Chapter 27
Twenty-Seven
‘Domestic violence,’ Kim repeated. ‘Against who?’
‘His then wife,’ Stacey answered.
‘And he still got custody of the boys? Okay, thanks, Stace. Send the address to Bryant. Have you got anything else for me?’
‘Not yet,’ Stacey said before ending the call.
‘Got it,’ Bryant said, taking out his phone. He seemed to know the location without his satnav as he turned the car around.
‘Come on – spit it out,’ Bryant said. ‘What are you thinking?’
‘Maybe we’ve been looking in the wrong direction. Perhaps we should have been looking closer to home. Why would Daniel Reynolds be so keen to head off with his daughter? It’s not even been two days.’
‘Perhaps he—’
‘Normally folks are—’
‘Ah, it’s that kind of conversation,’ Bryant said. ‘Give me a nudge when you want my input.’
‘Will do. My point is that relatives and loved ones usually want to remain close, eager for updates. They need time to adjust. They want to be around familiar places and people. It doesn’t make sense.’ She paused. Bryant said nothing. ‘Talk,’ she said grudgingly.
‘Not everyone reacts the same way, guv. Maybe being around everything familiar is too painful for him. Perhaps he genuinely feels it would be best for Ava if she was away from the house for a few days.’
‘A few days? There was enough stuff in that car for a month.’
‘Never packed for kids, eh?’ he asked. ‘Not everyone can exist on two pairs of trousers, three tee shirts, one leather jacket and a pair of biker boots. Kids’ stuff takes up a lot of space.’
‘Why? Their clothes are small,’ she countered.
‘Yeah but they need a lot of ’em. They spill a lot,’ he said then paused. ‘You really think he could have done it?’
‘Well, someone did, and who knows what goes on behind closed doors? Maybe they weren’t the happy couple everyone assumed they were. What if the child she was carrying wasn’t even his and he found out about an affair and—?’
‘Guv, you been watching soap operas lately? There’s absolutely nothing to suggest there was anything untoward going on.’
‘But you can’t know that. You don’t live there.’
‘No, but Ava does, and I am capable of doing more than talking about Paddington Bear or Lilo and Stitch when you send me off on babysitting duty.’
‘Oh. Yeah, okay.’
‘Ava is a very sensible little girl who felt loved by both parents. Her favourite thing in the whole wide world is when the three of them snuggle under a blanket with a box of Maltesers and watch a film together like they did the night before her mummy went to heaven.’
‘Bryant, I don’t need—’
‘The movie was Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but Ava says her parents didn’t see much of the movie because they were too busy smooching.’
‘Look, you might be willing to accept this Disney version of their life, but ultimately Ashley is dead, and her husband is acting strangely. Forgive me for not being so easily convinced.’
Bryant sighed heavily. ‘Oh, that level of cynicism must be a heavy load to bear.’
Kim didn’t bother to answer as he pulled up outside a house in Dudley Wood.
She’d met many families who had seemed the perfect picture only to find a very different story inside the book. Daniel’s name stayed on her mental list until she could explain his strange behaviour.
‘Now this guy is another story,’ Bryant said as they approached the door.
It was answered on the second ring by a woman in her mid-thirties. Her red hair was tied up in a ponytail and a paint brush was in her hand.
‘Mrs Butler?’
She stepped aside before they’d even attempted to identify themselves.
‘Come in – we’ve been expecting you.’
As she said this, the man of the house came down the stairs, wiping his hands on his paint-spattered jeans.
‘Just painting the boys’ room,’ he said tightly.
‘We were led to understand that your ex-wife has—’
‘For now,’ he said, cutting her off as he edged past them and headed to the kitchen.
Evidence of the boys’ existence was everywhere Kim looked. Photos, wellington boots, jackets, bikes.
He may have relinquished custody of the boys, but the majority of their possessions hadn’t followed them. Clearly, he was awaiting their return.
