Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
‘Bryant, pull over here,’ Kim said urgently.
‘You not feeling any better, guv?’ he asked, eyeing her with concern.
She shook her head as she looked away. Strangely, a mystery sickness had overwhelmed her once they’d got back in the car. Even stranger, it had come on following the text message from Stacey giving her the information she’d requested.
She stepped out of the car. ‘I just need some air,’ she said, resting her backside on a low wall in front of a small semi-detached house. ‘Will you knock that door and ask for a glass of water?’
‘Guv, I can just—’
‘You want me to throw up right here?’ she snapped.
He hurried up the short path and returned seconds later.
‘She’s gonna bring you one out,’ he said as the front door opened again.
A woman in her early twenties headed towards them with a tall glass of water.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked as Kim took a sip of the water.
She eyed the young woman and frowned. ‘Hey, aren’t you Donna Stout?’
Donna nodded as Bryant’s head snapped around towards her.
Kim shrugged at him. If she’d told her colleague where she wanted to go next, he would have given her hell.
‘Who’d have thought it. I’ve been speaking with your mum. May we have a word?’
Donna hesitated before shrugging and taking the glass from her.
‘Guv,’ Bryant warned her as they followed.
‘Hey, you can’t ignore fate,’ she said, stepping into the house.
‘Are you done with this?’ Donna asked.
Kim nodded and followed her to the kitchen.
‘Let me introduce myself. I’m—’
‘I know who you are. You’re Chief Sow as my mum calls you. I remember you. I liked your boots.’
‘Well, this is my colleague, DS Bryant, and the name I more commonly go by is DI Stone.’
‘How can I help you, DI Stone?’ Donna asked, taking a seat at the table.
Although not invited, Kim took a seat. Bryant followed; his expression indicated he was still smarting from her subterfuge.
‘Is Eric here?’
‘He’s gone to see his mum. She probably won’t answer the door, but…’
‘Even at a time like this?’ Kim asked. The woman’s husband had just been murdered.
‘You have to understand our families. Their hatred for each other far outweighs their love of anyone else.’
Although Donna had recognised her, Kim saw very little of the young girl she’d last seen covered in filth. Here was a young lady with a stylish blonde bob framing an attractive face with piercing blue eyes.
She wore minimal make-up, choosing to let her flawless skin speak for itself.
‘Tell me about growing up,’ Kim said, finding herself becoming more intrigued about these feuding families.
‘I had a great childhood. We had more animals back then, not loads, but they all needed feeding and cleaning out. Everyone did their bit. Mum needed everyone to pitch in.’
‘Your dad?’
‘Don’t remember him. He died when I was two.
But it didn’t matter. I had big brothers,’ she said with a sad smile.
‘We didn’t have a telly for years, so we’d play games.
William would give me donkey rides around the house, and Martin taught me board games.
I loved the farm and my family, and I never went to bed unhappy. ’
‘When did you realise there was an issue with the neighbours?’ Kim asked.
‘I feel like I always knew. It was just part of life. They hated us and we hated them. It started way before any of us were born.’
‘And yet you and Eric found a way through that.’
She smiled. ‘Yeah, we saw each other in a pub in Netherton. We gave each other the customary hate-filled glare that our families expected but then found that neither of us could look away.
‘He sent me over a drink with a napkin attached. He’d written “white flag” on it. I thanked him for the drink, and we got talking. Imagine my surprise when he was quite normal, even likeable.’
Kim smiled at the expression on her face.
‘I think I fell in love with him that night. We clicked. We made sense together, and he made me feel a way I’d never felt before. I knew I’d met my person.’
‘And your families?’
‘We didn’t say anything for months. We both thought it might fizzle out and we’d have no need to upset our families, but time just strengthened what we felt for each other and we knew we had to stop lying.
My mum turned into someone I didn’t even recognise when I told her.
Her face hardened, and she ordered me out of the house with just the clothes on my back.
I begged her to be reasonable but her last words to me were, “You are no daughter of mine. You are dead.”’
Kim could see the pain in her face at the memory.
‘I started walking, and Martin caught me up. He gave me two bin bags of clothes and told me he never wanted to see me again.’
‘Despite your closeness?’ Kim asked.
‘Yes, I miss him the most. William was worse. I think he takes the feud even more seriously than my mum. He told Martin to burn all my clothes. He has a hot temper, but I thought once he calmed down he’d reach out to me.
’ She shrugged. ‘It was a false hope. There was no greater sin I could have committed. I could have broken any law and they would have stood in front of me… but not after fraternising with a Hubbard.’
‘And Eric’s family?’
‘Pretty much the same. Eric told his dad first. He’d always been slightly more reasonable than his mum, but ultimately the response was the same. Now he’ll never get the chance to make it up with him.’
‘Will his mum see him?’
‘Only if he agrees to leave me. Especially after what’s happened.’
‘Does Eric blame you?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s not our fight. We always said that they wouldn’t rest until someone got killed.’
‘You know your mum is going to be charged with murder? She’s openly admitted it.’
‘She’s capable,’ Donna said, shaking her head sadly. ‘I just wish I could do something to help, but no one will answer my calls. Not even Martin.’
‘You know about his health?’
Tears spilled from her eyes as she nodded. ‘I can’t bear the thought that he’s going to… and I can’t even see him.’
Her head fell into her hands as sobs wracked her body. She couldn’t even voice the words.
Kim felt a mixture of sadness and frustration course through her. Families were shattered and broken, children estranged, and now someone was dead.
‘How did the feud get to this, Donna? How did it all start? Does anyone even know any more?’
‘Oh, we all know how it started,’ Donna said, raising her tear-stained face.
‘Tell me,’ Kim said, eager for an answer to the question that had been in her head for days.
‘I will… but you’re never going to believe me.’