Page 80 of Dying Truth
She did not look away. Four seconds later she was watching his back as he stormed along the corridor.
‘Feel better there, guv?’ Bryant asked.
‘Oh yeah. I needed that.’
‘Good to see you adhering to Woody’s instruction, guv?’
‘Which one?’ she asked.
‘Making a nuisance of yourself.’
‘I like to do what I’m told,’ she said deadpan.
Bryant sputtered his coffee as her phone began to ring.
‘Keats,’ she said into the handset.
He didn’t beat around the bush as he gave her the results of the toxicology report he’d received for Sadie Winters.
She listened silently as he explained in layman’s terms what had been found.
She ended the call and turned to Bryant.
‘Locate Saffron Winters. I want to talk to that girl right now.’
Fifty-Six
Kim tapped her fingers on the desk impatiently.
‘So, what exactly are we talking to Saffie Winters about?’ Bryant asked as a gentle tapping sounded at the door.
‘You’re about to find out,’ she said, before calling out for Saffie to enter.
The girl appeared in the doorway and Kim beckoned her forward.
She glanced sideways at Bryant.
This interview was hers.
‘Please sit down, Saffie,’ Kim said, keeping her voice cool and even. Not at all reflective of how she was feeling.
‘How are you?’ Kim asked.
Saffron shrugged and then nodded. ‘As well as can be expected under the circumstances.’
‘You do know that another child died, and we had a third incident less than an hour—’
‘But that’s not anything to do with Sadie, is it?’ she asked, looking from one to the other.
‘We can’t rule out a link between all three incidents.’
The girl swallowed deeply but said nothing.
‘Saffie, I have to ask if you can think of anyone who would want to murder your younger sister, or what link she might have to ShaunCoffee-Todd?’ Kim didn’t include Christian’s name, as she remained convinced that he’d been targeted because he’d accidentally stumbled into the shower block during Shaun’s murder.
Kim was choosing her words carefully. She had points to make and harder questions to ask but she had to remind herself that she was not dealing with a fully cooked adult, but neither was she dealing with a child.
This sixteen-year-old was somewhere in between.
