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‘The developers obviously planted more trees at that far edge to keep continuity with the ones already there.’
‘You don’t think…?’
‘Zoom in on the trees,’ he said, moving closer to the screen.
Stacey moved to the left-hand side of the trees and zoomed in until she began to lose clarity.
She moved the mouse slowly an inch at a time, looking for anything that appeared out of place.
The room was completely silent as they both focussed on the screen.
‘There,’ Penn called out, stabbing the screen and frightening the life out of her.
But he was right, she thought, zooming back out just a bit. There was an irregularity in the uniformity of the trees.
She moved back in slowly, keeping the focus as she went.
‘Stace?’
‘Yep, I’m seeing it, Penn.’
Nestled beneath the trees, but unable to hide itself completely, was one single caravan.
EIGHTY-FOUR
Kim sipped at her coffee, trying to force order onto the thoughts in her head.
Seeing the concentration on her face, Luigi had called out, ‘Extra strong coming up.’
They’d brought their drinks outside. The sound of the Mucklow Hill dual carriageway usually helped clear her head.
‘I’m still not getting it,’ Kim said. She’d sent a welfare check text message to Dean Newton, whose reply of ‘fuck off pig’ had confirmed he was very much still alive. ‘What’s so different about him?’
‘His charm and boyish good looks,’ Bryant answered.
Kim laughed before sipping her coffee again. The man possessed neither. She was saved from responding by the ringing of her phone.
‘Go ahead, Stace,’ she said, putting the constable on loudspeaker.
‘Boss, we’ve got good news and bad news.’
‘Desperately need the good news right now.’
‘We think we’ve found him, boss. We think we know where Leyton Parks is living.’
‘Go on,’ Kim said, sitting forward.
‘It was Penn who found it. Looks like he’s living totally off-grid. Single caravan, no electrics, no gas, not a registered address and surrounded by a perimeter, maybe fencing, maybe barbed wire.’
‘Okay, what’s the bad news?’
‘We think the Sentinel might have found him too. There’s been another tweet. Just a minute ago.’
‘Saying what?’ Kim asked, feeling her heartbeat quicken.
‘One word, “Gotcha”,’ Stacey answered. ‘He may be talking about Dean Newton, but Penn is currently being told to piss off by the man himself.’
‘Shit, can we get squad cars en route to Leyton?’ she asked, realising that trying to protect Dean Newton was a lost cause.
