Page 126 of Deadly Cry
Kim knew that nothing either of them said was going to ease their grief, but she and Alison had at least been able to offer peace of mind that the people responsible had been caught.
‘And that’s the only reason?’ Alison asked, putting her handkerchief away.
‘Okay, I also wanted you to see first-hand the fruits of your labour. I know I’ve been hard on you this week and you didn’t have to take even a minute of it, but it yielded results.’
She’d also wanted Alison to witness the comfort and closure her findings would bring to the families of the victims, that her input had value and that she could make a difference. She sincerely hoped the woman would reconsider her role in active duty and once again consult for teams that would benefit from her expertise.
‘My head wasn’t in the game as much as it should have—’
‘I’m not accepting that, Alison. It was you who understood the intense, consuming kind of rivalry we were looking at, and I don’t think any one of us would have made that connection. If you want to stay away from consulting, do it because it’s not right for you or because you want to focus on something else, but not because you’re going to convince yourself you’re shit at it. You’re not.’
Alison shook her head in wonder. ‘Who’d have thought after all these years I’d hear those words coming from you?’
‘Yeah, well, enjoy them cos you won’t hear them again. You’re not so bad for a profiler.’
‘Behaviourist,’ Alison snapped as she had during their first meeting.
They both laughed.
‘So do you think she’s going to crack?’ Alison asked, and Kim didn’t need to ask who she meant. It was the second day of questioning and already Chris had spoken freely, against the instruction of his brief, unlike Lena Wiley, who had not yet uttered a single word. And despite Bryant and Penn’s best efforts, Kim suspected this was not going to change.
Kim shook her head in response. ‘What would she even say in defence of her actions? Would she deny the picture Chris has painted of systematic verbal, physical and psychological abuse carried out in the absence of parental control?’ she asked.
Would she deny the cuts and bruises, the pinches and the slaps? Would she refute his claims that she’d tried to smother him with a pillow or hold his head under the bath water?
‘The physical injuries don’t even come close to the psychological damage she’s done to him over the years,’ Alison said as Kim started the car.
The methods of which Kim had caught a glimpse. That level of degradation – the insults and put-downs over the years, with nothing positive on the other side to even attempt to offer balance – was far more damaging than any violence.
‘Chris has barely even mentioned his parents,’ Kim said. ‘It’s almost as though they didn’t exist.’
‘If they were remote and distant, then really Lena and Chris’s existence became all about each other,’ Alison explained. ‘If rivalry was brewing from an early age and went unchecked by the parents, where are the boundaries?’ she asked, speaking rhetorically. ‘Our boundaries come from our parents and without them we flounder and make up our own.’
‘Chris has explained how Lena had always been competitive, always goaded him to prove his worth but that it grew worse when their parents died together in a hotel fire in the Philippines.’
Alison nodded. ‘That’s often a catalyst for sibling rivalry to escalate. In Lena’s mind, her chance of gaining approval and attention from them was lost for ever and for that she blamed Chris.’
Throughout his interviews, Chris had told his own story and, in doing so, had revealed Lena’s. Inadvertently, he had painted a picture of a three-year-old child who had been simply cast aside when her brother had been born; she had resented him from the moment she’d set eyes on him. In her own simplistic way she had just wanted him to go away. She had wanted things to go back to normal. When her efforts failed, she had convinced herself she needed to be better than Chris at everything to regain her parents’ affections. She had to win. But eventually Chris had decided to fight back, and the war between the two of them was born because he had to win too.
Whatever had twisted Lena as a child, Kim could feel little sympathy for the woman. She herself had once been an older sister. Only for six short years and only senior by the ten-minute head start she had on her twin, and yet her only instinct with Mikey had been to protect him, to love him.
Lena’s acts against innocent people had been more brutal, more aggressive than those of her brother. There had been a part of her that had enjoyed causing harm and taking life. She didn’t sense that lack of humanity from Chris.
There was no doubt that he had matched Lena crime for crime. He’d admitted every one and handed over the phone to which Lena had sent her inciting messages, but she detected no joy or achievement in his acts. He had reached out for help and had listened when she’d asked him to spare the boy.
When asked, Chris had admitted that he’d never intended to take Archie after killing his mother. In his mind, it was some kind of victory, something that Lena hadn’t done; in some twisted way he hadn’t wanted to leave the boy alone.
Once back at Chris’s spacious home in Malvern, Archie had been taken care of. Chris had fed him, washed and dried his clothes and entertained him with toys and gadgets. He admitted that at one point he had not known what to do with the child and had considered killing him, but Kim’s plea to spare the boy had reached him. When Lena killed Nicola Southall, he’d formed a plan to get her, using Archie as a distraction.
Through gentle questioning, Archie had confirmed Chris’s story, and other than missing his family and being confused, he had not suffered while in the man’s care.
‘You had to do a bit of work to bring Ella Nock round, didn’t you?’ Alison asked as Kim pulled up at a red light.
‘Definitely not my number one fan,’ Kim admitted.
She’d had a fair bit of explaining to do to the woman: both about her front door and her suspicions. Ella had been somewhat appeased when Kim had offered to pay for the damage out of her own pocket. In fairness, the woman’s main concern had been for Archie. After spending an hour with Andrew, Mia and Ella, Kim could see how close the family was. Yes, she was bossy and forthright with a hint of dominance, but it was clear that she felt nothing but love for her niece and her younger brother.
Ella had been more gracious than Kim would have been if the roles had been reversed.
