Page 18 of Little Children

She’d thought reviewing the CCTV findings was a complete waste of her time.

Now she wasn’t so sure.

Eleven

Unsurprisingly, the house next to the Stevenses’ was the exact same layout. It was owned by a couple in their early sixties – Joyce and Dennis Smith.

Joyce had happily invited them in, and Dennis had put down his newspaper and turned off the television to accommodate them.

Although the house had the same bones of the property next door, that was where the similarity ended.

To Kim’s eye, the walls had been freshly papered, and the paintwork was sharp and clean. The difference in the style of windows told her that this couple had bought their council house and a great deal of pride was taken in its upkeep. The same pride continued into the garden from what Kim could see.

Kim had seen places like this before. At a guess, she would say that the couple had moved in decades ago when the estate wasn’t as rough. It had probably deteriorated around them, but they were happy in the home they’d made.

‘How may we help?’ Joyce asked once Kim and Bryant were sitting on the sofa.

‘We’re investigating the disappearance of the boy next door.’

The woman’s lips pursed slightly, but she nodded, waiting for a question.

‘Do you know Lewis well?’

They both shook their heads.

‘I mean, we tried,’ Dennis offered. ‘When they first moved in, they only had the two boys. We invited them round, but they never came. Tried chatting to them out back, but they’d just go back in. You can only try so many times,’ he finished.

Joyce looked like she wanted to say something. Kim waited.

‘I’m not being mean, but I think they’re just not very nice. We’ve not seen many friends dropping by over the years. Not for them or the children.’

Kim wasn’t too fussed about that. Many families liked to keep themselves to themselves.

‘Have they ever given you any trouble?’ Kim asked.

They lived next door to a fifteen-year-old, a twelve-year-old and a bunch of toddlers.

They both shook their heads no, surprising her. At the very least, she’d have expected a bit of noise.

‘And the parents?’

‘Not directly,’ Dennis answered. ‘They’re a bit loud sometimes, arguing and shouting. It’s been worse since he lost his job. Money troubles, I should think. A lot of mouths to feed, so a lot of yelling and banging of doors. That last fight was awful.’

Joyce nodded. ‘Funnily enough, it was the night the boy went missing. We saw him go out, then the older boy went out, and then the parents had a huge humdinger of a row, and then Bobby stormed out. There was no more noise, and we went to bed. First we knew that Lewis was missing was seeing the police car come to the house the next morning.’

‘You didn’t see any of them out searching, calling his name?’ Bryant asked.

Often parents of missing children couldn’t keep still. Even if it was a fruitless mission, they had to be out doing something: knocking neighbours’ doors, searching last-known places, talking to the child’s friends.

Joyce shook her head. ‘They called the police the last time he ran away, so we thought he might have done it again.’

Yeah, that seemed to be the general consensus from everyone, Kim thought.

‘Are they close?’ she asked. ‘The parents and the kids, I mean. Did you see that?’

Joyce grimaced before shaking her head. ‘No, I don’t think so. They don’t seem to spend any time with the older boys. I see Kevin with a couple of friends now and again, but Lewis is always on his own. Gets into trouble a bit for fighting I think.’

Yes, they’d already heard that as well.