Page 96 of Little Children
‘Would now be a good time for you to share anything you haven’t told me?’ Kim asked once she and Bryant were in the car.
‘Roy Moss is a bent bastard.’
‘Or something I didn’t already know? Roy doesn’t say anything for nothing, so why the quip about you getting enough sleep?’
He shrugged. She knew him well enough to know he’d never lie to her, but that was different to not telling her the whole truth.
‘Okay, let’s do this another way. I want a blow by blow account of your day with him yesterday.’
‘We attended the crime scene of Jasmine Swift, where he tried to take a photo of the body. I accidentally knocked the phone from his hand.’
Kim smiled. Of course he had.
‘Next, we went to see Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend before going back to the morgue because he wanted to check something.’
‘Okay,’ she said. She knew that and already knew what their next step was going to be on that matter, but there was clearly something her colleague hadn’t yet told her.
‘Next, we paid a visit to Pippa Jacobs for some stress relief.’
Kim rubbed at her forehead. This was new information and helped to explain why Bryant was coiled like a spring. He’d spent the day watching a man be everything he despised.
‘How did you manage to…?’
‘A timely call from Stacey got us out of there in time. Got back to the station, where Red ripped Roy a new one for getting involved in the Jasmine Swift case.’
But was he really that angry? Kim wondered. It was mightily convenient that someone with a potential complaint against him would now never get the chance to speak. Had Red found some way to silence her either himself or with help?
‘And that was the end of the day?’ she asked, pushing her suspicions to the side for now.
‘For me and Roy, yes.’
‘Jesus, Bryant, do I have to pry you open with a crowbar?’
‘I went back to see Pippa.’
Kim groaned. ‘Alone?’
Bryant nodded.
‘Please tell me you didn’t go inside.’
‘I did.’
‘Shit, Bryant, I know you know better than that. What the hell were you thinking? Have you completely lost your senses?’
The woman could level any accusation at him and he wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Having no witness to the conversation between the two of them left him open to all kinds of allegations.
‘I just wanted to reassure her that we weren’t all bad. Her only image of me was that I was waiting in line to abuse her just like Roy.’
‘And you couldn’t have given her that reassurance on the doorstep, or with Stacey as a witness?’ Kim asked, trying to keep the anger out of her voice.
‘I didn’t think.’
‘Jeez, Bryant, you’ve played right into Moss’s hands.’
Now Roy’s comment about a late night made sense. Obviously, Roy had seen him.
‘I know, but she did reveal something. She’s clean, and so is everyone else in that house. Eighteen months since she’s touched the stuff.’
