Chapter 86
Eighty-Six
Kim wasn’t sure why she’d expected to see changes since the last time she’d been here. Maybe due to the enormity of recent events. But no, the place was still a shit tip.
‘Stay here, boy,’ Kim said, lowering Barney’s window.
His doleful expression said he was not impressed, even though they had barely been apart since she’d collected him from Charlie’s on Friday morning.
It had been the middle of the night when Bryant had dropped her back at home.
Exhaustion had meant that they’d spoken very little on the way home, both content that their killers had been caught and that Ava was safe.
The only fly in the ointment had been not knowing whether Daniel would make it.
The odds had not been on his side, but sheer determination had pulled him through, and Stacey’s regular updates had warmed her heart.
The detective constable was now on her way home after stepping up in an unbelievable fashion.
There were no words to describe how her colleague had thought nothing of taking in a grief-stricken little girl and helping her on the road to recovery.
The text message she’d received to say they were en route to the crime scene to take care of Ava had blown her away.
Once they’d arrived, she’d been able to focus on Donna and Eric.
After a few hours’ sleep, she had collected Barney and headed into the station, leaving him in Jack’s capable hands while she and Bryant had questioned the couple.
Donna’s interview hadn’t taken long. She had requested a lawyer before Kim finished giving the caution.
Eric was the complete opposite, eager to get it all off his chest without any legal counsel.
He explained how Donna had got hold of the book that listed the old witches and their descendants.
The book had been about ten years old, but it hadn’t been too hard to pick up the threads and identify all female living relatives of the original coven.
What had started as idle chatter had developed into a plan.
Eric had been honest about wanting the feud to stop, and eventually he’d come to believe that Donna’s plan was the only option. He’d always wanted children, but Donna had claimed it was impossible with the curse still active. If she gave birth to a boy, she’d be condemning him to an early death.
Donna had made contact with Ashley through Facebook to discover her movements. They had checked out her route. Penn’s witness had been right. Eric had stabbed Ashley, and Donna had been waiting in the car.
They had followed Nadine from her home for a few days before Eric had seized his chance at the pub. And Kim had been sitting in his living room while it had taken place.
His story about trying to see his mother had been a lie, which explained why Lena said she never heard him.
But it was Donna who had murdered Karen. The reiki healer had become suspicious when a woman arrived instead of the man she’d been expecting. Donna had taken it upon herself to kill Karen when Eric had expressed doubts about continuing.
Strangely, if they’d stopped at that point, they might never have been caught. But that wasn’t good enough for Donna. There was no point in any of it if even one female descendant survived.
Given time to think, that was the picture in Eric’s mind that wouldn’t go away, prompting him to tell the truth. He’d been seconds away from plunging that knife into the chest of an innocent seven-year-old girl.
Amongst the debris of smashed tail lights on Daniel’s car had been a tracker.
A device no larger than two inches square stuck to the bottom of the rear bumper had triggered an alert on Donna’s phone whenever the vehicle moved.
Eric confirmed that as soon as Donna had seen the car was on the motorway, they had jumped into their own vehicle and eventually caught up with them near Manchester and then waited for him to stop.
They had known Daniel’s every move thanks to a piece of kit that cost under fifty quid from .
Eric had been charged with two counts of murder and one count of accessory to murder. He was the one who had stood at the foot of Ashley’s body waiting for her to die.
Donna had been charged with one count of murder and two counts as an accessory. It was unlikely that either of them would ever see freedom again.
Lucinda Butler had eventually been traced to a hotel in Bridgnorth where she had gone to lick her wounds. She had made no contact with anyone for two days. She had been cleared of any involvement and was making plans to join her sister down south.
A huge relief had come with a notification from social services that they were closing the complaint against Daniel. Gloria had been informed that Ava’s natural father was prepared to sign over parental rights, and Daniel would be speaking to a lawyer as soon as he was out of hospital.
Kim’s disciplinary with Woody had been downgraded to a ‘serious chat’ next week, and the reason for her good fortune would be dealt with once she was finished here.
She knocked on the shabbily painted door.
Eventually it was opened by a scowl that was bigger than the person.
‘What yer want, Chief Sow? Ain’t you done e-fuckin-nough?’
Kim was sure the news of her daughter had reached her, and despite her disinterest in her child, it would still be someone else’s fault.
‘I need to speak to you, Martha,’ Kim said. ‘On a subject that is well overdue.’
‘Please yourself,’ she said, walking away from the door.
Kim followed her into the kitchen, bracing herself for the smell. She wasn’t disappointed. Days’ old dishes were piled so high in the sink there was no way to access running water.
‘What else do you want from me? You’ve took everything.’
‘I’ve taken nothing. Your daughter made her own choices, and you’d disowned her anyway.’
‘Yeah, but…’
‘That’s not why I’m here,’ she said. Although she did intend to speak to the woman about her daughter, she had other business first.
‘This curse – when are you gonna let it go?’ she asked, taking a seat.
‘Not while there’s breath in my body. That hex wiped out my ancestors. It’s still working now. Martin won’t see the age of fifty, and William has sworn off marriage cos he ain’t gonna make anyone a widow.’
‘Do you even understand the harm your belief has done?’ she asked.
