Page 110 of 36 Hours
‘What did he give you for it?’
‘I dunno, a hundred quid maybe.’
Kim was not convinced by his story, seeing as every answer appeared to be a guess.
‘You know they keep records?’ Bryant asked.
‘I’m sure some of them do,’ Harris answered, recrossing his arms.
Kim stood. ‘If he has no records, you’ll likely be seeing us again,’ she said, heading for the door.
‘Can’t bloody wait,’ he said, closing the door behind them.
‘What a charmer,’ Bryant observed as they walked to the car.
He was indeed, and she would have liked to haul him down to the station for formal questioning. She already knew he wouldn’t agree of his own free will, and she pictured the reason on the arrest warrant: the man had attended a litter-pick and might be the owner of a van that might have been involved in the case. Oh yeah, a judge would love that. Wasn’t gonna happen.
Her main question in relation to Peter Harris was whether he possessed the intelligence to pull this off. She wasn’t sure, but she did know that he was a man with nothing left to lose.
‘Bryant, for your own safety I suggest you get us to a coffee outlet fast, or I’m not going to be responsible for my?—’
She stopped speaking as her phone rang. ‘Go ahead, Stace,’ she said as Bryant pulled away from the kerb.
‘This reporter, boss. He’s bad news.’
The rolling sensation was back in her stomach. ‘Go on.’
‘Basically he’s a bully. He writes hit piece after hit piece. Started off exposing footballers’ affairs. Moved on to threatening to “out” high-profile public figures. His name was linked to the suicide of a young rugby player who wasn’t ready to share his sexuality with the world. In the last couple of years, he’s focussed his efforts on exposing political corruption, even had a pop at a few police officers.’
‘Personal life?’ Kim asked, wondering if that was the cause of his frustration.
‘Nothing I’ve found so far. Why the background check?’ Stacey asked.
‘No reason.’
‘Anything more you need? Cos there’s something else I wanna take a look at.’
‘That’s it for now,’ Kim said before ending the call.
She could understand Stacey’s eagerness to turn her attention to the task at hand. There was nothing that the constable had shared that Kim hadn’t already suspected about the man. Like Stacey was about to do, Kim resolved to put him out of her mind.
She was most likely worrying over nothing.
EIGHTY-THREE
1.50P.M.
There was something about Jared Truss that Stacey didn’t like.
She’d now watched a few of his videos and there was a hint of smug, self-importance behind the winning smile. He was good-looking and engaging with the camera, but there was a touch of arrogance, mixed with a hunger for validation. Always asking viewers to post comments on the video and to let him know how much they enjoyed watching.
His videos were a mixture of ghost-hunting adventures and puzzle-solving treks.
She only watched a couple of the ghost-hunting ones as they weren’t the ones that interested her, but even if she hadn’t known they were fake, she would have guessed.
One video took place at a top-secret location. Apparently, the owners who had granted him permission to investigate had done so only if he didn’t reveal where it was.
Allegedly, the property, in the East Midlands, had been the location of a brutal murder/suicide involving a teenage couple who had first cut the throats of the elderly occupants. The video claimed that there had been rumours that the young couple had performed dark magic rituals before killing the owners.