Joe and his wife took seats at the table. The woman pulled her chair closer to her husband.
‘Lucinda and I were waiting for your visit,’ he said, repeating her words.
‘Why’s that?’ Kim asked.
‘It’s no secret I was angry with Ashley Reynolds. Now she’s dead,’ he said, opening his hands.
‘You feel she failed you?’ Kim asked once Bryant was seated beside her.
‘She did fail him,’ Lucinda answered before her husband had a chance to respond.
‘But wasn’t her report favourable to you?’
‘It was, but it didn’t go far enough. She’s been involved for five years – she knows me, Abby and our boys.’
‘What more could she have done?’ Kim asked.
‘She could have declared Abby unfit to parent them. She could have stated that her mental health hadn’t improved and that she would be a danger to them. She didn’t.’
‘Isn’t that the remit of a mental health professional?’ Kim asked, knowing such a statement would have been beyond the woman’s expertise and an overreach of authority that would have given her report less credibility with the judge.
‘Does it matter who says it as long as it gets the right result?’ Lucinda spat.
Joe put his hand on her arm.
Lucinda protested and continued. ‘No, love, she needs to know the truth. Ashley knew the boys should have stayed with us. She knew they were happy, healthy and well cared for. She knew Abby was a waste of fucking space, but she wouldn’t put any of that in her report. It was her fault we lost them.’
He nodded his agreement.
Kim realised there was no point trying to explain that Ashley’s role was to report on the boys and their home life, stability, education and welfare.
That was it. Her job didn’t entail managing the whole situation.
Her job was to assess the best place for the boys, and she had done that.
On this occasion, the judge hadn’t agreed with her.
‘You were quite vocal in your anger towards her,’ Kim challenged him.
‘Wouldn’t you be?’ Lucinda cried.
Kim ignored her and waited for a response from the person she’d come here to question.
‘They are everything to us,’ he said, squeezing his wife’s hand. ‘We made a family, and we did everything together. They were thriving, they felt safe and—’
‘Do you know what one of the boys did when I was taking a couple of aspirin for a headache?’ Lucinda interrupted, fixing her gaze on Kim.
‘He knocked the bottle from my hand and told me he didn’t want me to die.
Kids should never see that kind of thing, but every time Abby tried to hurt herself, the boys were there. ’
‘I lost two jobs through fear of what was going on at home,’ Joe agreed.
Kim didn’t doubt the intensity of his love for his children. It was evident everywhere she looked. Problem was, the more he demonstrated it, the more she saw his motive for killing the person he felt had taken them away.
‘Your anger can sometimes get the better of you though, can’t it?’ Kim asked.
‘If you’re referring to the domestic violence charge, I admit it. I admitted it to the police officers who attended that day, and I admitted it to the judge. I hit her. I punched her, and I shouldn’t have done.’
‘Tell her why,’ Lucinda urged.
‘I got home early one night. Just a feeling in my stomach. Abby had tied a noose to the ceiling fan in the bedroom and sat the boys in front of it.
‘The stage was set for another suicide attempt to be rescued from. She’d have the attention she craved. But the boys would have seen everything, so yes, I punched her. Yes, I knocked her out and then spent the next six months in anger management therapy. It’s not something I’d ever do again.’
Lucinda squeezed his arm, but Kim wasn’t so easily convinced. His rage sometimes reached a level that was beyond his control.
‘Thanks for sharing that. I still need to know where you were on Sunday night.’
‘I was here.’
‘So was I,’ Lucinda said, even though Kim hadn’t asked her. ‘I mean, I can confirm that,’ she corrected herself.
‘Is there anyone who can corroborate that?’
They both shook their heads.
Kim thanked them for their time and headed for the door, not convinced by either them or their alibi.
There was a lot of anger around that kitchen table and not all of it came from Joe.
The man had already shown he was capable of violence against women, and Lucinda would follow him wherever he led. Maybe Penn’s two-person theory held more weight than she’d thought.