Page 27 of Little Children

‘The sooner we’ve had a quick chat with the three of you, the quicker we can get back to searching for Lewis.’

‘Ssh,’ Shirley Stevens said, padding down the stairs.

With three young children, Kim was guessing the woman was already on borrowed time until her day got started for real.

‘Three of us?’ Bobby asked, just realising what she’d said.

‘Yes, we need to speak to Kevin as well.’

Shirley took her phone from her dressing-gown pocket. She rang a number before giving them an irritated look.

‘Come downstairs,’ Shirley said into the phone. ‘Because I said so,’ she added before ending the call.

Kim followed them both into a room that bore the signs of a late-night takeaway. Yellow Styrofoam boxes and half-eaten bags of chips littered the surface, even though the family had been in the process of their evening meal when they’d visited the previous day.

It was good to know they were all maintaining healthy appetites.

‘Just a couple of follow-up points,’ Kim said, sitting at the kitchen table.

Bobby leaned against the fridge freezer with his arms crossed, while Shirley filled the kettle.

‘We’ve been told there was quite the argument the night that Lewis disappeared.’

‘Who told you…? Oh, hang on, I can guess,’ Bobby said, nodding towards the wall they shared with the neighbours.

Kim didn’t confirm or deny. ‘Would you mind telling us what the argument was about?’

‘Of course. It was about Lewis. They’re always about Lewis.’

Kim wished, just once, that she could see one ounce of emotion directed towards his stepson. A child he might never see again.

‘Any particular reason?’ she asked.

‘His cheek, his attitude, his laziness, his fighting, his suspension from school. It was bound to be one of those.’

Kim turned towards Lewis’s mother. ‘Is he really that much of a problem child?’

Shirley hesitated before answering as though trying to work out the correct response.

‘He can be, but I still wish…’ Her words faltered.

‘Wish what?’ Kim pushed.

‘That he was here being a pain right now.’

Her eyes filled with tears, and she turned away after displaying the first real emotion Kim had seen. She even detected a shadow of regret pass over Bobby’s face. Regret for what?

‘You stormed out not long after Lewis left,’ Kim said, fixing her gaze on the stepfather.

‘So?’ he asked, shrugging.

‘Did you see him again? Did you catch up with him?’

He shook his head. ‘It was a good ten minutes before I went out.’

Ten minutes wasn’t that long if you were walking quickly and you knew which way to go.

Although Lewis had entered and exited Coral Island alone, she’d like to know if there’d been any further contact between the two of them once Lewis had left the house. ‘Answer my question, please.’