Silent Scream: An edge of your seat serial killer thriller (Detective Kim Stone crime thriller series Book 1) by Angela Marsons Page A

three years in her life that she’d felt anything even resembling contentment. A mere interlude.
    The sound of a phone ringing startled her. She jumped off the work bench and retrieved her mobile from the kitchen.
    She saw the number. ‘Hell, no,’ she whispered. She darted through the house and into the street. Two houses away from her own, she pressed the answer button. Her home would not be contaminated.
    ‘Kim Stone.’
    ‘Umm ... Miss Stone, I’m ringing about an incident with your mother. She ...’
    ‘And you are?’
    ‘Oh, my apologies. I’m Laura Wilson, the night supervisor at Grantley Care Facility. I’m afraid she’s had an episode.’
    Kim shook her head, confused. ‘Why are you ringing me?’
    There was a brief silence. ‘Umm ... because you are listed as her emergency contact.’
    ‘Does it say that in the file?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Is she dead?’
    ‘Goodness, no. She took a dislike ...’
    ‘Then you should have read the file better, Miss Wilson – because then you’d have known that there is only one situation for which I require an update and you’ve already confirmed that not to be the case.’
    ‘I’m so sorry. I had no idea. Please accept my apologies for disturbing you.’
    Kim could hear the tremor in the woman’s voice and instantly felt bad for her reaction.
    ‘Okay, what did she do now?’
    ‘Earlier today she became convinced that a trainee nurse had been brought in to poison her. She’s quite sprightly for a woman approaching her sixties and she charged the nurse and brought her to the ground.’
    ‘Is she okay?’
    ‘She’s fine. We’ve altered her medication slightly to ...’
    ‘I meant the nurse.’
    ‘She was a bit scared but she’s okay now. It’s part and parcel of working in this profession.’
    Yep, all in the normal day of living with a paranoid schizophrenic.
    Kim was eager to end the phone call. ‘Is there anything else?’
    ‘No, that’s all.’
    ‘Thank you for the call but I would appreciate it if you made a further note on the file regarding my previous instruction.’
    ‘Of course, Miss Stone and once again, apologies for my error.’
    Kim hit the end button and leaned against the lamp post, banishing all thoughts of her mother from her mind.
    She only gave thought to that woman on her terms. And that was once a month at a time and place of her choosing. Within her control.
    She left all thoughts of her mother in the street and closed the front door firmly behind her. Kim would not allow her mother’s influence into her place of safety.
    She took fresh mugs from the cupboard and poured more coffee for herself and Bryant. He said nothing as she re-entered the garage, as though it was the most natural thing in the world for her to take flight from her own home to accept a phone call.
    She resumed her seat on the workbench and placed the petrol tank on her lap. She reached for a wire brush, similar in size and shape to a toothbrush and gently brushed at a small patch of rust on the right hand side. Flecks of brown landed on her jeans.
    ‘Surely there’s a quicker way of doing that?’
    ‘Oh, Bryant, only a man would be concerned with the speed.’
    An easy silence settled between them as she worked.
    ‘He’ll keep you on the case, you know,’ Bryant said, quietly.
    Kim shook her head. She was not so sure. ‘I don’t know, Bryant. Woody’s right when he says I can’t be trusted. He knows that regardless of any promises I might make there are some times when I just can’t help myself.’
    ‘And that’s why he’ll keep you on it.’
    She looked at him.
    ‘He knows how you work and yet you’re still around. There is no disciplinary on your file ... which is beyond shocking, if you want the truth. He knows that you get results and that you won’t rest until you solve a case, especially this case.’
    Kim said nothing. This case was personal to her and Woody might feel that was detrimental.
    ‘And there’s one other reason why he