Deadly Cry (DI Kim Stone #13) - Angela Marsons Page 0,97

door, along with the fact that Noah had to have been someone she’d met before the press conference on Monday. The letters had indicated to Reginald that the person would appear to be a decent, upstanding guy: almost the exact words Bryant had used to describe this man. They had focused all their attention on Ella, and they’d been looking the wrong way the whole time.

‘I’d had the text and I wanted you to help me. I trusted you to help me. I knew you were the only one to stop—’

Chris stopped speaking as Lena made a choking sound.

Shit, this was taking too long. The woman was struggling to breathe.

Kim had to convince him to take the gag off her. Right now, she didn’t care that she was a police superintendent, and an unpleasant one at that. She was a victim in very real danger of losing her life.

‘Shut up,’ Chris spat at the officer. Rage burned in his eyes.

‘Chris, it’s not too late. No more innocent people have to die,’ she pleaded.

His expression changed to disappointment mixed with regret, and she could tell she was losing the bond she’d been trying to establish.

‘I thought you understood.’

Damn, what had she said wrong?

The knife in his hand nicked at the skin on Lena’s wrist. Blood appeared instantly.

‘Please, be careful, Chris, you could cause some damage there,’ she warned. The tip of the blade was perilously close to the artery.

His eyebrows drew together.

‘Why would I be careful when it’s what she’s been doing to me all my life?’

One Hundred Four

‘Tell her, go on, Lena, tell her,’ Chris screamed, loosening the gag.

Lena gasped before shaking her head, confused.

‘I have no clue what you’re talking about, Mr Manley. I arrived here with Tyra Brooks, there was some kind of commotion and you dragged me up here.’

Kim looked from one to the other. What the fuck was going on?

Lena turned her way. ‘Officer, I suggest you disarm this—’

Kim ignored her. ‘Hang on. Chris, are you saying Lena Wiley is your sister?’

He pointed the knife at her and nodded. ‘It has to end, and it will only end in death.’

‘Don’t be so ridiculous,’ Lena cried, having found her voice. ‘You’re out of your mind. You’ve fixated on me. Don’t believe a word he—’

‘I believe him,’ Kim said quietly as the final pieces fell into place.

The first murder and the third murder had taken place on Monday and Wednesday. Both days that Lena had been in the area for the INEPT meetings. Her derision of Chris at the meetings had nothing to do with viewing him as inferior. She simply hated him.

Lena had been in close protection about ten years ago before joining the police, Chris had told her. She must have helped protect Nicola Southall during the death threats. That’s how she had her phone number.

‘You called Nicola and arranged to meet. You knew she’d see you because you’d protected her from abuse and threats in the past.’

Kim remembered what Alison had said about competitive siblings ending up in the same line of work. Lena was a police officer and Chris had tried. He had been set to join the force until that one incident of public order had ended that career path; instead, he had made a career in private security.

‘Nicola who?’ Lena asked, keeping up the pretence, but Kim could see the wavering in her eyes.

‘You’ve been goading him the whole time. Using your scratches to keep score, to flaunt in his face that you were ahead and then sending him a message to goad him into following suit.’ She turned to Chris, the knife forgotten for the moment. ‘What the hell happened to you as kids?’

She glanced between the two. Lena’s gaze was no longer filled with confidence. She had put more together than she’d imagined.

‘I happened,’ Chris said. ‘I was born, and Lena didn’t like that very much. She’s abused me since I can remember. She was almost three when I was born, pinching and scratching me when I was small. As I got older, she’d creep into my room at night to hurt me. She’d put a pillow over my face to try to kill me.’

He glanced at her as though waiting for some kind of rebuttal. She simply stared at him with cold hatred in her eyes.

‘Our parents were not the loving or demonstrative kind, but they did like babies. When I came along, Lena got no attention at all. I tried to tell them what she was doing, but