Blood Lines

by Angela Marsons

  Kim ended the call, as Bryant headed through the tree tunnel.

  ‘Think about it, Bryant. How better to make your enemy suffer when you feel that death would be too simple?’

  Bryant still looked doubtful.

  ‘Look at Geraldine. Her long-term partner was involved in a hit-and-run. As the person closest to Geraldine, Belinda could have been first choice but she’s been housebound ever since. Our killer can’t get to her so he went for the next best thing.

  ‘He’s going for the people that mean the most to his real victims. He wants them to suffer loss and heartbreak. Death is just too simple.’

  Bryant said nothing. She could feel his doubt through his silence, but she knew she was right. It explained why the murders had lacked the emotion normally present. The killer wasn’t angry with the victim. He was angry with the family. But he had planned to kill a child and actually been dispassionate enough to carry it out. An innocent child who had done nothing wrong. Only to hurt someone else.

  The knowledge that they now had a clear direction invigorated her while sickening her at the same time.

  Only one thing stood between her and total focus.

  A vision of Leo drifted into her mind. She needed to know whether or not he was a danger to her, and there was only one way she could find out.

  She made a sudden decision.

  ‘Bryant, take a left, we’re going on a little detour.’

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO

  Ruth felt there had been a strange atmosphere in the gym hall that morning. Occasionally, she had felt that some of the women were whispering behind her back. She hadn’t caught anyone looking directly at her. In fact, the opposite. It was as though people were trying not to look at her.

  She shook her head at her own paranoia and remembered a saying she’d heard. ‘Just because you’re paranoid does not mean they’re not out to get you.’

  She smiled at her own thoughts as she stood up to brush her hair.

  She caught a reflection of a shadow passing by the doorway. Her heartbeat increased. In prison you didn’t ignore shadows.

  She paused with her hand in mid-air. A form appeared in the doorway.

  Ruth turned.

  The woman blocking the doorway was staring at her with a strange look in her eyes.

  Ruth felt her heart begin to hammer against her chest.

  She knew of this woman, had seen her around. Ruth knew that people didn’t mess with her.

  ‘Hey there, I hear you murdered your rapist.’

  Ruth nodded slowly.

  The woman stepped further into the room, and Ruth found herself involuntarily stepping back.

  ‘Yeah, you and me both,’ she said, taking another step forward. ‘My name’s Tina, and I’m pleased to meet you.’

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE

  Bryant eased the car into a parking spot right next to the front gates of Drake Hall Prison.

  ‘Guv, are you sure this is a good idea?’ he asked. ‘And getting déjà vu with that question,’ he added as they got out of the car.

  ‘Why now?’ Kim asked, as two men in suits separated to allow her through the entrance doors. She hadn’t told him about Leo’s release or the fact that someone was watching her house. He would have insisted she report it.

  ‘Does it matter?’ Bryant asked, wearily.

  ‘Of course it does,’ she snapped. ‘When did Alexandra Thorne ever do anything that wasn’t calculated and conniving? She’s been inside for over a year. Why has she contacted me now?’

  ‘Come on, guv. You know how she likes to play with people, mess with their heads.’

  ‘I know how she works, but why not do that months ago? She could have written to me at any time, but why has she waited so long?’

  ‘Guv, if you think I’ve got any chance of being able to answer any question relating to the workings of any woman’s mind, never mind Alex Thorne or you, you can think again.’

  ‘Are you likening her to me?’ she asked, glancing sideways.

  ‘See, I got in trouble and I didn’t even answer the question,’ he moaned.

  ‘She’s up to something,’ Kim said as she reached the front desk.

  She took out her warrant card. ‘I need to know who has been to visit Alexandra Thorne… please,’ she said. Occasionally, that had helped her cause in the past.

  The male behind the desk was early thirties with a small scar above his lip. He was the kind of man you’d walk past in the High Street as Mister Average, but in a place full of incarcerated women he would be the object of at least half of their fantasies.

  ‘May I ask why you… ?’

  ‘It concerns an ongoing investigation. I’m sorry, but I can’t divulge the details.’

  She heard Bryant’s intake of breath and ignored it.

  The guard looked doubtful. ‘I’m not sure that’s enough—’

  ‘If you can’t help me, please get me someone that can,’ she said, favouring the direct approach.

  He opened his mouth to speak.

  ‘I’m not moving until you do,’ she added.

  He whipped up the phone receiver with a smug expression. ‘I’ll check with the warden but he’ll confirm what I’ve already said.’

  Kim nodded. Fine. And when he did she would ask to speak to him.

  Kim watched as the guard straightened up and spoke deferentially to the person on the other end. ‘Sorry to disturb you but I have a police officer who wants access to visitor information on one of the inmates.’

  The guard looked at her as a slow smile began to rest on his face.

  ‘That’s what I said to the—’

  He frowned as the voice continued to speak. ‘The inmate concerned is Alexandra Thorne.’

  The frown deepened. ‘But you just said… ’

  He listened some more as his cheeks reddened. ‘I understand. Thank you.’

  His expression was no longer triumphant, and Kim couldn’t help but wonder what had caused the warden to change his mind and bend the rules once he had known that it concerned Alexandra Thorne.

