Page 103 of Deadly Cry
Those were not the words she’d been about to use.
He continued, pointing to his phone. ‘She phrases it as a question and uses every word you asked her to as one side of the argument and poses cases of police brutality as the opposing side.’
‘Yeah, but this is a judgement piece.’
Bryant shook his head. ‘It really isn’t, guv. It’s a reporter trying to find an angle to write a piece you’ve requested, using the quotes you instructed. You didn’t give her any new facts around the case to weave the quotes around. In my humble opinion, for one hour’s notice she’s done an amazing job.’
‘Bloody hell, Bryant, start a fan club.’
‘And are we really bothered that much about the content of the article? Isn’t it the comments we’re after?’
‘Yeah and there are none of those yet,’ she snapped.
‘Be patient,’ he said, starting the car.
Yes, that was Bryant. Always asking the impossible of her. And she had demonstrated patience. It was twenty-four hours since she’d given Reginald the two letters she’d received from Noah, yet she hadn’t banged on his door at 6 a.m. this morning. Surely, for her, that was progress.
‘You know, Bryant, sometimes your sensible, level-headed approach is…’
‘Refreshing, reassuring and a solid, steadying influence on you.’
‘Well, I was going to say annoying but if—’
Kim stopped speaking as her phone signalled an alert.
She scrolled to the comments on Frost’s article.
‘It’s from him,’ she said, seeing the name ‘Noah’ at the top of the post.
‘Read it out,’ Bryant said.
‘“I for one find it refreshing to see that the police force is willing to empathise with people who are committing crimes and who may have varying reasons for the acts they are carrying out. Yes, there are criminals committing heinous acts through deviance or to seek some form of gratification, and then there are others that commit despicable acts through no fault of their own; they are compelled – one might even say forced. Some may wish to be stopped, to be understood; but even though there are two types of killer, there does remain one single commonality. They will carry on until they are stopped.”’
‘Jesus, guv, that’s an awful lot of words in response to the article,’ Bryant said.
Kim read it again as other comments began to appear.
‘Yes, Bryant, it’s an awful lot of words to give us one simple message.’
‘Which is?’
‘That he fully intends to kill again.’
Eighty-Four
‘The sexual assault of Gemma Hornley happened on that date,’ Stacey clarified as Penn began to make changes to the wipe board, to accommodate the two new crimes.
‘Now that makes more sense,’ Alison said, nodding her head. ‘The escalation from assault to sexual assault to murder is more logical than the leap we had before.’
‘Except, we currently have a man called Sean Fellows serving a seven-year sentence for the rape of Gemma Hornley, and two days ago I was trying to get him to confess to the rape of Lesley Skipton.’
‘If we’re right, he’s gonna be your new best friend soon,’ Alison noted.
Stacey ached to pick up the phone and call Brierley Hill station or the CPS or anyone. But she couldn’t. The thought of Sean Fellows spending even a moment longer in prison than necessary was abhorrent to her, but they had to be absolutely sure before they put any wheels in motion.
Stacey hit herself on the forehead.
‘Bloody scratches. Gemma was the first rape victim, and after he’d finished he used some kind of knife to scratch her. Damn it, I should have…’
