Kim’s mind automatically flashed back to the vision of Daisy standing in the centre of that mat, her small voice trembling as she asked her daddy what she should do next.
She shook her head to remove the picture from her mind. She often wished there were things that could be unseen and unheard, but there was no simple erase button on the side of her head.
Kim headed for the stairs, still unsure why she had been drawn back to this room.
She took a deep breath. ‘I wish I could have stopped it sooner, Daisy,’ she said, as her hand cast a shadow over the light switch.
Her fingers stopped dead and trembled.
Her head turned and looked at the lamp. Something wasn’t making sense.
Kim took a step back and concentrated hard as the suspicion that had gnawed finally bit.
‘Hell, no,’ she said, launching herself up the stairs.
EIGHTEEN
Kim travelled through her workplace, matching the momentum of the bike that now cooled outside.
The viewing suite was located on the third floor of the station.
There was no simple entry to this part of the building. She buzzed the access button and allowed her fingers to rest against the wall, looking up into the camera that was now searching the features of her face.
Her finger lifted to buzz again but the familiar click sounded. She pulled the door open and entered the airlock. The first door closed behind her, allowing her to keycode herself into the suite.
Four sets of two desks filled the windowless space. One noticeable difference between this and the other offices in the building was the lack of paper.
This was the room that held the people that pored over every second of CCTV evidence seized, and on a case like the Dunn investigation, Kim would not have done that job for every motorbike in Japan.
‘Hey Eddie, working late?’ she asked, approaching the only occupied desk.
He straightened and stretched a torso that had spent far too many hours hunched at the keyboard. Kim was sure she heard something crack.
‘You too, Marm?’
Kim had seen Eddie at work on numerous occasions. And everything about him was average: height, weight, complexion and photo on his desk. He was not a man that stood out.
But once his left hand commanded the keyboard and his right steered the mouse there was a meeting, a connection that was a pleasure to watch.
‘Ed, I need you to look at some of the footage from the Dunn …’
Kim was interrupted by the sound of the buzzer.
‘It’s like New Street Station in here tonight,’ Eddie said, turning to the camera.
‘It’s Bryant,’ Kim said.
Eddie glanced sideways. ‘What – you psychic now as well?’
‘Err … no, I called him on the phone.’
Eddie groaned as he pressed the access button.
Bryant was already removing his jacket. ‘Look, Guv, I know you can’t stand to be without me, but …’
‘Don’t flatter yourself. You just live nearest.’
‘Fair enough,’ he said, dropping the jacket onto one of the desks.
Eddie pushed himself away from the desk and turned his chair. He took a moment to flex the fingers on his right hand. ‘Well, lovely as it is to have a bit of company on the night shift, there’s no beer and pizza so I’m guessing this ain’t a party.’
Kim turned to Bryant. ‘See how quick he worked that out. You could learn …’
‘Cheers, Guv, now would you mind telling me why my cheese and pickle supper is back in the fridge.’
‘Eddie, can you show me the footage marked Daisy Goes Swimming?’
Eddie pulled himself back into the desk and within seconds the screen had filled with folders marked with names, dates and reference numbers.
Kim was instantly saddened by just how many folders there were.
He clicked quicker than she could keep up but suddenly the screen filled with the eight-year-old girl trembling.
‘Mute the sound,’ Kim said quickly.
Bryant looked around the office, at anything but the screen.
Her eyes travelled away from the little girl as the camera zoomed out and displayed more of the room. The video was exactly as she’d remembered it.
Her stomach churned in response.
‘Eddie, show me the photos we took on the dawn raid.’
A couple of seconds later a directory appeared. He clicked on the first photo and began to scroll through.
‘Stop,’ she said, on photograph number nine.
The photo was taken at the same angle as the video camera.
‘Can you put them side by side?’
Eddie filled the screen with two separate images: the photograph and a freeze-frame of the video.
‘What lighting did we use that morning, Bryant?’
He still hadn’t looked at the screen.
‘The spotlamp, ’cos Dawson couldn’t find the light switch.’
She nodded. ‘So it was the exact same conditions. No natural light, no movement of the lamp?’
‘Suppose so.’
‘Okay, look at this,’ she said, motioning him closer. ‘See that black mass creeping up the wardrobe?’
He nodded.
‘Where is it on the photo?’
He looked closer and glanced from one to the other.
Bryant stood back and looked at her.
‘Guv, are you saying what I think you’re saying?’
She took a deep breath before speaking.
‘Yes. Bryant, there was someone else in the room.’
NINETEEN
‘Am yer serious, boss?’ Stacey asked, quietly.
Kim nodded her head. ‘Checked the footage last night. Definitely the shadow of a figure.’ She nodded backwards towards Bryant. ‘Me and Columbo went back to the property to recreate it with the lamp placement and a video camera. It’s definitely a person.’
Dawson pushed a folder roughly across his desk.
‘Mature, Kev,’ Kim snapped.
He coloured and looked away. ‘Sorry, Guv.’
She turned back to Stacey, who was still glaring at Dawson.
‘Find out everything about Leonard Dunn’s neighbours, family members, everybody he’s ever worked with, spoken to or brushed past on the bus. I want to know if any of them are on The List.’
It was what they all called the register of sex offenders.
The initial clue to the abuse had come to them from a perceptive and attentive school teacher. But the focus of the investigation had been on Leonard alone. And when they’d got him, they’d thought the case was closed. Damn it, they were hunting for another sicko who had been involved.
‘Kev, I want you to interview everyone again, especially the neighbours. If this person was a regular visitor, then someone must have seen them. Okay?’
‘What about Wendy Dunn?’ Bryant asked.
She shook her head. Not yet but that time would come.
‘Got any suspicions, boss?’ Stacey asked.
She certainly did, but she wasn’t going to share them yet.
Kim looked to Bryant.
‘Come on, partner. We’re clearing up.’
TWENTY
Alex hit the refresh button on each of the online news outlets she’d put into her favourites. What she should have been doing right now was meeting Ruth and collecting the data that was vital to her experiment; but the stupid bitch had got herself caught within forty-eight hours.
Alex had known that the incompetent police would eventually stumble over Ruth as a suspect, but she’d miscalculated. Either a police officer with a smattering of intelligence had landed the case or Ruth had left her name and address at the crime scene with a sign saying, ‘It was me’.
What she had expected was a few days, time enough to extract the information she required. Jesus, had she needed to draw the imbecile a picture? She’d been given the motivation, method and opportunity in the visualisation. Alex had hoped that Ruth’s one contribution to the process would have been a modicum of self-preservation.