‘Freud over there has offered to go and speak to him. She knows him and his background.’
Bryant looked around. ‘Don’t see that we’ve really got all that much choice, Guv. The clock’s ticking.’
Kim did not find the prospect appealing, but she was running out of viable options.
‘Thorne isn’t even registered with us, Bryant. Can you imagine what …’
‘Right now I’m picturing you telling an inquest that you turned her away.’
Just now and again, Bryant was just what she needed.
Kim turned around. ‘Doctor, you’re going up and I’m coming with you.’
‘Detective Inspector, it would be better if …’
‘Not a hope in hell, now come on.’
Kim climbed over the railing and sped towards the column in the centre of the car park that held the lifts and stairs, Alex running alongside her. The power to the lifts had been switched off to prevent anyone accessing at the lower levels and getting to the top level. The PCSO stepped out of her way.
She headed for the stairs and took them two at a time. The doctor matched her easily.
‘What’s your strategy?’ Kim asked.
‘I don’t have one yet. I don’t even know what’s prompted this, so I’ll just have to see. Just don’t speak. Whatever I say, don’t speak.’
Kim gritted her teeth. She didn’t appreciate being told what to do at the best of times and accepting it from this woman was completely intolerable.
As they exited the lobby onto the open-air top level of the car park, Kim was hit by an icy wind that carried just a hint of sleet. She allowed the doctor to overtake her and head to where she could see the upper body of Barry Grant. He stood facing outwards from the car park, his feet on a ledge five inches wide with his arms behind him holding on to the louvre-designed metal. Kim realised that it was only the muscles in his boxing arms keeping him in place.
‘Hi Barry, how’re you doing?’ Alex asked, resting her arms on the fencing over which he’d climbed.
‘Don’t touch me.’
Alex held her hands up. ‘I promise. But, look, if you’d wanted some time alone with me that badly, you only had to say and I could have arranged something.’
Kim was surprised at the calm, sing-song quality of the doctor’s voice. There was no tremor, no hint that this man’s life could possibly be hanging, literally, within her control.
Kim took a moment to assess the physicality of the situation. The barrier over which he’d climbed reached up to his shoulder blades. Even if Kim tried to reach for him she wouldn’t be able to gather enough strength to haul him back over something that was nearly as tall as she was. The best she could do was grab him and hope that she could hold on, but gravity would not be on her side.
‘So, shall we talk about our day so far? I’d go first but it looks like yours has been more of a bitch than mine.’
Still, Barry said nothing but continued to stare forward.
‘Come on, Barry, don’t tell me I’ve run up those stairs for nothing. At least tell me all about it before you jump. If the last vision I’m going to have of you is in pieces down there I’d like to at least know what’s happened.’
No response.
‘I mean, look at me. Tatty old clothes, no make-up. I’ve never left the house for a man in this state before. Take a look.’
Barry did as she said and Kim noted that the doctor had established eye contact, removing his gaze from the hard ground below. Clever.
‘So, what’s happened since we last spoke?’
He didn’t answer but he didn’t look away.
‘Come on. Even in this situation I promise no shrink talk.’
Barry smiled weakly and Kim guessed that was a private joke.
‘I went to the house,’ he said, quietly, and Kim allowed herself to take a breath. At least he was speaking.
‘Did you see them?’
Barry nodded and returned his gaze to the ground. ‘It’s over.’
‘What did you see?’
‘I saw her. She was tidying the front garden, just pulling out weeds and stuff. She looked so good. And then Amelia came out all wrapped up. She’s such a beautiful child, so lovely. I watched from across the road for a while and there they were, my family. It was as though they were just waiting for me. I remembered what you said about …’
‘You didn’t do anything silly, did you, Barry?’
From the sketchy details she’d got from David, Kim was managing to keep up with the cast of characters, so she was guessing he’d gone to the house to try and win his family back. But nobody had mentioned a bloody child.
‘I couldn’t allow it to carry on, Alex. I’ve destroyed my family. Jesus, how could I have …’
Kim could hear the emotion in his voice as the rest of his words were carried away from her on the wind. Alex seemed to grip the railing harder. Kim sure hoped the doctor knew what she was doing. He looked far more precarious now than when they’d first arrived.
Kim heard movement behind her, knew without turning that it was uniformed officers arriving to offer back-up. Alex must have sensed it, as she turned and gave a slight shake of her head. Kim held out her hand to the approaching officers to tell them to stay crouched behind her.
The male was still on the ledge, so far it was okay.
Alex glanced in her direction. Kim tapped her lips, hoping that Alex would get that she needed to keep him talking.
‘Barry, there’s no need to feel guilty. Trying to take back your life is understandable.’
Barry shook his head. ‘No, you don’t understand. You don’t know what I’ve done. They’re gone.’
The finality in his tone struck a chord of fear into Kim’s bones. She quietly edged out of earshot and into the staircase lobby. She took out her mobile phone.
Bryant answered on the second ring. ‘Bryant, have you heard on the radio about any other incident going on close by?’
‘Yeah, officers deployed from the riot to a house fire in Sedgley. One dead, one almost.’
‘Only two occupants?’
‘Yeah, why?’
‘I’m pretty sure that’s going to be a murder and this is our guy. Check on the details and call me back. I’m guessing there should be a third.’
Kim placed herself back into the eyeline of Alex. The doctor turned her head slightly to the side so that Barry still had her attention but she had Kim in her peripheral view.
Kim made the only sign she felt Alex would understand: a finger across the throat to indicate death was involved. If the doctor understood, she made no sign, but turned her head fully back to Barry.
The phone in Kim’s pocket began to vibrate. She stepped back into the lobby.
‘Definitely two, Guv,’ Bryant confirmed.
‘Then where the hell is the child?’
THIRTY-SIX
‘What child?’ Bryant asked.
‘I’m in the top level lobby, come up.’
Kim could hear his keys and loose change jangling as he made light work of the stairs.
‘What’s this about a kid?’
‘Our guy out there went to see his ex-wife who is now married to his disabled brother to try and get her back. Didn’t work out that way – but there is also a daughter that is biologically his.’
‘Jesus …’
‘Get on to that David guy to see if he knows what type of car Barry’s driving and the age of the kid. I’m gonna do a quick sweep of this level to see if there’s anything obvious.’
‘You mean like a little girl sitting in a car on her own?’
Kim knew it was a long shot but she couldn’t stand and do nothing. ‘Hey, I’m the damn pessimist in this relationship.’
Kim exited the lobby and turned right, searching the area furthest away from the incident first. From her position she couldn’t see a car matching the description in the area nearest to Barry. She had no wish to disturb the equilibrium between the doctor and the man on the ledge, but if she needed to get closer to search for a missing child, he could bloody jump.