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Only one other person had any culpability in this situation and he was long gone.
While she and Bryant had been interviewing Rose, Penn had been out searching for Jericho. The shelter had informed Penn that there’d been no sign of him that morning and that generally meant he’d moved on again. Looking back, the dates of his visits tended to coincide with Rose’s birthday and the anniversary of his disappearance.
However Kim tried to conclude things in her own head, everything came back to the selfish actions of one person.
Rose had explained that Brad had been a complex teenager who was often cold and unemotional, detached from his friends and family. She had also offered examples of his warmth and generosity. She had known that he didn’t like to follow rules and convention and that he lived to the beat of his own drum. But still she couldn’t help wonder at the level of detachment needed by Jericho to fake his own abduction and death instead of running away. Regardless of the argument he’d had with his mother, it seemed unnecessarily cruel to subject her to such torment. Penn had commented that during his conversations with Jericho, the man had expressed some regret at decisions made in the past, and Kim wondered if, like Josh, he had felt trapped by what he’d done.
Would he see a newspaper? Would he watch a snatch of TV news and learn of his mother’s actions, and would he care? That he felt compelled to return around important dates and risk discovery indicated an emotional connection. Leaving his mother and best friend to be eaten alive by grief and guilt did not. Penn had said that Jericho had never exhibited any signs of nervousness around him, even though he was a police officer. But was it really such a risk returning? He hadn’t killed or hurt anyone. He’d left his belongings in a pile at a beauty spot and had run away. He was now an adult, and even if discovered, he would face no charges and would simply take off again. Kim doubted she would ever understand his need to opt out, but one thing was certain: if he wanted to reconnect with his mother, she wasn’t going to be hard to find. She would spend the rest of her life in prison.
Kim had taken the time to make a couple of calls before the news of the arrest hit the press.
Her first call had been to Richard, to thank him for his input. His insights into the trickery and the psychology of psychics had been invaluable. She had learned during the call that Victoria’s murder had affected him more than he’d let on, and that he was taking a break from the book while rethinking the content.
She had understood the difference it made being up close and personal with the murder instead of simply seeing it on the news. She had wished him well before making her second call to Betts. The woman had been stunned but had assured her that she’d pass the news along to the other members of the group.
Kim couldn’t help wondering how they would all fare after that fateful dinner party. Had it helped them in any way? Was Catherine any closer to finding out if her husband was cheating on her and if, in any split, she’d be allowed to keep the kitchen? Had Lisa found a way to bring her project back on track and keep her job, reputation and lifestyle? Would she always live in fear of her violent past being discovered? Was Betts any further along in her journey to finding meaning and purpose in her life, or leaving her overbearing husband? Had Emily found comfort in accepting whatever came next? Despite their protestations that it had all been for a laugh, they had all wanted something deeper from Psychic Sandy.
The only blot on her landscape of completion had been a quick call to the Worcester Diocese to progress her complaint about Father George. She had been informed that Father George was no longer attached to St John’s in Halesowen and had been replaced. Her initial euphoria had been destroyed when the bishop had revealed that the man had been transferred elsewhere.
Her protests had been silenced when he’d ended the call.
What he hadn’t ended was her determination to do something about it. His brief spell of concerned supervisor had been replaced by full-on defensive bishop mode. She supposed it was easy for him to do that now that Father George was no longer his problem.
Kim had no doubt there were other poisonous apples in the Church, and that she couldn’t deal with them all, but this particular one she’d met, and had experienced the level of negativity and harm he might have on vulnerable people. She would track him down and she would not rest until the man was removed from the Church. She and Father George would meet again. Of that she was sure.
But that was a battle for another day.
Right now, her priority was in righting a wrong that had occurred earlier in the week, and the subject of that had just walked into the locker room.
‘Hey there, Tink,’ Kim said, getting to her feet.
‘Hey, boss,’ the girl said, offering a bright smile.
‘You know, I was thinking it must seem like we just pick you up and drop you any time we feel like it, eh?’
‘No, boss,’ she said, opening her locker door. ‘I’m a police officer. It’s what I’m here for.’
Her response, although true, hit Kim somewhere below the ribs.
‘Ah, but see, that’s the thing. We don’t come looking for you when we need any old police officer. We come looking for you when only you will do, and as far as me and the guys upstairs are concerned, you’re definitely one of the team.’
‘Really?’
‘Really,’ Kim answered. ‘And as you’re part of the team, you should have a debrief. Of course you already know the case is solved and we’ve got our killer, but I’d like to know why visiting the psychic was unsettling for you.’
Tiff sat down and sighed. ‘Because I’ve been plagued ever since my grandma died, and I’ll just never know if she forgives me. I swear to you I never said anything to the stooge about the salty crisps, so I suppose I was desperate to believe it was real.’
‘I believe you,’ Kim said.
‘You do?’
‘We spoke to Neil. He’s pretty sure you never mentioned crisps to him, and he’s absolutely certain he never passed that on to Victoria.’
She shook her head. ‘See, now I’m all confused again. A lot of what that Richard guy said made sense. I’d convinced myself that it was all fake.’
‘I still can’t tell you what’s real or not,’ Kim said honestly, because she had no answer for that herself. ‘But I can tell you something that has never let me down: logic and common sense. Tell me why you and your gran got on so well?’
‘Because we were so similar,’ Tiff said with a watery smile.
