Page 100 of Little Children
Although they were far from home, Stacey derived some comfort from Penn being back. Yes, it was a different office, different surroundings, but there was a familiarity in having Penn opposite her while the boss and Bryant were out on the ground.
The thought of Bryant brought a pang to her heart. The man had looked so miserable at breakfast, which had been due only in part to the boss’s absence.
Her surprise arrival had brought some life back to his eyes, but the real cheer stealer was Roy Moss and having to work so closely with him. She could imagine that no amount of hot showers would rid him of the stench.
It was ironic that although he was the oldest member of the team, Bryant was also the most innocent. The man had a built-in optimism, a ray of hope that he used to give even the worst people the benefit of the doubt. He wanted to believe that however deeply buried, the ability to be good existed in everyone. Unfortunately, Roy Moss was battering that belief out of him.
She sighed inwardly, wishing she knew how to help him back, but she was always at a loss with Bryant, feeling that she had nothing useful to offer a man of his experience. Instead, she kept her head down and trusted that the boss would know how to straighten him out.
‘Anything?’ Stacey asked her colleague. It felt like his facial expression had been frozen for half an hour.
Penn shook his head, and she didn’t envy him one little bit. Spending any kind of time on the dark web was something she avoided. In truth, she was nervous of algorithms bleeding across the line.
She remembered how she’d once idly watched a video on social media of a sheep being rescued. Before she knew it, her timeline had been flooded with footage of animals in distress, each video more graphic than the last. That had been bad enough, but if she was searching for something particularly dark, would the search engine coding transfer over to the clear web? It just wasn’t worth the risk.
Her own search to establish a link between Noah and Lewis was proving equally challenging.
Lewis had attended the local comprehensive, while Noah had been schooled privately just outside Lytham St Anne’s. Lewis was often in trouble for fighting, but Noah was a straight A student. Lewis played no after-school sports or activities, but Noah played hockey. She couldn’t see anywhere the boys would have had anything in common either in or out of school. There were no staff members that had transferred between schools or social events where they’d have been likely to meet.
She’d turned her attention to the parents. Shirley Stevens was a stay-at-home mum. Noah’s mum worked part-time at an estate agent’s. Bobby Stevens had been in and out of low-skilled jobs for a decade but none that would have brought him into contact with Noah’s mum or his dad, who worked between Preston and home as a forensic accountant.
Scouring their social media, Stacey could see no crossover of hobbies or interests and no friends in common. There were no local companies, eateries or events that had been liked or followed by someone from both families.
How these people had found both boys she had no idea.
From Penn’s expression, he was having the same trouble as she was.
‘Brainstorm?’ she asked.
‘Yes please,’ he said, sitting back in his chair. ‘What you got?’
She reeled off all the avenues she’d explored. As she listed them, she could read on his face a new thought that was later discounted as she continued going through what she’d already checked.
‘Jesus, that’s quite a list, Stace. No contractors or workmen?’
Stacey shook her head.
‘Church?’
‘Don’t think the Stevens family are a God-fearing bunch, and no hint of religion from the Reid family. I just can’t find anywhere that both families would have come into contact either with each other or the same person.’
‘Are you even sure there is a link?’ Penn asked. ‘Maybe Lewis was planned but Noah was an opportunistic grab.’
‘I might be wrong but my gut tells me that they weren’t parked up outside the pier waiting for a boy of the right age to just saunter past alone. I think they had their eye on that family and that the Reids were known to them somehow, but the link is just not coming to me. I need to rest my brain a minute. What’re you doing?’
‘Trying to find where this illegal fighting ring is hiding.’
‘You’ve tried the obvious searches?’ Stacey asked, knowing he wasn’t using Google.
‘Yep and coming up blank. I suppose if it was that easy, Cybercrime would have found them by now.’
‘The search term has gotta be something similar though. Interested folks have got to be able to find it and know what they’re looking for.’
‘Dog fighting?’ Penn asked.
Stacey thought before shaking her head. ‘Not because they’re not the kind of despicable creatures who would do that, but it’s a contentious issue that would likely get attention.’
‘Even from people searching the dark web?’ Penn asked, raising an eyebrow.
