Page 52 of Little Children

The question caught him off guard.

‘I, err… told him to call a taxi if he wanted to run away that badly.’

His story wasn’t getting any more believable.

‘How was he supposed to afford that?’ Kim asked. ‘He had less than a fiver in his pocket.’

Kevin shrugged and stared at the ground.

‘And you never saw him again once you left the café?’

He shook his head.

Kim was all out of questions, but she was sure she hadn’t got all the right answers.

She stood to leave.

‘Hey, make sure you’re back in time to tuck us in,’ Bobby joked as she headed for the front door.

For some reason, she thought she detected a note of relief in his tone.

As the door closed behind them, Kim knew she had to consider that Kevin had played some role in his brother’s disappearance. He’d been angry enough to strike him, and he could have been waiting for him somewhere along the route home. It wasn’t like he hadn’t taken his brother off somewhere before.

But then why had Bobby sounded relieved after her exchange with Kevin, as though he was pleased that the boy hadn’t revealed something?

Why hadn’t Kevin told either his parents or the police that he’d seen Lewis again?

And why had he blatantly lied about the conversation that had taken place between them in the amusement arcade?

Yes, it was official – she now had more questions than she’d had when she’d got there.

Thirty

Kim timed their return to the station to ensure she’d be able to have a briefing with her own team before they joined Red Butler’s team for theirs.

Penn had just updated them all on his meetings with Lewis’s form teacher and his friend Danny.

‘Danny said Lewis never told him exactly what he overheard, but he said Lewis definitely heard his family talking about getting rid of him.’

Kim considered this admission and found there was little they could do with it. She wasn’t as surprised as she should have been, but without knowing exactly what Lewis overheard, they had no idea where to start. She wasn’t sure the statement of a twelve-year-old boy who couldn’t remember the exact wording of what his friend heard was going to hold weight with anyone she needed to convince. She needed something more concrete before Red would consider there was something deeply suspicious about the Stevens family.

‘And I’ve checked with Thai Airways, the most popular airline for that destination, and Skidmore isn’t booked on any of their flights. But there are still a few airlines to check.’

‘Stay on it, Penn,’ Kim said. Roderick Skidmore may have packed a bag and told his cleaner of his plans, but she wasn’t totally convinced he was leaving the country. Her gut said they’d been fed that story so they wouldn’t look for him anywhere else. Especially once they found out he’d lied about being at Coral Island.

‘I didn’t see him anywhere near Lewis inside the arcade,’ Stacey said as though reading her mind.

‘Doesn’t mean he wasn’t the person in the car park and the reason Lewis didn’t move for almost a minute,’ Bryant offered.

‘True,’ Stacey admitted. ‘Next I want to interrogate every camera on that side of the building to see if anything that far back on the car park is visible.’

Kim nodded her agreement. They needed to do everything possible to find out who Lewis had been talking to before entering the arcade.

She glanced into the main squad room before speaking again. The local team was starting to drip into the room.

‘Okay, the three names that were left under Stacey’s keyboard all have a story to tell about this team. Jasmine Swift felt intimidated by Butler after a burglary. He got a bit too familiar and made a nuisance of himself. She handled it herself with the help of her brother, and he hasn’t bothered her since. No way in hell she’s raking it up again, so we have no current complainant there. Dean Jackson says he was smacked around by two of the team. Already tried to complain and it went nowhere.’

‘Butler and Moss?’ Penn asked.