Page 21 of Little Children

‘Correct.’

‘Err… who is Roderick Skidmore?’ Stacey asked.

‘Glad you asked that. Roderick Skidmore is our local registered paedophile.’

Thirteen

Kim had felt it necessary to visit the last place Lewis Stevens had been seen before he disappeared.

From the second she’d walked in, her senses had been assaulted. Flashing lights blinked at her from every direction. Rows of fruit machines, grabbers, games and rides screamed different noises at her, vying for her attention. Horses raced across a track as people threw balls into holes to win giant cuddly toys.

Smells from the eateries wafted all around the huge space.

She tried to say something to Bryant, but he shook his head, pointing to his ear as a family shrieked in delight at a machine that was spitting out a stream of tickets.

From the kiosk she’d just passed, she guessed that tickets meant prizes.

The upper level was home to more of the same but with sectioned-off areas for adults only.

‘It’s a far cry from the arcades they had when I was a kid,’ Bryant shouted in her ear as they found a quieter spot by one of the exits.

‘Difficult to make all this back in the Stone Age,’ she said, looking around.

‘Harsh, guv, harsh.’

She could certainly see the appeal of the place. It was loud, it was busy; people were getting bumped and nudged all over the place. Hard-working folks were letting off steam with their kids for a few days. A short holiday before folks accepted the inevitability of winter and Christmas.

The shrieks and laughter were punctuated by the sound of coins dropping into trays.

The place was alive with fun and excitement.

She could understand why Stacey had reported that the security team had been unable to locate Lewis on the video footage inside. Trying to pick out the child amongst this lot would be a task and a half.

And yet it could be done, she thought, taking another look around. There seemed to be decent coverage from a CCTV point of view. If someone cared enough to go through the cameras, they’d find the boy somewhere.

‘Come on – let’s go,’ she said to Bryant, heading for the exit. She’d seen all she needed to see. The kid had been given a fiver to go and amuse himself, and he’d come here.

Something she was sure he wouldn’t have done if he’d been planning to run away.

Fourteen

It was almost nine when Bryant pulled into the car park of the station. When they approached the door, the entire Blackpool team was leaving.

‘Was it something we said?’ Kim joked as they passed.

Red smiled as Roy simply barged past.

‘The on-call team and night shift have been briefed. Nothing more to be done tonight, and we gotta sleep sometime.’

She tried not to think critically of his team management. He was correct that personnel welfare was a priority. But when you had two missing boys, you could push the boundaries of clocking in and out and the tolerance of your team. She was further surprised to see that the hard day wasn’t showing on his appearance. He looked as smart and presentable as he had when she’d first seen him hours ago.

The remaining three members of the team offered curt nods as they went by.

Jesus, the warning not to interact must have been a stern one. She had yet to hear any of them speak.

‘And you’ll get yourselves off pretty sharpish or suffer the wrath of Iris,’ Red went on, offering a wave before leaving them to ponder what he’d said.

They made their way up to the squad room and his words made sense.