Page 15 of Little Children

‘Fighting,’ Shirley answered. ‘But he was only defending himself.’

Mr Stevens shook his head in despair. ‘She’ll have you believe he’s a bloody angel. He’s not. And the reason she didn’t go shopping was cos we couldn’t afford it. There, now you know,’ he said, turning his attention back to the television.

‘So, he went out?’ Kim asked Mrs Stevens, unsure who was telling the truth. But she wasn’t sure how much it mattered. Lewis was twelve years old, and he was missing.

‘Yeah, I gave him a fiver and told him to go into town,’ she said.

Kim hated the note of judgement that came into her head. Enough money for smokes and to get the kid out of their hair, but not enough to get food.

She pushed the thought out. They still had a son missing, whatever financial decisions they made.

‘Did you know that’s where he’d go?’

She nodded with certainty. ‘Have you seen the place?’

Kim shook her head.

‘You’ll get what I mean.’

‘Had he mentioned anything strange happening before then, like being approached or followed?’

Mrs Stevens shook her head.

‘Any fights with friends?’

‘Kid fights with everybody,’ Mr Stevens offered without taking his eyes from the television.

Shirley Stevens nodded her agreement.

‘Okay. Is there anything else you can think of that might help?’ Kim asked, feeling they were not going to get a whole lot more, as the other three kids came bounding into the room.

Mrs Stevens shook her head as the smallest of the three bounced onto her lap.

‘We’ll show ourselves out,’ Kim said before heading for the door.

She took her time. Something about the meeting had unsettled her.

Mr Stevens seemed to be convinced that Lewis was having them all on and would turn up safe and sound. Shirley Stevens didn’t seem totally convinced, but her husband’s conviction gave her something to hang on to. None of them seemed concerned that the boy had now been gone for ten whole days.

Also, Bobby Stevens didn’t seem to like his stepson very much. Was Lewis really a little shit, or was Bobby’s opinion biased because Lewis wasn’t his son? Neither was the older boy, Kevin, but she hadn’t sensed the same level of hostility between the two of them.

There was something else that occurred to her as she reached the car.

She took a good look around.

‘Where is it all, Bryant?’

‘All what, guv?’

‘Family, friends, neighbours, posters, Facebook pages, GoFundMe campaigns. The works. Where’s the community, the central point for sightings and searches? There’s always someone ready to get it all going. Not one poster. Not one bit of evidence that a child has gone missing.’

She’d seen more activity for a missing dog.

‘Dunno, guv. You think it’s important?’

‘Not sure,’ she said, stepping away from the car. ‘But I think we’d better try and find out.’

Ten