Chapter 69
Sixty-Nine
A drive through the Hollytree Estate was never a pleasant experience for anyone, but for Kim it meant revisiting the worst memories of her life, ones she fought to keep at the back of her mind.
Sometimes they seeped into her consciousness.
She remembered sitting on the fence next to the bin after school with Mikey because sometimes the old lady in one of the ground-floor flats brought out her rubbish at quarter to four.
If she saw them sitting there, she didn’t put the bag straight into the bin; she placed it on the ground.
Sometimes there was a cheese sandwich and some Ritz biscuits in there.
As Kim had portioned it out between the two of them, she’d marvel at how wasteful the old lady was.
It wasn’t until much later she’d realised she wasn’t wasteful. She was just kind.
Kim lowered her gaze and checked her phone as they passed the three tower blocks at the estate’s centre. Chaucer House still had the power to send a finger of fear along her spine.
‘Anything?’ Bryant asked.
‘No,’ she answered, although neither of them yet expected a response. Stacey had been told to try and track down Lucinda Butler. In between attempts to raise her on the phone, the constable was researching her background for family members and other clues.
Kim raised her head once the towers were far behind them.
Bryant said nothing as he parked the car close to the last row of maisonettes.
Kim’s attention was drawn to a figure standing at the front door of the end house. From Penn’s description, it was clearly Lyra Chance, but she lived at the next property along.
As she unbuckled her seat belt, she watched Lyra walk away and enter her own home.
‘Stay here,’ Kim said as Bryant made to exit the vehicle. She didn’t trust a car as tempting as his to remain there for long. At the very least, its wheels would be taken with the speed and accuracy of a Formula One pit stop team.
‘You sure?’ he asked doubtfully.
‘I’ll be right back,’ she said, closing the door behind her. She stepped away from the car, narrowly missing a soiled nappy by the front wheel.
The door was opened by the woman she’d just seen go in. After a quick up and down appraisal, Lyra frowned, astutely identifying her as a copper.
Kim took out her ID to confirm what the woman already suspected.
‘Detective Inspector Kim Stone. May I have a word?’
‘Why?’ Lyra asked, not stepping aside.
‘Final welfare checks for Ava,’ Kim lied.
‘For what? The kid’ll be here at five.’
Her stomach churned. She had known it was pretty much a done deal, but knowing there was an exact time filled her with fear.
‘And why’s a DI involved? A bit below your pay grade, ain’t it?’ Lyra continued, showing a bit more intelligence than Kim had given her credit for.
‘Extra precautions since she’s the child of a murder victim. We have to ensure her safety until the murderer is caught,’ Kim said, lying again, although she had to admit that was a good one.
‘Oh, I suppose so,’ Lyra said, moving aside. ‘But you’ll find nothing here to harm her. We’ll protect her like she’s our own.’
Given how Penn said they’d reacted to their eldest child’s injury, that was what worried her.
The rest of the family were in the living room. All three children were sprawled on the sofa watching some kind of slasher film that was clearly too old for them. Warren sat on the armchair, wearing nothing but underpants.
‘What now?’ he asked, looking up from his phone with no embarrassment at his state of undress.
‘Final checks, Mr Chance,’ Kim said, making no effort to sit down.
‘What is she – fucking royalty?’ he asked before laughing at his own joke.
‘I’ve already explained to your—’
‘Fine by me. Look around. One last tidy-up and the place will be…’ His words trailed away as the sound of a slap cracked in the air. It was immediately followed by a cry.
Kim’s gaze went to the children on the sofa.
‘She bit me,’ the eldest child exclaimed, holding up his forearm. He waved it around the room so everyone could see his injury. Sure enough, there were two red arcs that had almost broken the skin.
‘I’ll bite yer as well if you don’t pipe down and watch the film,’ Warren said.
The girl stopped crying. A red mark was forming on her cheek.
‘Kids, eh?’ Lyra said from behind.
Kim tried to imagine Ava amongst this gang. She couldn’t even imagine the fun these kids would have with Ava’s prosthetic. Nothing in her childhood had prepared her for this.
A feeling of sickness overwhelmed her.
‘You wanna see upstairs?’ Lyra asked.
No, she really didn’t. What she wholeheartedly wanted to do was grab the Chances by their throats and throw them around the room for the heartbreak they’d caused. She wanted half an hour with the children to teach them some manners. She wanted the power to prevent the inevitable.
‘No, I’ve seen enough, thank you. I’ll see myself out.’
She headed at speed for the front door and closed it behind her.
As she leaned against it, a head popped out of the neighbour’s property. ‘Everything okay?’
Kim nodded and walked towards her.
The woman stepped out and pulled the door closed behind her, looking back furtively.
‘You sure everything’s okay?’ she repeated. The woman’s efforts to appear as though nothing was amiss was having the exact opposite effect.
A niggle of alarm shot through her. This woman couldn’t have been any clearer that she was hiding something if she’d been holding a sign.
‘I’m good. What about yourself?’ Kim asked, standing before her.
‘Yeah, yeah, all good. Just checking.’
‘Lyra was here a minute ago,’ Kim said, crossing her arms.
Fear seeped into her features. ‘Yeah, we’re neighbours. Always popping in and out. Just having a chat, you know, passing the time of day, like neighbours do.’
Her determination to show that it had been just an innocent chat told Kim it was anything but.
Kim considered the woman’s manner combined with what was happening later.
‘Dropping something off, was she?’ Kim asked, moving towards the door.
‘Just a bit of shopping. Good as gold she is.’
Kim wondered if she had any idea that every time she opened her mouth, she inflated Kim’s suspicions more. Lyra was definitely not a woman given to assisting anyone other than herself, and this lady looked perfectly able to fetch her own shopping.
‘Oh yeah, like what?’
‘Just stuff.’
‘I think you’re lying to me, but without a warrant there’s not a lot I can do. So, guess what – I’m just gonna ask you a couple of questions and trust you tell me the truth. Save us both a lot of bother, eh?’
The woman shrugged.
‘I’m assuming Lyra has dropped something off that she’s going to collect later?’
‘Maybe.’
‘Something she doesn’t want in the home when social services turn up?’
The reddening of the woman’s face answered the question.
Kim sighed heavily and walked away. She’d bet her house that the Chances’ stash of weed had just travelled from one maisonette to the other.
‘Fuck,’ she cursed, getting into the car.
Bryant offered no response when she told him to head to Stacey’s.
She had wanted to see this family for herself. She had wanted to look for any evidence that they weren’t as bad as they all thought – that Ava could be happy. That the child would be cared for and comforted. She’d desperately searched for redeeming features, and she had found none.
She just prayed Stacey had found another relative by the time they got there.