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‘Maybe you could use one of her friends’ well-being against her to get what you want,’ Alison suggested.
‘Good idea. Wish I’d thought of that. And while I’ve got your attention, did you hear everything I told you at the rock face or do I have to repeat myself?’
‘Leaves his victims barely alive, likes to pose them, even breaking bones to do it. He’s vocal on social media, and both victims spent time at a young offenders institution. Did I miss anything?’
‘Nope, that’s about it. What do you think?’
Alison hesitated for a minute before looking to her left. ‘Penn did it. I reckon he’s the one. Actually, no, I did it. Shit, I was in Shropshire. Okay, definitely Penn.’
Kim folded her arms and waited.
‘I’ve been here less than an hour. I haven’t opened my laptop, I haven’t read a single report, witness statement or seen a photo of either body. So if you want a quick answer, your guy is Penn.’
Kim held her inner smile in check. She’d forgotten how easy it was to get a rise out of Alison. Suitable punishment for making her climb up the side of a bloody rock.
‘Ooh, someone’s tense. You could probably do with a holiday. Moving on, anything on Paul’s movements before our guy got him?’
Stacey shook her head. ‘Struggling to find anyone who cared at all what Paul was doing any day of the week, but I’ll keep digging.’
‘Okay, well—’
‘Just one more thing, boss,’ Stacey said, almost apologetically.
Kim nodded for her to continue, half wishing she could do her work from the archive room. The anger hadn’t diminished anywhere near enough for her to interact with Stacey on any kind of normal level.
‘I’ve been keeping an eye on the Sentinel account. No more tweets, but there’s an interesting account that retweets everything he says. They’re sharing his posts all over the place and making sure he reaches a wider audience.’
‘Go on.’
‘It’s the BCA.’
‘Who’s the—?Oh no,’ Kim said as the penny dropped.
The Black Country Angels were a vigilante group that operated out of a small shopfront on the edge of Wrens Nest.
She’d had a couple of run-ins with them over the years. Not so much recently, as they seemed to be keeping a lower profile. In the early days of their formation, it had been an almost weekly occurrence that they’d frogmarch someone to the station and try to force them into confessing to some perceived crime.
‘Any comments from the Angels?’
‘Only thumbs-up emojis.’
‘Great. Our local vigilante group approves of our killer. Warms my bloody heart.’
‘What if it’s more than that though, boss?’ Penn offered. ‘What if our guy is an actual vigilante and is using the platform to further his own audience?’
‘Possible,’ Alison added. ‘There’s definitely a vigilante tone to the tweets Stacey showed me. He clearly feels these people need punishing, so there’s every chance he could have links to a vigilante group.’
‘Okay, great pit-stop, guys. Carry on while Bryant and I go talk to some Angels.’
Kim tapped the two addresses of Paul Brooks’s and Eric Gould’s historic victims on Stacey’s desk as she passed. ‘Find out what they’re up to. We’ll visit them if we think it’s necessary, but I think the link we’re looking for is at Welton. The number six is coming up a lot, and so far prison is the only place their paths appear to have crossed.’
Stacey re-tacked the notes to her notepad as Kim headed for the door.
Not once had she looked the girl in the eye, and it was for more reasons than the one Stacey knew about.
FORTY-SIX
‘Jeez, she is pissed, isn’t she?’ Alison asked once the inspector and Bryant had left the squad room.
