Page 51 of Little Children (Detective Kim Stone #22)

Fifty

Although the gym looked small from the outside, it opened to an expansive area that encompassed a boxing ring, equipment area, and a partition that led to a badminton court and a dance studio.

They were approached immediately by a man wearing a red tee shirt that sported the name of the gym on the left-hand breast.

Kim held up her identification.

‘That was bloody quick,’ he said, offering a smile. When she said nothing, he continued, ‘I assume you’re here about the smashed wing mirror out front. I’m Warren. I spoke to the woman who?—’

‘Not exactly why we’re here, Warren. How long have you worked here?’ she asked.

‘Almost seven years. How can I help?’

‘Remember the young boy who went missing?’

The memory didn’t come easily to him, but eventually he nodded. ‘Jake…err…’

‘Josh Lucas,’ she reminded him.

‘Yeah, yeah, I remember him. Nice kid.’

‘Were you on duty that night?’

Warren glanced over at the door as it opened and nodded a greeting to two teenagers with duffel bags.

‘Wanna step over here?’ he asked, pointing them to two worn leather sofas on the edge of the boxing ring.

As they sat down, a couple of guys in their early twenties got into the ring.

‘Yeah, I was on duty. There was a small fire in a bin out back. Fire alarm went off. Everyone headed outside, and Josh went home. That’s it.’

‘Well, that’s not it, is it, Warren, because Josh never made it home. You were probably one of the last people to see him.’

‘I wasn’t really paying attention. I was trying to make sure everyone was safe.’

‘From the fire, which was caused by…?’

‘Oh, just a small bin fire in the kitchen. A bowl of water sorted it out.’

‘And the cause?’ she asked.

‘Dunno. Just one of those things.’

To Kim’s knowledge, fires didn’t just start in bins for no reason.

‘And you saw Josh leave the building?’ she asked.

‘Yeah, and the cameras caught it too. I don’t know what this is about, but we didn’t do anything wrong. The kid had left, and we don’t walk ’em all home.’

‘Talking of cameras, that one out front that covers the parking and the bins?’

‘Yeah?’

‘It wasn’t covering that area the night Josh disappeared.’

‘Yeah, some bloody contractors came to clean and service all the cameras the day before. It got knocked askew. We didn’t even know until your guys came to look for the footage.’

Kim was growing uncomfortable with the number of coincidences that had come together to produce one huge shitshow and a boy that no one saw disappear.

A small bin fire that caused no damage or injury, but major disruption. A camera that was conveniently looking the other way.

‘It was sorted the next day, but…’

‘Not a lot of help to us,’ Kim said, deciding to change direction. ‘Do you remember anything different with Josh that night?’ she asked.

‘No, we went over this at the time. He was in here doing what he always did.’

Kim could feel her impatience growing. The kid hadn’t walked into a black hole.

‘Do you know who he was playing badminton with?’

Warren frowned. ‘He didn’t come here to play badminton. Josh came here to fight.’

‘To what?’ Kim asked, not hiding her surprise. Her first thought was that his mother hadn’t known. She had told them that he came to the gym to play in the badminton league.

‘Boxing. He came here wanting to learn how to fight. He was getting shit at school over having two mums. He wanted to defend himself. The kid had quite a knack for it.’

‘At eleven?’ Kim asked, having learned that was when Josh had first started visiting the gym.

‘Nothing wrong with it. It ain’t illegal for a kid to box. They gotta be eighteen to take part in a professional boxing match, but they can practise at any age.’

‘You don’t think there’s anything disturbing about encouraging kids to take part in a sport where hurting your opponent is the only goal?’

He shook his head. ‘It’s not just about the fighting.

It’s about training, using the bags, teaching reflexes and repetitive punching skills.

They learn how to jab, cross, hook, uppercut.

We teach ’em defence, slipping, bobbing, blocking, cover up, clinching, footwork, pulling away.

It’s a skill. It’s good for kids – it increases muscle tone.

They get strong bones and ligaments, cardiovascular fitness, muscular endurance, improved core stability, co-ordination, body awareness, stress relief, self-esteem. ’

‘But you’re talking about a child,’ Kim insisted.

‘There are plenty of governing bodies, and there are rules in place. Hand wraps are used at all times; mouthguards and helmets are?—’

‘Headgear doesn’t prevent brain damage,’ Penn interrupted. ‘From 1980 to 2007, more than two hundred boxers died due to ring or training injuries. Isn’t that why it’s banned in some countries?’

Not for the first time, Kim had to wonder where Penn stored the facts and figures he quoted out of nowhere. One of these times she’d check his facts with Google.

‘Yeah, sex before marriage is banned in some countries too, but it ain’t gonna stop the rest of the world doing it.’

‘What about drugs? You pump ’em full of steroids too?’ Kim asked.

‘Nah, no pumpers or gym candy coming in here. I’ve told you. Josh liked to fight and he was?—’

Warren stopped speaking as Kim’s phone rang.

It was Keats. He gave her no chance to speak.

‘I need you to come back here. There’s something you really need to see.’

The call ended, and Kim stood. The tone of his voice said it all. He’d found something that she wasn’t going to want to hear.