  The guard tapped a few keys on the computer to his left. ‘Other than her solicitor she only has two other visitors. One man, one woman.’

  Kim leaned forward as he continued to scroll.

  ‘Yeah, here it is. The woman has only been twice.’

  ‘Her name?’ Kim pushed.

  ‘Yeah, Yeah, her name is Sarah Lewis.’

  Kim didn’t hide her surprise. ‘You’re sure?’

  He looked again. ‘Yep, that’s her name.’

  Kim had met Alex’s sister only once but from what she had gathered Alex had been torturing her younger sister her whole life. Kim could not correlate the image of the woman she had met visiting her sister in prison.

  Perhaps she had needed to come and see for herself that her sister was safely locked away. That would take one visit, not two. Kim pushed the thought aside.

  ‘And the man?’ she asked.

  His eyes scanned down the page. ‘Oh yeah, here it is. His name is Michael Stone.’

  Kim stared at the guard for a full five seconds. She felt an unfamiliar weakness enter her knees.

  Bryant moved closer. ‘Come on, guv, let’s get—’

  ‘No,’ she said, forcing strength into just one word.

  What the fuck was that bitch up to? Kim wondered. She fought the nausea down. How dare she use Kim’s own dead twin in that way.

  ‘Guv, a word,’ Bryant said, grabbing her elbow and guiding her to the side of the room. ‘Seriously, we need to leave. You’re being sucked in.’

  She pulled her arm away. ‘She knew I’d ask about her visitors. That’s why she’s used Mikey’s name. She knew how—’

  ‘I know,’ Bryant hissed. ‘That’s why I want you to leave. She knows you far too well and that’s dangerous for you.’ His eyes bore into hers. ‘I’m asking you, begging you, Kim, to walk away.’

  His use of her first name during work hours was a slip that had never happened before. I
t jolted her back to reality.

  She could feel how strongly he felt, and the logical, sensible part of her mind knew he was right. There was every chance she could not survive another battle with Alex.

  Her actions so far had been damaging enough.

  She knew that Bryant was right. Alex was too much for her.

  She took a step towards the doors.

  She had to know when to walk away.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR

  Stacey couldn’t help but marvel at the workings of her boss’s mind. To link the crimes back to the relatives was a conclusion she wasn’t sure she’d ever have reached. She knew the focus of her boss was never far away from her current case, regardless of whatever else was on her mind.

  Never warm and fuzzy, there had been a distance to Kim this week. Just now and again, a second or two longer to respond than the usual light-switch speed.

  Once or twice she had caught Bryant eyeing the boss with a concerned expression that he probably wasn’t aware of.

  But that was her forte. Dealing in data, it was always the small things.

  Her boss was distracted by something, and Stacey couldn’t help but wonder what.

  If she’d have thought for a minute her boss would share her demons she would have offered her help immediately, but she knew better.

  There was only one way she could help her boss and that was by doing her job.

  She eeny-meeny-miney-moed over the names of the relatives and ended on the name of Harold Howard.

  She googled him and got over seven thousand hits. She reduced it to news items, which cut it by half. The first few pages were the news items surrounding his death. By page six, the death articles were mixed with the news reports on the murder of his grandson.

  Stacey found her jaw tensing as she speed read the articles. It was despicable enough that a child had been murdered but to do it to get back at someone was beyond sickening.

  By page seventeen the headlines were focussing on his cases. It was clear that some of his decisions had been controversial.

  She read a sexual assault case where the sentence passed down was a paltry two months because the judge thought the crime was hardly surprising given the actions of the victim. The nineteen-year-old had been into town, had a few drinks and made the mistake of walking the last quarter of a mile home on her own. Fourteen people testified that she had been loud and raucous in two nightclubs and an Indian restaurant. Not one of them had witnessed her being raped two hours later.

  A second set of headlines were for a GBH case where a three-month custodial sentence had been given to two men who had beaten and permanently scarred a gay man, because the judge felt the victim should expect his lifestyle choices to have consequences.

  Stacey felt the blood throbbing through her veins but the cases went on and on.

  She sat back and continued to scroll.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE

  Ruth hadn’t yet stopped trembling even though her visitor had left more than fifteen minutes ago.

  Nothing untoward had been said. They had conversed about very little, as tended to happen in prison, Ruth realised.

  The whole world, the whole existence, boiled down to and revolved around the activities within the confines of these walls.

  The fact that one of the guards was out of sorts could spark conversations aplenty. That the TV had gone on the blink again could fill hours. The fact that the carrots had been hard at dinner time would do the rounds. And any news, any real news, would entertain them for days.

  Tina had not said anything wrong but her presence had been unnerving. People like Tina didn’t speak to her. Ruth knew she was a ‘grey’; a nobody. Someone that just fades into the background. Tina kept company with women whose sentences were close to her own. She didn’t mix with the ‘noobs’ nor the ‘greys’. And that had suited Ruth just fine.

  A figure at the door caused another temporary twittering of her heart. She smiled at her friend and student.

  ‘We read?’ Elenya asked, holding out her book.

  Ruth shook her head. ‘Not right now, maybe later.’

