim felt briefly guilty that officers had been temporarily diverted, but if she was right, it would take no more than a couple of minutes.

As the squad car came into view, Kim positioned herself so that the car had to park close to the Jag, especially for the viewing audience inside.

The siren stopped but the lights continued flashing as two officers got out of the car.

She flashed her ID. She wasn’t as well known to the good officers of Wolverhampton.

‘Something about the boot, marm?’ asked the taller officer.

She nodded as they all approached the car. The smaller officer carried a crowbar.

Kim counted down. Five, four, three, two.

The door to Exodus magically opened.

A man wearing black trousers and a white shirt emerged followed by a slim woman in her early thirties with curly red hair.

‘What the hell is going on here?’ asked the man she assumed to be Charles Stamoran.

‘Report of a—’

‘Step away from my boot, officer,’ Stamoran said, placing a protective hand on the metal.

‘If you’d care to open it, sir.’

‘For what reason?’ he asked, looking around at all of them.

The red-headed Lorraine glowered in her direction.

‘Sir, if you’d just open the boot.’


Tags: Angela Marsons Suspense