‘Stace, she means you,’ Penn said with a wink.
‘Am I missing something?’ Kim asked.
‘Devon got home last night,’ Alison offered.
‘Aaaaah, got it.’
‘Pack it in, you lot. There was sleep. Some.’
Kim smiled. The detective constable was certainly beaming this morning.
Her own night hadn’t been as restful as she’d have liked. After walking Barney around midnight, she’d tried to spend an hour in the garage on the Vincent, but her mind had been completely besieged by thoughts of Alex, mingled with the fear for a little girl who had now been away from her family for almost seventy-two hours.
‘I want her home today,’ Kim blurted out.
No one needed clarification who she meant.
‘Any luck with Land Registry?’ she asked.
‘Two thirds of our target area dismissed,’ Penn answered. ‘A very helpful lady called Sophie has a linked database with algorithms and grid references that can narrow down—’
‘Fantastic, Penn,’ Kim said, cutting him off with a half-smile. ‘Stacey, I want you on the location, and Penn, keep working on the password to the phone. If he has Grace on it, there may be some clue as to where she is.’
‘Will do, boss.’
‘I’ve forwarded the list of places visited by Claire and Grace to you all. Obvious front runners for me would be the Botanical Gardens in Birmingham and the butterfly farm in Stratford-upon-Avon. Given his love of all things beautiful I’d start there. Divide it up between yourselves.’
Both Stacey and Penn nodded.
‘Boss, I’ve sent all the dental records I’ve collected to Keats,’ Stacey said.
Kim nodded. She’d received a text that both Keats and Doctor A would be at Wyley Court at six to begin the recovery. Stacey’s efforts in locating dental records could help speed up the process of identification.
‘Boss, I’ve found no other sizeable projects that Butler and Harte worked together after the Clent project,’ Penn said.
Kim glanced at Alison. ‘You think Helen could have been his last?’
Alison shrugged. ‘It’s hard to say. The change in his behaviour came with Melody Jones, and until we know more about what happened there, we can’t possibly speculate.’
‘And it’s time to try and get some answers to that,’ she said as a sly smile worked its way onto her face.
Alison caught it first. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘I’m thinking that yesterday we did it your way and today we’re doing it mine.’
She looked around the room and her gaze rested on the detective constable.
‘Okay, Stace, listen carefully: here’s what I want you to do.’
Seventy
Alex couldn’t help the satisfied smile that was playing around her lips as she combed her hair. She knew that she was literally days away from doing this once again in her own home.
She had already decided that she would spend her first few nights in the most expensive hotel she could find. It would have a beauty salon, a spa, a pool, a gym and a restaurant that cooked decent food.
She smiled at the irony that she’d be in one room having her meals cooked for her. But it would be a luxurious room and the food would be of her choosing. As would the option to go shopping or go see a show, read any book she wanted instead of the slim pickings in the prison library, surf hundreds of channels for educational viewing instead of being forced by the rest of the inmates to watch every soap on the box. Most of them wouldn’t know a decent documentary if it slapped them around the face.
She would arrange to have her home cleaned from top to bottom and her car taken out of storage. As her wealth was not tied to any of the crimes she was alleged to have committed, it was all there waiting for her.
After a couple of weeks cleansing her body and mind and recuperating from the ordeal of the last few years, she would start working again. She already planned to apply for reinstatement to the medical register.
The medical board was indeed fickle and inconsistent. She knew of a recent case of a psychiatrist struck off for having sexual relations with one of his female clients. Because he admitted it, he’d been allowed to wind up his business and retire. Another doctor, convicted over the death of a six-year-old boy, had been allowed reinstatement to the medical register.
She had no doubt she would be reinstated and then she intended to get paying clients back through her door. She needed to be back in that circle of people coming to her for help, being able to use her skills. She’d used them in the last few years to get what she wanted only she hadn’t been getting paid for it.
She classed today as her last full day before the process for her release began.
She had a six o’clock meeting with Warden Siviter to talk through the parole hearing process and for the warden to share her recommendation. If everything went to plan, Alex had no doubt as to the outcome of that meeting.
She had the sudden feeling of being on holiday. She felt as though she’d been stuck in a seedy caravan with torrential rain for the whole week, and then on the last day the sun had come out, and it was time to make the most of the time left.
She was going to enjoy it and have the most fun possible.
‘I think you should probably start preparing for a new cellmate, Emma,’ she said, tying her hair into a ponytail.
She was gratified to see the woman’s face fall.
‘You might not get it, you know,’ Emma warned with concern in her voice. Oh, how touching.
‘I will,’ Alex said confidently.
‘It’s your first parole hearing. Folks don’t always get—’
‘I will, Emma – I can promise you.’
‘But how can you be sure?’
‘Careful – anyone would think you don’t want me to go back to my normal life, just so I can stay here with you.’
‘Well, we do make a good team.’
Alex sat on the bed and regarded her cellmate for a minute.
‘The word team indicates members of equal standing. Individuals working together with one common goal. Ours has been more of a master and puppet situation.’
Emma’s expression was puzzled. Oh dear, she was going to have to spell it out. Fine, she had time to kill and today was about enjoying herself.
Emma tipped her head. ‘Why has your voice changed?’
‘This is my normal voice. Like everything else, I have adapted it for my audience. I have paused my outstanding conversational skills. I have lowered my superior intelligence. I have downgraded every part of myself for the benefit of the people around me.’
Emma began to shake her head in disbelief.
‘Do you remember when you were first moved into this cell?’ Alex asked.
Emma nodded eagerly, as though waiting for something to make that one hurtful comment go away.
‘Do you remember how I let you talk and talk about yourself and your kids and how much you love them and all your regrets blah, blah, blah?’
‘Yes, you were listening to support me.’
Alex laughed. ‘I was listening for your pressure points. I was looking for your vulnerabilities, your skills, your asset value, your worth. I was listening to see how you would benefit me.’