  Elenya hesitated, nodded and stepped away.

  Truthfully, Ruth would like nothing more than to sit on the bed and listen to her friend traversing the challenge of the English language but Tina had told her that a few of them were meeting up in the library and that it would be good if she came along.

  For some reason Ruth had the nagging sensation that she hadn’t really been given a choice.

  She brushed her hair, took a deep breath and headed off to the library.

  CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX

  Kim was two steps away from the double doors when she stopped. She offered Bryant her best stab at an apologetic smile and turned back.

  She had not listened quickly enough to her gut about Alex Thorne in the past and people had died.

  She had allowed other people’s opinion of the charming, enigmatic sociopath to sway her conviction that all was not well. She had bent to their disbelief and it had cost a few people dearly.

  She would not make that same mistake twice.

  ‘What sort of prisoner is she?’ Kim asked, startling the young man behind the desk. ‘She ever give you any trouble?’

  He shook his head. ‘Quite the opposite. Quiet, cooperative. She’s helped us calm down a few situations, talked other prisoners around, sometimes.’

  Kim felt her heart sinking with every word. The woman was working her bloody magic again. Kim was unsure which orifice of hers the sun shone from in this guy’s opinion.

  She recalled the exact same situation a year ago when there had been only one person who had felt about Alex the same way she had. A sweet, young, intelligent autistic man had seen through the façade.

  It had to be worth one more try. Just for Dougie.

  She was aware of Bryant’s form beside her. If she was going to stay, then he would stay with her.

  ‘No strange friendships, unlikely alliances?’

  Kim knew prisons held intelligence on that kind of detail. If Alex was up to something here she had no hope of getting it out of him.

  ‘Nope, nothing,’ he answered.

  Damn it, perhaps Bryant was right after all. Maybe she was imagining—

  ‘Even refused to press charges against her old cellmate,’ he said, shaking his head.

  ‘What was that?’ Kim asked. Her senses started to align like the planets, ready to absorb every word.

  ‘Her cellmate lost the plot the other night. Nice girl, or so we thought, went crackers,’ he said, making the looping at the temple sign that Kim detested. ‘She just started punching Doctor Thorne for no reason at all.’

  Aah, thought Kim, that explained the scratches.

  But her buddy here had no clue just how much he had just revealed.

  A previously calm and nice inmate had suddenly, for no good reason, opened up and started punching her cellmate.

  Oh no, this was not some simple coincidence. Kim would have liked to think this cellmate had actually seen through Alex and given her what she deserved, but she doubted it.

  Alex was a master at deceit. She had always known what she was. Other people had to be watching very closely to find out.

  ‘How long had they shared a cell?’ Kim asked.

  ‘Dunno, a few months,’ he said, looking down to the desk, indicating he had other work to do.

  ‘And you didn’t wonder why she suddenly “went psycho” that one time? You just accepted it?’

  ‘Look, lady, the proof was there. I saw it myself.’

  Kim leaned forward. ‘Firstly, I’m not a lady.’ She realised how that sounded and decided to stick with it. ‘I’m Detective Inspector, and secondly, what exactly did you see?’ she demanded.

  He began to sneer. ‘Is this official?’

  ‘It can be,’ Kim shot back.

  Bryant coughed. She got the message. Her hostility was not going to win her any prizes, but more importantly, it was not going to get her what
she wanted.

  She offered him a smile to defuse the tension.

  ‘All I’m after is a bit of assistance. Just a couple more questions and I’ll be out of your hair.’

  He appeared somewhat appeased.

  ‘What was the cellmate in for?’

  He shrugged. ‘Not my business to tell but she is… was due out in a week or so. Not anymore, obviously.’

  Kim looked to Bryant, whose perplexed expression told her he was beginning to agree.

  Why would a woman who was due to be released any day flip out?

  It didn’t make sense.

  ‘What was her explanation?’ Kim asked.

  ‘Swears she didn’t do it, but there was no one else in the room and the marks didn’t get there on their own.’

  Are you sure? Kim wanted to ask, recalling how Alex had engineered Leo’s return to prison.

  Her mind was screaming. This was far too coincidental. An awful lot appeared to have happened to Doctor Thorne in a few short days.

  What had the guy said? That Alex had chosen not to press the matter. That would be most unlike the woman. That meant she had to already have achieved what she wanted. Yet another unsuspecting innocent appeared to have become a victim of Alex. The thought made her sick to her stomach.

  Come on, think, she told herself. Think like Alex. She took the steps in her head.

  ‘So, what did she ask for?’

  ‘Look, Inspector, I really do have things—’

  ‘I understand, but this could be really important.’

  ‘She asked to be housed with a particular prisoner.’ He smiled. ‘She’s got some balls, I’ll say that. Not many people want to live with the most vicious woman in the place.’

  Kim felt her stomach turn. Now she was getting somewhere. She knew it.

  ‘What’s her name?’ Kim asked.

  ‘Tanya Neale,’ he said.

  Bryant took out his phone and googled the name.

  ‘What’s she in for?’ Kim asked.

  The guard pursed his lips. ‘As I said before, I’m not discussing—’