Page 116 of Twisted Lies
Constructed in 1850, the viaduct was 173 metres long and bridged the River Stour. Passenger trains no longer used the line, so that was one less thing to think about, but the odd freight train still came thundering through.
Birmingham Street from the Stourbridge ring road had been closed right through to St John’s Road and Hungary Hill. Despite the traffic build-up, Bryant had managed to get them there in seven minutes, during which time Jacob Powell appeared to have stepped over the railing and was standing on a two-feet-wide ledge.
‘It’s definitely him,’ Bryant said, and Kim believed him. He’d got a better look at the guy as he’d rushed away from the school. She had barely noticed the man in the classroom as Liam had introduced them.
‘Where are we at?’ she asked the incident commander just beyond the inner cordon.
‘Negotiator is on the way. Around ten minutes out,’ he said, checking his watch.
‘May we—?’
‘Not a chance,’ he said with finality. ‘One of our guys made it to the approach bridge and he stepped over onto the ledge. Ain’t nobody going near him until the negotiator arrives.’
Kim got it but she needed to speak to him.
She needed to assure him that everything was going to be okay. It wasn’t, but she wanted this man to see the inside of a courtroom for what he’d done, and it was the only way to find out what he’d done with Leanne.
The calculations were forming in her mind and turning into numbers she didn’t like. Leanne had left the station before nine that morning and it was now after four o’clock. If it was Leanne he’d been after all along, she was probably dead. If Jacob had wanted her for information on Boy X, Leanne no longer knew where he was and was probably dead, the logical voice in her mind said.
And yet, he’d made a mistake and left Sarah Lessiter alive. Could he have done the same thing with Leanne?
She moved away from the crowd to get a better look.
The movement must have caught his eye, as he looked her way. Their gazes met and although she couldn’t read his expression, she knew he was looking right at her.
He hesitated for just a couple of seconds before he stepped forward and fell to his death.
Ninety-Nine
It was almost five when Kim strode into the squad room.
She hadn’t hung around once Jacob Powell had hit the ground. As horrific as the situation was, he was no longer her priority.
‘Okay, guys,’ she said without removing her coat. ‘Our one single focus right now is on finding Leanne. There’s a chance she could still be alive.’
She saw the doubts in the eyes of her colleagues and she understood it. Jacob had left three dead bodies behind; leaving Sarah had been a mistake due to her breathing being so weak beneath the wall of rocks. She wondered if he’d be foolish to make the same mistake again.
‘Unlikely, boss,’ Penn said, voicing the doubt for all of them.
‘You can be sure?’
‘He must be sure she’s dead. It’s the only thing that explains why he just threw himself off a bridge. He’s reached the end of the road. He got Leanne, the only person who could tell him where Boy X was, and she didn’t know. He’s been moved, so it doesn’t matter how much he tortured her, she didn’t know where he’s been moved to. It left Jacob with nowhere left to go. He knew we were on to him, so his choices were death or life in prison.’
Kim completely accepted his logical argument. But while there was even the smallest chance that Leanne was still alive, she wasn’t going to quit.
‘Thanks, Penn, but on this occasion I’m gonna be the optimist in the team. Now, think people, what’s his link to th—?’
‘It’s his cousin, boss,’ Stacey said, reading from her screen.
‘What?’ she, Bryant and Penn asked together.
‘Jacob Powell is the cousin of little Emily Harris, the girl tortured by Boy X. There’s no mention of him in later news reports about the family, anniversary catch-ups or talking-head pieces when a new documentary has been made, but I’ve just found an earlier piece about Emily’s aunt Kitty suing to get her own child back from the little girl’s mother after a prison stint.’
‘Go on,’ Kim said.
‘The child was misnamed as Jacob Harris, which is why his real name hasn’t shown up on any of our searches. Emily’s mother, Rosie, took care of Jacob off and on while he was a baby due to her sister’s drug habit. She sued to become his legal guardian when Jacob turned one. Nothing happened for years until Rosie’s sister got clean and tried to get Jacob back when he was seven. She never even stayed clean long enough to make it to court. Jacob was eleven years old when Emily, his cousin, was murdered by Boy X.’
‘But she would have felt more like his sister,’ Kim observed, understanding how it felt to be the older sibling. She’d been Mikey’s older sister by only minutes, but the urge to protect him had never lessened during the six years they had together.
