around seventy feet long and grew darker and more ominous as it came to the end.
Kim moved along the corridor, slowly moving left and right to check that the padlocks to the doors were still intact.
As well as checking the locks, she paused at each one, listening keenly for any sound from within. She closed her eyes for a second, concentrating her hearing above the low hum of distant voices as people shopped in the mall. Ambient music sounded from speakers located on the other side of the wall.
As she neared the end of the corridor, she stepped into a dark corner not quite covered by the emergency lighting.
‘Damn,’ she cursed quietly when her foot met with a black rubbish bag that had clearly been dumped by someone. Plastic food containers spilled out into the corridor.
Only two doors remained – neither had a lock – a cleaner’s room and an old plant room.
She stood between the two doors and listened, blocking out every other sound around her.
A noise to the left caught her attention. She took a step towards the old plant room. It was a sound she recognised.
She moved closer and listened again.
One Hundred Two
‘Sit, and don’t move,’ Bryant said, closing the door to the bookshop behind him. The youth took a seat at the signing table. ‘And keep your hands where I can see them.’
He placed his hands in front of him on the table beside a pile of books waiting to be signed.
‘What’s going on?’ the store manager asked, stepping forward.
‘We have a situation,’ he said as Tyra rubbed the area behind her ear.
‘But we need to get this—’
‘It’s cancelled,’ Bryant said flatly.
‘You can’t do that,’ Kate said, flicking her hair and frowning. ‘You’re not high enough to make that—’
‘As the senior officer in attendance, I absolutely can. Dynamic risk assessments are performed on the spot. As there’s been a public order offence and an injury before the event has even begun, it would be foolhardy to allow it to continue.’
‘I’m really fine,’ Tyra offered, glancing at the pile of books.
He understood that Tyra might want to go ahead, and he was pretty sure Kate Sewell did too, but it was no longer their call. If he allowed it to go ahead and a further incident occurred it would be his neck on the line.
‘Send ’em away,’ Bryant said, nodding towards the crowd outside.
Yeah, the boss might receive a couple of complaints, but she’d support his decision. The visiting celebrity had been attacked and allowing the event to continue was reckless.
Everyone stared at him as though he was going to change his mind any minute. He wasn’t. And if the collateral damage of that decision was some people losing a few quid from the loss of sales of a book about an extra-marital affair, he’d sleep easily enough when he went to bed.
He stared at the door to make his point.
‘I’d like your superior’s name,’ Kate said as her face filled with rage.
‘DI Kim Stone; you’ve met her a few times already, and if that’s not high enough, go for DCI Woodward at Halesowen police station; but before any of that I’d like you to take out your phone.’
‘Excuse me?’ she said as the store staff left and began talking to the waiting crowds.
Bryant held out his hand as Kate frowned.
‘Just for a minute.’
She reached into her bag and handed him the iPhone that had sat beside her on the yoga mat when they’d visited her house.
‘The other one,’ he said, referring to the one that had sounded from the other room.
‘I don’t have another one,’ she lied.
He considered continuing this conversation down at the station, but he needed to resolve this right now and find the boss.
He turned to the kid sitting at the table.
‘Give me your phone, buddy.’
He hesitated.
‘Right now, you’re in a lot less trouble than she is.’
The kid took out his phone and opened it with his thumbprint.
Bryant scrolled through the messages and shook his head, returning to the call register. He pressed on the third one down.
Kate’s bag began to ring.
‘That’s the phone I was asking for.’
‘I don’t get it,’ Tyra said. ‘You two know each other?’
‘Not only do they know each other, but this lady, who has been taking such good care of you, instructed this fella exactly what to do.’
Tyra shook her head. ‘No, you’ve got it wrong. She would never—’
‘Arrange someone to physically assault you? I’m afraid that’s exactly what she did, Ms Brooks. More hype, more publicity, more