Page 38 of Deadly Cry
‘Are you new, guv? I go when you go.’
She shook her head as Woody appeared. The man could be stubborn sometimes.
‘Okay, Stone, remember what I said?’ her boss asked as they met at the bottom of the stairs.
She nodded. Woody was going to speak, and she was to stand silently by his side. They could not afford for her to get rattled and bite, which would detract from the script and the singularity of what they were trying to achieve with this impromptu gathering.
Everything had been timed so that none of Louise’s family were going to get a devastating shock by watching the local news bulletin. They couldn’t appeal to the public and show Archie’s photo without revealing the identity of the mother.
And they needed the story to run as soon as possible.
‘Phones off?’ Woody asked as they reached the door.
Both she and Bryant switched to silent and followed Woody outside.
In the few short minutes it had taken them to get downstairs, a television camera from Central News had arrived and set up right next to Tracy Frost, who wouldn’t have shifted from her position even if a hurricane had moved into town.
‘I’ll do props,’ Bryant said, positioning himself behind Woody to the right.
It was always good to have professional-looking people in camera view. Although after fourteen hours he didn’t look as fresh and crisp as he had at the beginning of the day, his presence was still calming and offered reassurance.
Kim stood beside her boss and set her face to neutral: an expression that rested easily on her face.
Much as she hated doing press conferences, she was sure she would have handled this one just as Woody was about to.
‘Thank you for coming,’ he said pleasantly, taking in all of the reporters with his gaze.
Okay, she would probably have forgotten to say that. And she wouldn’t have made eye contact with them all either.
‘From the outset, I’d like to clarify that there will be no questions at the end, as I’m sure you’ll understand the urgency of sharing the information we have as quickly as possible.’
Nice. Let them know before you even start. Manage expectations. If she had a notepad, she’d be writing these guidelines down.
‘The body of a female was found earlier today at the Stevens Park in Quarry Bank. We can confirm that she was thirty-one years of age and her name was Louise Webb-Harvey. Our deepest condolences go out to her family at this time.’
Yes, she’d done the major incident press training and understood the importance of communicating the condolence message, but she knew that Woody genuinely meant it.
She also remembered being told to form your poker face before leaving the building. A few years earlier, a high-profile police inspector in Birmingham had been caught chuckling at a colleague’s comment seconds before speaking about the bludgeoning of an elderly male. The appeal for witnesses had been lost beneath every article’s focus on the callousness of the police inspector. He had been forced to resign his position.
She noticed the reporters glancing sideways at each other. The news of the body had got out a few hours ago and they were clearly wondering at the reason for the early identification of the victim.
Woody continued, quickly reaching the point of the impromptu press conference.
‘We will be working day and night to bring Louise’s murderer to justice, but our current priority is locating Louise’s six-year-old son, Archie, who is so far unaccounted for. We know that the boy was with his mother at the park playing football, so we would appeal for any witnesses to make contact with us immediately.’
Woody held up the photo of a blond-haired boy who was smiling widely as he stroked his pet rabbit.
Frost nudged forward. ‘Is the murder linked to?…’
‘A full search of the area has been initiated,’ Woody continued as though Frost had never spoken. Woody held up the photo long enough for everyone to get a good shot of it with either the cameras around their necks or their phones. The press office had been poised to flood social media with the photo once Woody started speaking.
Kim caught the knowing frown on Frost’s face as she realised that the sole purpose of the briefing was to get Archie’s photo out there and not to answer any questions she was going to pose. But that wasn’t going to stop her from trying.
‘DCI Woodward, do we have a serial?…’
‘Obviously, we are all concerned for the safety of Archie and would like to return him to his family at the earliest opportunity. Anyone with any information as to Archie’s whereabouts should contact us here at the station or call…’
Kim tuned out as he read off the number. Her boss had done a good job in using Archie’s first name as many times as possible. If his captor was watching, it was designed for him to see the little boy as a person.
