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‘Yep, found a few less-visible members of the Black Country Angels.’
‘Any background on any of these names?’
‘Jesus, Stone. You don’t just look a gift horse in the mouth, you actually kick it in the teeth.’
‘I’m assuming that’s a no.’
‘Correct. I am not your bloody gimp. Ready?’
‘You never heard of email?’
‘Not putting this in writing, Stone. I shouldn’t even know about some of these names.’
Kim took the phone into the squad room, put it on speaker and placed it on Bryant’s desk. ‘Someone write these names down.’
Both Stacey and Penn reached for notepads.
‘Go ahead, Frost,’ Kim instructed.
‘Okay, I’ve got around twenty names. Gerald Foster, Ray Wilkins, Darren Skelton, Curtis Jones…’
Every pair of eyes in the room went to the phone. Kim put her finger over her mouth for them to stay silent. The last thing they needed was for Frost to understand the significance of one of the names she’d given them.
Stacey went back to her notepad to continue writing the names Frost was offering.
‘That it?’ Kim asked when she’d finished.
‘Yep, anything of any use?’
‘Don’t think so, but you were ahead of the warrant, so thanks for that,’ she said before ending the call.
Curtis Jones, ex-boyfriend of Teresa Fox, fiancé of their first victim, Eric Gould. What the hell was his name doing on there?
SIXTY-FIVE
‘Did we disturb something earlier?’ Alison asked as Stacey took her pile of paperwork over to the whiteboard.
Penn had exited just moments after the boss and Bryant, leaving her and the behaviourist alone.
‘Only me asking why my wife is a suspect in the death of Terence Birch.’
‘Devon?’ Alison asked with wide eyes.
‘No, one of my other wives,’ Stacey said with a shake of the head.
‘Come on. Even the boss knows that’s ridiculous.’
‘Not when there’s footage of her punching him shortly before his death.’
Stacey didn’t bother to add the detail of the car. The first fact was bad enough.
‘Why is the boss even involved? It’s not like it’s a murder investigation…and even as I’m speaking, I realise she’s involved in case your name comes up.’
‘Yep.’
‘Remember what I said about her wanting to protect—’
‘I get it, but right now all I can picture is the two of them going at it. My wife and my boss going toe to toe and saying things that cannot be unsaid. There’s hostility between them, and it’s all because of me. I don’t even know how this can ever be right again. At the minute, neither one of them can stand to look at me.’
