Page 10 of 36 Hours

‘Okay, let’s work on the clue,’ Stacey said, looking to where Penn had written it on the board.

‘Let’s take out key words: human, nature, spring, food.’

Penn stood and noted the four words separately on the board.

Stacey called out words as Penn wrote them down. They were a mixture of what she was looking at on screen and words already in her head.

‘Human, person, being, individual, citizen, mortal, species.’

She waited for him to catch up.

‘Nature, insects, wildlife, forests, flowers, plants, hiking, traits, personality.’

Stacey paused.

‘Spring, summer, winter, autumn, season, coil, spiral.’

She paused again.

‘Food, sustenance, fuel, eat and way too many more to even consider,’ she said, looking at the board, which was now awash with random words. She hadn’t had a clue before, and she had even less idea now.

What the hell kind of mind came up with stuff like this? And more importantly, what else were they capable of?

TEN

8.15A.M.

Kim was surprised at both the building and the man waiting for them as they pulled up at the premises of Seekers Inc.

The area itself was semi-rural and the property lay at the end of a short lane from the main road that linked Telford to Ironbridge.

The old stone building looked to have once been some kind of gatehouse, set next to an open field with a stream that ran behind it and snaked off to the right.

Other than a couple of oil stains, the driveway was clean and weed free, offering a positive first impression.

Similarly, the man that awaited them was probably early forties, slim but athletic looking, dressed in jeans and a blue tee shirt and also giving a positive first impression. For some reason, she could picture him and Frost as a couple. She’d decided in the car to leave Frost’s name out of it until the very last moment. She wanted to observe his natural reactions to questions before throwing her name into the mix.

They walked past a parked BMW towards Ryan Douglas, who was smiling pleasantly as though he hadn’t been woken early on a Sunday morning.

‘Sorry for disturbing your weekend, Mr Douglas,’ Kim said.

‘Ryan, please,’ he said, offering his hand.

Bryant took it and introduced them both.

Ryan turned to open the door. ‘As a lover of mysteries, it’s far more important to me that CID want to speak to me than getting another hour in bed. Please come in,’ he said, moving past the staircase that was a few feet away from the door.

Ryan caught her glance upwards.

‘More of the same, including the server room, but this floor has the kitchen. I don’t mind the early morning, but I do need the coffee.’

They followed him through a spacious room filled with desks and computers, all with a view out of the large windows. Kim guessed this open space was the result of a few rooms knocked into one.

‘Not a bad place to come to work,’ Bryant said, although he seemed to be more focussed on the baskets of wrapped pastries on the countertop.

‘No one ever said work had to be a drudge all the time. A contented workforce is a productive workforce,’ Ryan said, taking three mugs from the cupboard. At this time in the morning, she didn’t mind his assumption.

‘It’s instant but it’s good stuff,’ he said, spooning in the coffee. ‘Milk and sugar?’ he asked.