Page 10 of Child's Play

‘Veronica, I’m sorry, this must be an awful shock but do you have any idea why your sister was at the park last night?’

Kim had checked and there had been no events, at either the park or house.

‘I have absolutely no idea.’

‘Was it a favourite place of hers?’ Kim pushed. ‘Maybe something from your childhood?’

As people got older they liked to wander down memory lane, relive particularly happy memories.

‘Belinda was found sitting on a swing,’ Kim offered, leaving out the detail of the barbed wire that had been securing her.

‘Murdered while sitting on a swing late at night?’ she asked, trying to stare Kim down. ‘Is this some kind of ridiculous joke?’

‘I’m afraid not. Your parents never took you to Haden Hill Park?’ she repeated the question that had not been answered.

‘No. Our parents were not park people and Belinda had no interest in swings,’ she said, with exasperation, as though Kim had lost her mind.

‘Had she spent a lot of time at the park or Haden Hill in general?’

‘Not that I know of.’

‘The cricket club, did she perhaps socialise there now and again?’

‘Belinda didn’t drink. At all,’ she emphasised. ‘And I can think of no reason for her to be there unless taken by force.’

‘Belinda’s car was parked and secure with no evidence of any kind of struggle.’

‘I’m sorry but the place means nothing to me,’ she said, dismissively.

‘Any husband or?…’

‘Never married. Either of us,’ Veronica said. ‘Although she did have a friend from the college that she sometimes kept company with.’

Kim heard Bryant’s notebook open behind her.

‘Name?’

‘Charles, Charles Blunt. He’s in the physical education department at Halesowen College, where my sister worked until seven months ago when she retired.’

‘As?’

‘Professor of child psychology.’

Kim wondered if they’d learn more of the woman from her colleagues than they were learning from her sister.

‘And did Belinda have a phone?’

‘Of course she had a phone.’

‘It wasn’t in her handbag or car,’ Bryant offered.

Veronica shrugged. ‘Probably stolen. It was a big cumbersome thing with lots of those appy things on it. She liked the bigger screen so she didn’t have to use her glasses to make a call. Prone to vanity, at times, I’m afraid.’

‘May we take the number?’ Kim asked. ‘We’ll contact the service provider…’

‘It’s Vodafone you want,’ Veronica said, taking an old Nokia from her bag. ‘She swapped after I told her I was getting a better deal.’

Kim detected a note of triumph as Veronica read the number out to Bryant.