‘Stop the car,’ Kim screamed.

‘Guv, it’s a main bloody road,’ Bryant said.

She began opening the passenger door.

‘For God’s sake,’ he cried, slamming on the brakes. Horns sounded on the main road that ran to the east side of Cedars Retirement Home, drawing attention from everyone around, including the petite brunette on the single wooden bench.

Kim had guessed Nat Mansell would want to be close to where her mother had been. She was running scared, which always led you to seek out the people that made you feel safe. Except Nat Mansell’s mother had been murdered on the other side of that wall.

Kim dodged the people on the pavement as Bryant drove away to find somewhere to park the car.

The woman on the bench had risen and was looking in her direction. Her posture appeared startled and wary.

‘Please, wait,’ Kim called as the woman reached for her handbag. Why was Nat Mansell avoiding her if she’d done nothing wrong?

Kim guessed there were about fifty metres between them, and she prayed that the woman stayed where she was.

Nat looked around and then began hurrying away at speed.

Kim quickened her pace as stabbing pains shot through her shin. She couldn’t remember all of the bone doctor’s instructions but she was pretty sure no running was a given.

‘Miss Mansell, wait, please,’ Kim called, breaking into a trot.

She had hoped Bryant was coming from another angle to try and cut her off, but his car was still at the end of the road, stuck on a red light.

Damn it, she cursed as the woman’s steps took her ever nearer to the housing estate at the edge of the grass.

Kim forced her legs to pick up speed focussing on the power in her thighs instead of the agony in her shin.

‘Wait,’ she called, having made ground on the distance between them.

‘Leave me alone,’ Nat called out before picking up speed.

‘I just want to talk,’ Kim called, matching her speed so the distance between them didn’t widen.

She didn’t respond.

‘Miss Mansell, Nat, just give me a minute,’ Kim called. ‘I need to talk to you about Cordell.’

‘Just leave me alone,’ she repeated, and Kim could now hear the emotion in her voice.

This woman was scared.

‘I’m a police officer. I can help,’ Kim said, having taken a few metres out of the space.

‘No one can help me,’ she cried.

Kim felt the pain turn to lightning strikes shooting down to her ankle and right up to her thigh but she had to push past it.

She needed to talk to this woman. Now.

Seeing that she was almost at the road that would take her beyond Kim’s reach, she stopped and turned. She held up her hand.

‘Don’t come any closer or I’ll run, I swear.’

Kim stopped running, and cried out at the agony thundering through her bone.

She swallowed away the stars that threatened her vision.

‘Were you having an affair with Cordell?’ Kim called out.

She nodded. ‘We were in love,’ she called back.

Lilith Cordell hinted her husband was a serial adulterer but it appeared this fling had been more serious.

‘You know who killed him, don’t you, Miss Mansell?’

She shook her head, looking stricken.

‘Is it the same person who killed your mother?’ Kim asked, trying to remain upright.

‘You’re hurt,’ the woman said, as Kim felt herself buckling to the ground. Her left leg muscles screamed and it felt like they were detaching themselves from the bone.

Kim could see the indecision all over her face. The woman was a nurse.

‘Please,’ Kim shouted. ‘Tell me…’

‘I can’t, I’m sorry,’ she called out, backing away. ‘I can’t help you. I’m so sorry but I made a choice and now I’ve got to live with it.’

And suddenly she was gone but Kim had no idea where as a black veil of darkness lowered and covered her eyes.