‘You’ll never understand. It’s been the bane of our life for decades, and it’s real whether you believe it or not.’
‘Tell me about your great-uncle Edmund,’ Kim said.
‘Died aged forty-nine of some disease back in the fifties.’
‘What was he like?’
‘Bit of a bastard, I think. Beat his wife, heavy drinker, in and out the slammer a few times.’
Yes, all of that was true.
‘He died of herpes, Martha. Old uncle Edmund liked to put it about a bit.’
‘Wouldn’t surprise me.’
‘Would it surprise you to learn he had three illegitimate children, two of them boys? One of them died aged sixty-nine and the other is still alive. Got dementia, but he ain’t dead.’
Martha’s mouth hung open, and Kim was happy to press home the point.
‘They were Stout men, Martha. They didn’t die.’
‘Th-that’s only two.’
‘I only need one to disprove the curse.’
‘Nah, nah, there’s…’
‘For fuck’s sake, Martha. Only you would be stubborn enough to carry on believing in something even when you’ve been given proof to the contrary.
’ Kim threw up her hands in despair. ‘I give up. You deserve your damn misery. You are the most exasperating, difficult, obstinate, aggravating excuse for a woman I’ve ever met. ’
‘Feel better now?’ Martha asked calmly.
‘Actually, yes. But it is true.’
‘I ain’t arguing with yer, but what reason have I got to be any different? I’ve lost everything.’
‘Not really. You’ve got a dying son who needs your strength. You’ve got another son who you can support in living a long, healthy fulfilling life. And you’ve got a—’
‘Don’t say it.’
‘She’s still your damn daughter whether you like it or not.’
Martha looked away.
‘Listen, I’m the last person to have any sympathy for Donna.
I attended every crime scene. I saw what she did.
I’ve visited the families and seen what they’ve lost. I saw her quite willing, eager even, to put a knife in a seven-year-old child.
Trust me, she can rot in hell as far as I’m concerned.
Her life as she knew it is over. She’s got no one.
She’ll never see Eric again. But there’s two things you can’t get away from. ’
‘Oh yeah?’
‘First, she’s your kid. You love her no matter what she’s done, and she’s gonna need you.’
‘What else?’
‘She did it for you. She wanted peace, and this was the only way she could think of to get it. She did it all for her family.’
Martha said nothing, but Kim knew the words had hit home.
She stood. ‘Do what you will, Martha, but I really hope that I never have to deal with you again.’
‘Likewise,’ Martha said, following her to the door.
She wasn’t surprised that the door closed behind her with no further words spoken.
‘I did my best, boy,’ she said, getting into the car.
She realised that throughout the last week, she’d been presented with one brick wall after another.
Stubborn women had been the bane of her life throughout this case.
Lena Hubbard had refused to let go of a feud that wasn’t even her cross to bear.
Donna had stubbornly believed that ending the bloodlines of the original witches would bring her family back together and heal decades of hate.
Gemma Ross had believed that if she waited long enough, Daniel would return to her.
Daniel’s sister had confirmed to Stacey that Gemma had already attempted to contact Daniel, whose phone had been in her care.
Janine had wasted no time in advising Daniel’s old flame that she was not welcome in Scotland, that Daniel had no residual feelings for her, and that he hadn’t thought about her in years.
Kim had cringed at the complete absence of sensitivity, but she also suspected that it was the only tone that Gemma would understand.
And finally Martha, good old Martha, who remained unshakeable in her belief in the curse despite being shown proof to the contrary.
She suspected that Martha would not change those beliefs for anyone.
Kim sighed as she started the car. She really hoped she’d never have to see the insufferable woman again.
‘You done yet?’ Kim asked her colleague as she entered the squad room.
‘Pretty much,’ Bryant said, bending down to fuss Barney. After a day off, he’d been in the office completing his statements.
She leaned her behind against Stacey’s desk and faced him. ‘It was you, wasn’t it?’ she asked.
‘Dunno what you’re talking about, guv,’ he said, sitting back in his seat.
‘You called Frost.’
‘As if,’ he said, rolling his eyes.
‘Oh, so it was coincidence that an article appeared in the Dudley Star about how I had to leave the Bravery Awards to attend a crime scene, that I couldn’t even receive my own award due to being called back out.
Thereby making it almost impossible for me to be placed on suspension just the week after. ’
‘Well, I never thought about that. Jeez, what a bloody coincidence. Uncanny.’
Kim laughed at his innocent expression. ‘Get out. Go on – enjoy the rest of your damn weekend.’
He grabbed his coat.
‘Good job, Bryant. Bloody good job,’ she said and meant it.
‘See you tomorrow,’ he said, smiling as he headed out the door.
And because of his deviousness, it was a safe bet that he would.
She stepped in to the Bowl and paused. On her desk was a silver cup mounted on a wooden block. Frowning, she approached it and picked it up, reading the inscription on the plate.
Bravest copper ever.
Your team, Bryant, Stacey, Penn.
She stared at it for a long minute, remembering Woody’s words at the beginning of the week. He’d been talking about her team. He’d meant that they had wanted to celebrate her success, that they were proud of her.
She swallowed down the emotion in her throat as she placed the trophy back down.
This was the award that would stay on her desk.
* * *