Page 72 of Silent Scream

A fixed booth ran the entire circumference of the wall. The upholstery was stained and dirty. Wooden tables sat in front of the banquette encircled by a couple of stools.

In the right hand corner was a newspaper and a half pint of beer.

Bryant approached the bar and spoke to a woman in her early fifties drying glasses with a dubious-looking tea towel.

‘Arthur Connop?’ he asked.

She nodded towards the door. ‘Just in the pisser.’

At that second the door opened and a male no taller than five feet entered, adjusting the belt to his trousers.

‘Cheese cob, Maureen,’ he said, walking right through them.

Maureen reached under a scratched plastic hood, examined a package and then placed it on the bar.

‘Two quid.’

‘And a pint of bitter,’ he glanced in their direction. ‘The coppers can get their own.’

Maureen pulled the pint and placed it on the bar. Arthur counted out the change and placed the money on a grungy beer mat.

‘Nothing for us, thanks,’ Bryant said, and for that Kim was truly grateful.

Arthur squeezed himself between the table and the banquette and sat down.

‘What d’ya want?’ he asked as they both took stools on the other side of the table.

‘Been expecting us, Mr Connop?’

He rolled his eyes impatiently. ‘I day come over on the banana boat. Yo bin digging up where I used to work. Folks I worked with am being knocked off so it weren't gonna be long til yer come looking for me.’

He unwrapped the cling film from the cob that appeared to be the only culinary fare on offer. The stench of onion reached Kim immediately. A small piece of grated cheese fell onto the table. Arthur licked his index finger, touched the table to retrieve the cheese, then ate it off his finger.

Kim was guessing those hands hadn’t been washed after his recent trip and suddenly she was fighting down nausea.

Bryant knocked her knee beneath the table. He obviously wished to lead this one and she was more than happy to let him.

‘Mr Connop, we’re after some background at the moment. Do you think you could help with that?’

‘If yer want. Just be quick and leave me in peace.’

Kim was tempted to show him the photos on her phone but just in time remembered a valuable piece of advice offered to her by Woody. If you can’t play nice ... let Bryant do it.

Connop’s skin was a roadmap of burst capillaries and bore the pallor of lifelong drinking. The whites of his eyes had submitted to the colour of jaundice. His facial hair was white and days old. The wrinkles in his forehead did not revert to a resting position and judging by their depth she guessed this guy had been born pissed off.

He used both hands to hold the cob together as he raised it to his mouth, chewing noisily.

Clearly one to multitask, he spoke at the same time. ‘Go on, ask yer questions and fuck off.’

Kim chose to look away as his mouth macerated the food into a mixture of mashed-up cheese and bread.

‘What can you tell us about Teresa Wyatt?’

He took a gulp of beer to wash down the sandwich.

He wrinkled his nose. ‘A bit up herself and hoity-toity but she day really interfere. She never spoke to the likes of me. Any jobs was writ on the board and I just gor on with ‘em.’

‘What was her relationship like with the girls?’