Page 29 of Twisted Lies

Friendly family, Kim thought.

‘And how about the husband. Was he any warmer?’ Kim asked, wondering if they’d had any better luck than his workmates.

Rachel shook her head. ‘Nah, my guy, Mick, asked if he wanted any help with the fence panels. He politely declined, so Mick left him to it. Blokes don’t try as hard as us women. We like to bond with like-minded ladies, but guys just want a drinking buddy.’

Bryant nodded. ‘Yeah, it’s true.’

‘What about the pub? Did Mick ever see him down the local?’ Kim asked, recalling the reasons Diane hadn’t reported him missing.

‘Never. I don’t think the guy ever went out alone. I don’t think he was a drinker. Once he got a job he’d come back at five every night and that was that. I sometimes heard them all out in the garden, the boys playing together, but when it was just the two of them they spoke in low, quiet voices that I couldn’t hear. And to be honest I did try.’

Kim liked the woman’s honesty.

‘Keith Phipps had no job when they moved in?’

‘Don’t think so. Didn’t see him leaving the house at a regular time until they’d been here a few months. Maybe six or seven.’

‘And what about Leanne, was she here often?’

‘Who’s Leanne?’

‘Her sister: the woman who was with Diane earlier. The one who picked up the boys.’

‘Oh, didn’t know that was her sister. I saw her a couple of times when they first moved in, and maybe once or twice over the years, but we never spoke.’

Kim had got the impression the sisters were closer than that. They had to have a decent relationship or Leanne wouldn’t be a named person at the school, able to collect the boys. Schools didn’t allow just anyone to take kids out on behalf of the parents.

Kim had to accept that however observant the woman appeared to be, she must have missed some comings and goings. She did have teenage boys to contend with.

‘And did you ever hear or see anything strange – visitors, shouting, arguing?’

‘They had the occasional loud argument where she would scream that it was all his fault. But don’t we all do that – blame our partners?’

‘Yep, sounds right,’ Bryant chimed in.

‘Any suspicion of violence between the couple or the boys?’

Rachel looked genuinely shocked at the question.

‘No way. There was barely anyone who knew they were alive, so I don’t imagine anyone having any grief with them.’ She narrowed her eyes. ‘Is he dead?’

‘Thank you for your time. You’ve been an incredible help,’ Kim said not unpleasantly.

‘You’re welcome. I suppose I’d best go shower my two with E numbers as a reward.’

Kim smiled as she walked away.

‘Well, don’t you want it then?’ Rachel called after them.

‘Want what?’ Kim asked.

‘The registration number of the Transit van.’

Twenty-Two

Kim felt the exhaustion of the day seep into her bones as she perched her behind on the edge of the spare desk. There was no way that it had only been that morning that Woody had hit her with the Frost drive along. Looking around her team, it appeared they all felt the same way.

‘Okay, guys, quick catch-up and then time to call it a night,’ she said, glancing at the board, which had been updated with very little detail.