Just Keep Breathing by GS Rhodes (good books to read for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

go on, and all signs pointed to Dexter. It may have seemed easy, but they needed to start somewhere. The anger issues boyfriend seemed like a good place to go.

“I think we’re done here,” Kidd said when Ms Lu returned one final time. “I think we know who we need to talk to. Can you get us Dexter Black’s address?”

CHAPTER TEN

Ms Lu obliged, scribbling down a contact number and an address for Dexter Black’s family. He didn’t live all that far from Sarah’s house, something that set off alarm bells in Kidd’s head. Could she really be right around the corner? If she was, he hoped she was at least safe.

They thanked her, dropping into Ms Chowdhury’s office to let her know that they were leaving, and started out of the reception once again.

“What do you think of the headteacher?” DS Sanchez asked as they walked.

Kidd shrugged. “I’m going to keep an eye on her, that’s for sure,” he said. “I half expected my old headmaster to be there, but he must be long dead by now.”

“Wow, cheery stuff, Ben,” she said. “Tell another one.”

“She was weird,” he said, thinking back to the conversation they’d had just an hour or so ago. “Didn’t seem to care about Sarah or her welfare at all. Even when we told her she’d been missing for longer than perhaps normal, sure she gave us what we wanted, but beyond that, she wasn’t a lot of help.”

“I’ll keep tabs on her,” DS Sanchez said. “We’ll put her on the board, if it comes to it we’ll figure out what her movements were over the past few days. Maybe have someone look into it anyway, just to be sure.”

“Sounds good.”

As they started towards DS Sanchez’s car, Kidd’s phone started ringing. DCI Weaver’s name was emblazoned across his screen and he really wanted to pretend he was still in interview and ignore it.

“What?” Zoe asked.

He showed her the screen and she grimaced.

He took a deep breath and answered. “Hello.”

“DI Kidd,” Weaver said. No pleasantries. No time for that apparently. “We’ve got the media hounding us for information, do you have anything?”

Kidd did his best not to sigh down the phone. “Nothing yet sir, but we’re on our way to see Sarah’s parents now, get what we can from them. Chatting with the students was enlightening, I think—”

“Glad you’re having a good time, Kidd, but a teenager is missing and the Inspector is breathing down my neck to get this done ASAP,” he growled. Kidd could see Weaver’s face in his mind’s eye, cheeks puffing, eyes bulging, ready to explode at a moment’s notice.

“Doing my best, boss,” Kidd said.

“Do better,” Weaver snapped. “We’ve got a press conference here this afternoon.”

“What time?”

“Whatever time you get here,” he snapped. “So don’t dawdle.”

Weaver hung up before Kidd could properly respond, leaving him staring at the phone screen as they walked to the car.

“So?” Zoe said.

“Press conference,” he said.

“When?”

“Whenever we get there,” Kidd grumbled, pocketing his phone.

“Kidd.” A different voice this time, though still one that DI Kidd recognised. He looked up to see a boy with curly brown hair leaning on the hood of DS Sanchez’s car, just as he had done the first time they’d met him just over a month ago. He looked scruffy, another thing that Ben expected from him.

“Joe Warrington,” DI Kidd said, walking towards him. “Get off the car.”

“Oh, yeah, sorry.” Joe got to his feet, his hand wrapped tightly around his phone. He looked up into the looming figure of DI Kidd.

Joe Warrington was the brother of Tony Warrington, the guy they’d caught for the copycat killing of The Grinning Murders. There had been a time when Kidd had been convinced that it was Joe who had done it, but that had proved to be false. Joe had just been covering the news story as best he could for his social media channels, which had brought him into pretty sharp focus.

“Do I really need to ask what brings you here?” Kidd asked. “You chasing this story too?”

“I used to go to this school,” he said. “So I still follow socials, they use me as a success story every now and again so I’m still in the loop with stuff.”

“So you have an in?” Kidd said. “You getting an exclusive on it?”

“Hardly,” Joe said, rolling his eyes. “Her parents have dominated the major news cycles. Laura Harper posting all sorts of things to her Instagram basically makes me pointless.”

Kidd raised an eyebrow at Joe Warrington. There was no way that Joe would be covering this story if he didn’t think he could get some kind of exclusive on it and there was no way he would be here if he thought it was pointless. There was definitely something more going on here. He folded his arms and waited.

“So what are you talking to us for?”

“Because I think I have something that might help you,” Joe said. “And I don’t just want to put it out there when I think it could actually help find Sarah.”

It was the last thing that DI Kidd had been expecting. When Joe had been posting things about The Grinning Murders, Kidd had assumed Joe was just an obnoxious young man who was hungry for a viral moment. He tried to get all sorts of information out of Kidd and just ended up rubbing him up the wrong way. But now he seemed to want to help.

“What have you got?” Kidd asked. “And what do you want in return?”

Joe wrapped his arms around himself. “A ride back to Uni would be great.”

◆◆◆

“Go on then,” Kidd said from the front seat. It was no bother driving him back to the University, especially when he was going to give them information.

“What do you know so far?” Joe asked.

Kidd sighed. “Are you recording this? Are you after information from us?”

Joe rolled his eyes. “I have pretty much everything, I just want to know what you know.”

They locked eyes in the rearview