Page 55 of 36 Hours
‘It’s ten past eight. I want you to take some time to decompress. Take a nap, meditate, deep breathe, anything, but if you leave this office in the next couple of hours, I’ll have you removed from the station, got it?’
‘I’m fine, boss. I need to work on the clue. We need?—’
‘Two hours, Penn. I mean it,’ she said, stepping out of the Bowl back into the squad room.
She didn’t like benching anyone, but she sensed that Penn’s frustration had been growing all afternoon after his morning out and about. His mind needed a reset, and much as she couldn’t afford to lose anyone for even a minute, it was her job to make sure they were functioning.
He was right about the clue though. They had less than an hour to solve this one and find the next. None of them wanted to learn the repercussions if they failed.
FORTY-ONE
8.20P.M.
‘Okay, as we were,’ Kim said, turning to Stacey. ‘Anything on the sexual assault?’
‘It happened in April, according to Mumsnet.’
‘Is that the source of our information?’ Kim asked.
‘There’s virtually no press on it, and let me tell you, that community is not to be messed with.’
‘Isn’t it just a chat room for swapping parenting tips?’ Bryant asked. ‘I mean the name says?—’
‘Oh, Bryant,’ Stacey said, shaking her head. ‘I do worry about you in this modern world. You’re right that it is the country’s most popular meeting point for parents, but it’s much more than that. There are eight million unique users every month and upwards of twenty thousand posts every day. There are baby product reviews, advice on getting pregnant, discussions about babies and toddlers. Some just use it as a shoulder to cry on. They pool knowledge on activities, cheap meals, supermarket offers, behaviour problems. Pretty much anything.’
‘Go on,’ Kim said.
‘I’ve confirmed what Joanne told you. Mumsnet does post links to treasure hunts, and many of the members used Little Trekkers for activities. Within a couple of hours, this particular trail disappeared from the site though.’
‘Okay,’ Kim said as the gnawing feeling in her stomach gained appetite. Why would the trail have been taken down so soon?
‘And I also know who our victim is. Her name is Melissa Keene.’
‘Bloody hell, Stace, how’d you find that out?’ Bryant asked.
‘Like every other community, Mumsnet is pretty cliquey. I found the group of people talking about the incident the most, who were referring to the victim as MK. Scroll back long enough and there was a Melissa Keene interacting with this same group right up until the date of the rape. Nothing since.’
‘Bloody good work, Stace,’ Kim said.
‘Want me to speak to West Mercia in the morning?’
Kim glanced at Bryant, who wasn’t looking as convinced as he’d been earlier about this being a waste of time.
‘Yeah, give them a call. It’s a lead we can’t ignore. But for now let’s focus on the information we have,’ she said, looking towards the wall.
Even though Stacey had written the clue on the board, Kim couldn’t help reading it aloud in the hope it would make some kind of sense.
‘“This might be a folly. Ramble high b4 you see the blackened hill.”’
‘The whole thing would be a folly if it weren’t for the fact we’re receiving body parts,’ Bryant said.
‘Is that what he means, that this clue is a folly?’ Kim asked.
‘Part of it might be,’ Stacey said. ‘But he has to give us something, a chance to figure it out.’
‘Blackened hill in the Black Country where we’re practically built on coal. Jesus, it could be anywhere.’
‘Hang on,’ Stacey said, ‘let’s focus on the key words one at a time. Folly, joke.’