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‘No, boss, no, I don’t need—’
‘Hang on,’ Kim said, holding up her hand. ‘I didn’t mean on the record.’ Great efforts had been made to keep this whole thing off the damn record and she wasn’t yet totally sure they’d succeeded.
‘I was with Charlotte Danks at the morgue yesterday. She wants you to call her.’
‘No, I couldn’t. No.’
‘Why not?’
‘She suffered him for ten years. My ordeal was a couple of months. I couldn’t ask her to relive—’
‘From what I saw yesterday, she’s still reliving it every day. Only you two get it. Only you two understand what that man was capable of. Do you not think you could support each other?’
Stacey looked doubtful. Kim knew she was comparing what each of them had been through and was minimising her own suffering compared to Charlotte’s ordeal.
Kim slid a piece of paper across the desk. ‘Call her or I’ll make it official, but one way or another, you will get the help you need.’
It was an empty threat, but she had to know Stacey was talking to someone.
‘And then there’s me. Any time, day or night. You wanna talk, call me.’
‘I shoulda told you, boss.’
‘Yep, you should, and I should have been a bit more supportive. Well, maybe more than a bit, but let’s just go forward, eh?’
‘Happy to, boss,’ Stacey said with a genuine smile.
‘Okay, get to work.’
Stacey walked back to her desk with a lighter step, and much as she’d wanted to ask how she and Devon were doing, she couldn’t. Not yet.
She took out her phone and scrolled down her contact list.
‘Hey, Vik,’ she said when the traffic officer answered.
‘Jesus, if you’re going to keep badgering me until I agree, fine, you can take me out for a drink.’
‘Smashing. Bring your wife and kids. My shout.’
He laughed. ‘What now?’
‘Just wondering if there was any progress on that small blue car.’
‘Just so you know, my suspicions about your interest rise every time you call me about this case.’
‘Just curious cos he was known to us. And I’m a bit bored on a surveillance right now.’
The best lies always stayed close to the truth. ‘Last call, I promise.’
‘Nothing more since our last conversation. I’ve got a witness who was coming out of the chippie says the vehicle was white, and my two witnesses who agree on the colour disagree on the make and model.’
‘Damn it,’ Kim said, feeling that was the appropriate response.
‘Yeah, sorry about that, Stone. We’re doing our best, but if I’m being completely honest, our chances of tracing that driver have got no better odds than you and I having a secret love child.’
Kim laughed. ‘Thanks for being honest, Vik. Now I know that I’ll put it to bed.’
She ended the call and allowed a small smile to tug at her lips.
