Page 36 of 36 Hours

Kim had the urge to run after her and explain that she was a police officer and didn’t need to nick a kid’s lunch. But she was spared any such explanation when the faint call of the word ‘guv’ reached her above the excited chatter.

She traversed the path to the exit.

‘I think I’ve found it,’ Bryant said, heading back around the side of the building.

He pointed to a bunch of nettles within which something metallic winked back at them.

‘Good spot,’ she acknowledged.

‘I threw bricks at it and it tinged.’

She didn’t blame him for not reaching in. It had obviously been placed on the ground and then pushed into the nettles.

Kim was considering jumping into the stingers and kicking it out when a teenage boy wearing a zoo uniform approached pushing a cleaning trolley.

‘Yer okay?’ he asked, unsure, as though he knew they weren’t supposed to be back here but wasn’t really sure what to do about it.

‘I am now. Pass me that broom,’ she said, holding out her hand.

He did so without question after Bryant held up his badge.

Kim stood as close to the nettles as she could and used the end of the broom to bring the box forward.

As before, it was a petty cash tin with no key in the lock.

Kim handed back the broom and indicated for the staff member to leave.

Once out of sight, she carefully opened the lid.

‘Jesus,’ she said, seeing it contained another Dictaphone, an index card and another white stationery-set envelope. This time the blood of whatever was inside had seeped into the paper.

She lifted the flap tentatively.

‘Oh shit,’ she said upon seeing the teeth that appeared to have been crudely removed.

She counted five teeth, a mixture of molars and incisors. She cringed at the thought of the pain that must have been endured.

She closed the envelope and turned her attention to the Dictaphone.

‘Play it,’ Kim said, knowing exactly what they were going to hear but having no choice about doing it.

Bryant pressed the button, and the tape began.

They both strained to hear any background noise, but there was nothing until a small sharp sound broke the silence. They frowned at each other. Two seconds and the noise came again. Two seconds, noise, two seconds, noise.

‘Some kind of clicking?’ Bryant asked.

Kim shushed him, but she was also wondering if it was some kind of tool being readied for the torture.

The noise stopped when the screaming began.

The sound hit Kim straight in the stomach. The screams were agonising, fearful, desperate cries filled with terror.

The torture lasted for a good seven minutes before the tape ended.

‘Guv, I’m not gonna lie. I’d really like to get my hands on this bastard.’

Kim agreed wholeheartedly.