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‘Err….Stace, we’ve got a problem.’
‘What’s that?’
‘An invitation to a memorial service for one of Welton’s former staff members.’
EIGHTY-EIGHT
For Kim, three things happened at once.
Her phone started to ring.
Leyton Parks appeared to the side of the caravan.
Ryan West grabbed her round the throat.
In the second it took her to register what was going on and instruct her brain to resist, he’d positioned himself behind her with his thumbs at the base of her skull and his fingers pressing on her larynx.
Leyton Parks made no move to come to her aid. His face was frozen in fear, staring at the man behind her.
‘I knew you’d find me,’ he said quietly.
‘I promised you I would, and you know I keep my promises. You gave me a hard time finding you, but lucky for me, this nice police lady led me right to you. She even gave me a lift.’ He laughed pleasantly. ‘And because of all her help, I’m not going to kill her yet.’
Kim could feel the panic rising within her, but she dared not move a muscle. Ryan was already applying light pressure to her throat.
She had to be patient and wait for the right moment.
‘Where are the others?’ Leyton asked.
‘Dead.’
Leyton nodded as if that was the answer he’d been expecting.
Kim wanted to scream at him to run, to disappear into the trees until help came. But it was as though he couldn’t move.
‘Inspector, I’d like to thank you for allowing me to tag along, but you’re no longer needed. Leyton and I are going to have a nice walk and conduct our business. I’m going to apply enough pressure to render you unconscious for a while but not kill you. This will give me the chance to do what I came here to do. If you try to come after us, you will not get that same consideration twice. Do we understand each other?’
Chilled by the perfectly reasonable tone, Kim nodded slowly, aware that it had only been a couple of minutes since her last call with Bryant. Ryan had timed his nettle sting perfectly so that another check had been made. Bryant wasn’t going to be budging from the car any time soon, and even when he did, he’d take a good twenty to twenty-five minutes to reach her, if he could find her at all.
Physically, she was unable to fight the strength she could feel in Ryan’s hands. So she had to make each second count.
Her mind was still trying to understand why Leyton was so scared of his old English teacher, and why the English teacher was trying to kill them all.
‘You’re not Ryan West, are you?’ she croaked as the pressure on her larynx began to increase.
‘Bravo, Inspector. Top marks.’
The stars started to circle around her head, and her vision began to cloud at the edges.
‘Y-you’re that kid. The one they bullied,’ she said, feeling the life leaving her body.
‘Yes, Inspector, that’s exactly who I am,’ he said, offering a final squeeze before dropping her to the ground.
EIGHTY-NINE
Bryant checked the clock. Nine minutes. He turned up the air conditioning for a blast of cooler air. It wasn’t that he was particularly warm, but the cold air would help keep him awake. Just sitting in the car watching the clock roll around to check-in time was adding weight to his already heavy lids.
Losing four hours of sleep and then racing around on another twelve-plus-hours shift had him silently yearning for a cuppa and bed. Not that he’d ever tell the guv that. She had enough fodder for mocking.
