Chapter 16
Sixteen
‘So, she just admitted it?’ Bryant asked once she’d recounted the interview with Martha.
‘Yep, all done,’ she said, taking a sip of her coffee.
‘Is it?’ Bryant asked, tipping his head.
‘I just said that, didn’t I?’
‘Yeah, tell your face that.’
‘Huh?’
‘You have a pucker,’ Bryant said, meeting her gaze.
Stacey chuckled and looked away.
‘Stace, do I have a pucker?’ Kim asked.
‘Kinda, yeah.’
She turned back to Bryant. ‘Explain.’
‘You walked back in here with a pinch to your face. Your mouth was tight, and there were a couple of lines between your eyebrows. That normally means there’s something on your mind.’
Stacey was nodding her agreement.
Kim sighed. ‘Well, there is one thing. Martha mumbled something about her daughter, which struck me as odd seeing as she never came up in the conversation. I’m not gonna act on it.’
‘Famous last words,’ Bryant mumbled.
‘I’ve done as I was asked. I got the confession. She’s going to be charged. Job done.’
She ignored the glance that passed between her colleagues.
‘Okay, enough of that,’ she said, sweeping a warning glance at them. ‘On to our own case. Stace, please tell me that out of the names I gave you, we have some violent offenders with form for knife crime and no alibi for last night.’
‘Don’t think everything is gonna be tied up as neatly as Martha, boss. Not a lot to hang our hats on so far.’
‘Not a lot is better than nothing at all,’ she said, trying to stay positive.
‘Guv, permission to eat a sandwich?’ Bryant asked.
‘What sort?’
‘Ham and cheese.’
‘Permission granted as long as you pass one here.’
He took out the box, unwrapped a sandwich and handed it to her. She took a bite and motioned for Stacey to continue.
‘Nothing on Gemma yet. Waiting on contact details for the Uber guy. She’s not known to us, and nothing else on her socials to indicate violent tendencies.’
‘Keep looking. That level of hatred has got to escape at some stage,’ Kim said.
Stacey nodded before continuing. ‘Did a brief search on the netball ladies and other than a ten-year-old shoplifting charge and a couple of parking tickets, they don’t have form for anything.’
‘Okay, get Penn to pay them a visit so we can formally rule them out,’ she said, taking another bite of her sandwich.
‘I haven’t started on Joe Butler, but I have had a quick look on Robbie Steele’s social media and he’s a bit of a big mouth.’
‘Does he admit to roughing up his granny?’ Bryant asked, taking the last sandwich from the tub.
‘Not so much, but he’s not averse to a bit of violence, especially against women. Shares some graphic stuff with laughing face emojis.’
‘Such as?’ Kim asked, rifling through what was left of her colleague’s lunch. She took out a Dairylea cheese triangle. ‘Jeez, Bryant, what are you, twelve?’ He said nothing as she grabbed the red tab, unwrapped it and popped it in her mouth.
‘Nothing sexual. Clips of women being pushed around.’
‘Show me,’ Kim said.
Stacey tapped a few keys and a video started to play. A young couple were leaning against a glass shop frontage, clearly intoxicated, when the man pushed the woman to the ground. That was the extent of the footage, which played on a loop. Kim’s gaze lifted to Robbie’s comment on the post.
And don’t burn my toast again, woman.
Stacey clicked on another one where a couple were having an argument. The woman slapped the man across the cheek. In response, he punched her in the face.
Robbie’s caption read:
Don’t start something you can’t finish.
‘Hmm… proper little baby misogynist we got growing here,’ Bryant said.
‘Grab your coat, Bryant. I bet this little cherub is just dying to talk to a woman with attitude and a badge.’