‘Really thought we’d got our guy,’ Bryant said.
‘Me too, but we gave him the best alibi money can buy.’
Joe Butler had had links to the first two victims. But his presence in a cell downstairs had ruled him out for the third, and he’d been released late last night without charge.
The man was going to get his just deserts from Lucinda. Kim suspected she wasn’t going to be offering forgiveness for his transgressions any time soon.
‘Worth a quick check on Robbie Steele,’ Kim said, looking at Stacey’s screen. ‘His link to Nadine is tenuous at best, but he is still linked to both women.’
Stacey nodded her understanding.
‘Anything on Gemma?’ Kim asked, clutching at the last straw.
‘Nothing yet, boss,’ Stacey answered. ‘No link I can find to Nadine or Karen.’
‘Since Nadine’s murder, we’ve been focussing on the homewrecker theory. It looks like that’s now out the window. There’s no reason to suggest that Karen broke up anyone’s relationship. We’ve done a lot of travelling to arrive back at square one, and we have no real lead on what links these three victims.’
She turned back to the computer screen. ‘Stace, it’s a reach, but delve a bit deeper on Lucinda Butler. According to Joe’s first wife, Abby, the boys don’t like her very much, and I’d like to know why.’
‘But she’s only associated with any of the women through Joe,’ Stacey pointed out.
‘I know, but she wasn’t in a police cell yesterday afternoon. Just get some background.’
‘Will do,’ Stacey answered.
‘Why the urgency, boss?’ Penn asked. ‘Why three victims in under a week?’
She had wondered the same thing.
Penn continued. ‘I mean, there must be a reason why these women have been chosen, but it’s a bit of a rampage now. He’s taking more and more risks. Why?’
‘Some kind of time constraint?’ Stacey asked.
‘Something for us all to think about,’ Kim said before turning to Bryant. ‘Well, I think now is as good a time as any.’
‘For what?’ he asked, looking to the others for a clue.
They were as puzzled as he was.
‘Your apology. You doubted me all week about Martha Stout, and I reckon it’s time for you to admit you were wrong.’
‘Oh, come on, guv, we were all thinking it, weren’t we, guys?’
‘Nope, not me,’ Penn said, shaking his head.
‘Me either. I always thought it was a bit suss,’ Stacey added.
‘Bloody cowards,’ Bryant said, shaking his head. ‘Pretty sure that was the number nine bus that just rolled over me and then reversed.’ He shot daggers at his colleagues, who all appeared to be waiting just as Kim was.
He sighed. ‘Okay, guv, taking one for the team here. It is true that I doubted?—’
‘Yeah, bored now,’ Kim said. ‘Seriously though, folks, I know this is a tough one. It feels like we’ve got nothing, but that’s when we come out swinging. There’s something there, and we’ve just got to find it. We don’t do this job for the plaudits. Suck it up, buttercups.’
Sixty-Four
‘Nice speech there, guv,’ Bryant observed, pulling out of the car park. ‘Don’t ever go into life coaching, eh.’
‘No plans for a career change yet, and if I did, it would be something with less…’
