Page 98 of Little Children

‘Wh… what?’ Shirley spluttered. ‘They said it would be a few months,’ she said, looking to Bobby for confirmation.

‘Well, give or take,’ Bobby said, looking uncomfortable for the first time since Kim had met him.

‘Are you lot actually serious? You knew all along that Lewis hadn’t run away and you’ve chosen to deliberately waste police time. What the hell kind of family is this?’

‘It’s for his own good,’ Shirley said, her eyes reddening. ‘He’ll be back soon, and they said…’

‘Who’s they?’ Kim asked.

‘Some guys in the pub,’ Bobby answered. ‘They train young fighters, like a boot camp. Teach ’em some discipline and get ’em ready for professional fighting.’

‘This is what they told you?’ Kim asked.

Bobby’s nodding motion got more emphatic the longer he did it, making her think she still wasn’t getting the whole truth. There was something he was keeping to himself, and Kim had an idea what it might be.

‘How long until they bring him back?’ she asked.

He coloured. ‘Well they didn’t really say…’

‘You said six months,’ Shirley roared. ‘You said he’d be looked after and taught how to do it properly. You said that when he came back, he’d be like he was before.’

Bobby shrugged as though he had no more answers to give.

‘How much did they give you?’ Kim asked, remembering the shopping bags she’d seen from a supermarket this family looked like they couldn’t easily afford.

‘Five thousand,’ Bobby said as though he still couldn’t see what he’d done wrong.

‘You sold your son for five thousand quid?’ Kim growled. No monetary figure made their actions justifiable, but was that really all Lewis had been worth? Had all three of them been so happy to let him go?

Kim turned to Kevin, remembering the footage from the arcade café. ‘You tried to stop it?’

He nodded. ‘I knew what was going on, and he’d overheard something himself. I tried to get him to ring Mum and apologise, tell her he’d try to do better. I knew she’d call it off if he behaved himself, but he refused. He never would while he was around,’ he said, pointing towards Bobby. ‘He fucking hated you, and you’d never give him a break. Go on – tell them what you did. Tell them why he was so pissed off. He wasn’t acting up. You deliberately got him angry.’

Kevin allowed the hatred he truly felt to show in his eyes. Shirley frowned, unsure what Kevin was talking about.

Kim knew there had been an argument the day Lewis had been abducted, but she didn’t know why.

‘I was just clearing up,’ Bobby said in a voice that dripped of fake innocence.

‘He’d been saving those matches up for weeks. His teacher was gonna get the whole class to have a go, and you threw them all in the bin.’

Kim could see the rage building higher and higher in the teenager. If that had been a deliberate act on Bobby’s part, she could understand why Lewis had kicked off.

Kevin turned back to her. ‘I didn’t know it was going to be that night or I’d never have left him.’

Kim nodded that she believed him. The footage she’d seen in the café at the arcade completely matched his story.

She turned back to his parents. ‘So, you sold your son for five thousand pounds?’

Bobby guffawed. ‘Stop being so dramatic. Once he’s back?—’

‘What was it about these people that made you think they were good guys?’ Kim asked. ‘Some random men in a pub tell you they’re gonna make a man out of your son, teach him a sport, and give you five thousand pounds?’

Bobby looked genuinely befuddled. ‘No, it wasn’t like that. They knew what they were talking about. They made it sound like an opportunity that?—’

‘Of course they did. They wanted your co-operation to abduct your son, and you gave it to them. Do you know where he is? Did they give you an address? Can you call him, write to him?’

Bobby was shaking his head, but his pride refused to let go. ‘It’ll be good for him! You’re making it seem?—’