Page 119 of Deadly Cry
She stood between the two doors and listened, blocking out every other sound around her.
A noise to the left caught her attention. She took a step towards the old plant room. It was a sound she recognised.
She moved closer and listened again.
One Hundred Two
‘Sit, and don’t move,’ Bryant said, closing the door to the bookshop behind him. The youth took a seat at the signing table. ‘And keep your hands where I can see them.’
He placed his hands in front of him on the table beside a pile of books waiting to be signed.
‘What’s going on?’ the store manager asked, stepping forward.
‘We have a situation,’ he said as Tyra rubbed the area behind her ear.
‘But we need to get this—’
‘It’s cancelled,’ Bryant said flatly.
‘You can’t do that,’ Kate said, flicking her hair and frowning. ‘You’re not high enough to make that—’
‘As the senior officer in attendance, I absolutely can. Dynamic risk assessments are performed on the spot. As there’s been a public order offence and an injury before the event has even begun, it would be foolhardy to allow it to continue.’
‘I’m really fine,’ Tyra offered, glancing at the pile of books.
He understood that Tyra might want to go ahead, and he was pretty sure Kate Sewell did too, but it was no longer their call. If he allowed it to go ahead and a further incident occurred it would be his neck on the line.
‘Send ’em away,’ Bryant said, nodding towards the crowd outside.
Yeah, the boss might receive a couple of complaints, but she’d support his decision. The visiting celebrity had been attacked and allowing the event to continue was reckless.
Everyone stared at him as though he was going to change his mind any minute. He wasn’t. And if the collateral damage of that decision was some people losing a few quid from the loss of sales of a book about an extra-marital affair, he’d sleep easily enough when he went to bed.
He stared at the door to make his point.
‘I’d like your superior’s name,’ Kate said as her face filled with rage.
‘DI Kim Stone; you’ve met her a few times already, and if that’s not high enough, go for DCI Woodward at Halesowen police station; but before any of that I’d like you to take out your phone.’
‘Excuse me?’ she said as the store staff left and began talking to the waiting crowds.
Bryant held out his hand as Kate frowned.
‘Just for a minute.’
She reached into her bag and handed him the iPhone that had sat beside her on the yoga mat when they’d visited her house.
‘The other one,’ he said, referring to the one that had sounded from the other room.
‘I don’t have another one,’ she lied.
He considered continuing this conversation down at the station, but he needed to resolve this right now and find the boss.
He turned to the kid sitting at the table.
‘Give me your phone, buddy.’
He hesitated.
