Page 94 of 36 Hours

Mrs Khan stood up and hugged her. ‘Inspector, please bring my daughter home.’

Kim assured her she would, stepping hurriedly out of the embrace. As she did so, she spotted a blue Toyota parked across the road.

Fucking Ashworth was not giving up. She had no idea what Sunrise News paid him, but it was obviously worth his while to continue pursuing this case.

‘Bryant, did you call us in?’ she asked as they left Mrs Khan’s property. Bryant always radioed to inform the control room of their attendance at incidents.

‘Of course.’

‘Bastard’s got a scanner,’ she said as his car door opened.

She had to think quickly as he headed their way. She had to get him away from this case. Following her press conference, she had hoped that any lingering press would retreat. With no more updates from Frost and no further communication from the police, it was all going cold. They had a death, they had a body and they didn’t know that their sicko had promised to do more. As far as they knew, the case was being worked like any other murder.

She began walking back towards the car. She had to play this perfectly to get rid of him.

‘Quite the press conference,’ Ashworth said, falling into step beside her. ‘Willing to bet that wasn’t on the briefing sheet.’

‘And I’ve paid the price, so piss off.’

‘They took you off the case?’

‘What do you think?’

How the hell to steer him away without it appearing like she was giving him information?

‘So, who’s in charge of?—’

‘Look,’ she snapped, stopping suddenly so that he almost walked into her. ‘You wanna follow me around while I serve my punishment working burglaries and searching for CCTV, be my guest. You’re gonna be bored, and it won’t make much of an article, but fill your fucking boots.’

She hoped her manufactured rage would convince him that her poor performance and the disastrous press conference had prompted her bosses to remove her from the case and that she was none too happy about it.

He appeared unfazed as he continued to match her speed. She shook her head at Bryant as he tried to intervene.

There was no point making this bigger than it needed to be. The objective was to convince him there was nothing more to see.

‘Oh, don’t worry about me. I’m not here about the Jester. You’re right, that’s old news. I’ve been spending my downtime doing some research.’

Kim carried on walking, even though she didn’t like the feeling starting to form in her stomach. ‘Good for you.’

‘You’re a maverick, Inspector Stone, and mavericks don’t normally last long in the police force.’

‘They do if they’re good at their job,’ she said as they approached the car.

He shook his head. ‘Not good enough. You should still have been turfed out on your ear, and I want to know why you’re not. So like I said, don’t concern yourself with me wasting my time. You’re my story now.’

Kim opened her mouth to tell him there was nothing there to find, but he had already turned away.

‘Bloody idiot,’ Bryant said as they got in the car.

She agreed with her colleague, but it didn’t make the feeling in her stomach go away.

SEVENTY-THREE

10.05A.M.

‘She’s a bloody hero,’ Stacey said with her mouth hanging open.

‘What’s that now?’ Penn asked, ending his call. A call she suspected would make the boss happy, as it meant she would finally be able to request the records from Seekers.