It was a good joke, but Slider did not want to encourage this state of mind. He made his face stern and said, ‘She is dead, sir.’
It was probably the ‘sir’ that dampened him as much as anything. ‘I’m sorry. I’m a bit nervous. Police, murder, that sort of thing. Poor old Zellah. She didn’t deserve that. I really did feel awful when I heard.’
‘She came here quite often, I believe?’
‘Oh, yes. Well, she was mates with my sister, Chloë, and her mate, Sophy?’ He looked at Slider to see if he knew, and Slider nodded. ‘The three of them used to come here a lot. Mostly on Saturday mornings. I didn’t mind. I’m fond of old Chlo. We’ve always got on. She was my favourite sister at home. And Soph – well, that girl’s a nutter. But she’s a laugh. Well, she and Zellah did ballet class together on Saturday mornings, and they used to come here afterwards to meet up with Chlo. Sometimes they’d go off together and do stuff, sometimes they’d hang around here, or I’d take them out to lunch if I wasn’t doing anything. It was a laugh. There were four of them at one time – this girl Frieda Mossman was one of the gang, but they dropped her for some reason. Some girly fight or other. I didn’t ask. After that, the three of them were even tighter. Sometimes they’d call round after school, as well. I wasn’t usually here, but Chlo had a key and let them in. She and Soph could have seen each other at home, but Zellah couldn’t have people back to her house, so it was somewhere for them to hang.’
Slider noticed that Zellah wasn’t ‘Zell’. ‘How did Zellah fit in with the other two? Was it an equal, three-way relationship?’ he asked.
‘Oh, Soph was the ringleader. She’s the noisy one. She’s a laugh, that girl! Zellah was the quiet one.’ He frowned in thought. ‘It was hard to make her out, really. She never seemed to say much. You couldn’t tell what she was thinking. Sort of . . . closed up, if you know what I mean. But you couldn’t push her around. I mean, Sophy’s the sort to walk all over you if you let her. Old Chloë was pretty much putty in her hands, but I’ve heard Zellah put her foot down. Just quietly, you know – no fuss – but that was it. If she said she didn’t want to do something, Soph couldn’t make her. And vice versa.’
‘Vice versa?’
‘If she wanted to do something, they couldn’t talk her out of it.’
‘Have you an instance in mind when they tried to talk her out of something?’
He looked uneasy, jiggling his knees faster, rubbing his nose, scratching his head. ‘Well, not really. Nothing in particular. Just . . . general observation.’
Slider tried a slightly different question. ‘What did she want to do that the others disapproved of?’
‘Oh, it wasn’t Chlo, it was Sophy. She didn’t like . . .’ He cast Slider an anxious look as he clammed up.
Slider took a punt. ‘She didn’t like Mike Carmichael?’
‘Oh, you know about him?’ It was only partly relief. The jiggling went on as he patently tried to work out how much Slider knew about Carmichael and his usefulness to society.
Slider sighed. ‘Mr Paulson, we have to have a frank conversation. I am involved in a murder investigation, and I can’t have it clogged up with lesser considerations. So let me just tell you that I know Carmichael was supplying you and your friends with drugs for your personal recreational use, and that I’m not concerned with that.’
‘You mean you’re not going to . . .? I mean, even if I were, you know – not that I’m saying I was – but you wouldn’t, you know, take it any further?’
‘Just answer my questions without holding anything back. If you are completely honest with me there will be no consequences for you or your friends over anything Carmichael has supplied you with in the past. Does that satisfy you?’
‘I suppose so,’ he said, though with a hint of puzzlement, as if he were trying to analyse the actual words of the treaty, in case they could be made to mean something different. Slider could see why Paulson’s father was surprised by his good job and large income. ‘So, what were you asking?’ Paulson continued at last. ‘I’ve forgotten where we were.’
‘Sophy objected to Mike Carmichael.’
‘She didn’t like him,’ Paulson said plainly. ‘She thought he was a drone. I’m afraid our Soph is a bit of a snob, and once she knew he came from a housing estate, that was him. So when Zellah was obviously smitten with him, Soph went at her like fury. Harsh words were said. Well, poor old Zellah’s background is a bit on the gnarly side, you know? Sophy was well out of order, some of the things she said. But they made up, the way girls do. And the upshot was that Zellah was going out with Mike and there was nothing anyone could do about it.’
‘Zellah met Carmichael here, I understand?’
‘Oh, you know that? Well, yes. They called round one Saturday, the girls, when Mike was here. They all liked him right away – even Soph, until she found out he was from the Woodley South – but you could see Zellah was struck all of a heap. Well, he’s a good-looking guy, and a smooth operator, and I don’t think Zellah had much experience with boys. One smile from him and that kid was toast.’
‘Didn’t that worry you?’
He looked puzzled, then it cleared. ‘What, you mean because Mike’s a . . . because of the . . .? No, Mike’s a stand-up guy. I like him. He’s a decent bloke. He wouldn’t give drugs to a kid like her. And you could see he liked her.’
‘Did any of the girls take drugs?’
‘No!’ he said, seeming shocked at the question. ‘I’m certain Chlo doesn’t, and I’m pretty sure Zellah wouldn’t – she was very strait-laced about some things. Sophy – well, she’s a savvy kid, and she doesn’t care what she does. But I reckon that’s more talk than action. They never took drugs here. And I don’t keep anything in the house, so they couldn’t have found anything by accident, I promise you that.’
‘You say Zellah was strait-laced about some things. What wasn’t she strait-laced about?’
‘Well . . .’ He looked uncomfortable. ‘She and Mike – I mean, she’s just a kid, but they weren’t just friends, if you know what I mean.’
‘You mean they were having sex,’ Slider said calmly. Odd that he was so embarrassed about it. Grown-up-ness seemed to exist in discrete patches in his generation.
‘Mike talked about it a bit,’ he said awkwardly. ‘I mean, not details, obviously, but he said she was really uninhibited. Wild in bed. He seemed a bit uneasy about it sometimes. I mean, he was obviously into her, but I think he thought she was a bit too into him, if you know what I mean. I mean, she was very young. It must have been a bit of a responsibility.’
‘Were Sophy and Chloë having sexual relationships as well?’
‘I doubt it. Chloë’s as innocent as the day is long. They talked about it a lot – honestly, sometimes they could make me blush, the way they talked about sex and boys and so on. But I think that was all bluff. Sophy wanted to sound like a hard case, and Chlo would do whatever Soph did. I’d bet they never went further than snogging. But then little Zellah, who wouldn’t say boo to a goose, steps right in and does the deed. No fuss, no muss. All the way. It’d make you laugh.’ But he didn’t laugh. He was thoughtful now. ‘I think maybe that’s partly why Soph was so mad about her and Mike – not just that Mike was lower class, but that Zellah had done what she didn’t dare to do.’
‘Do you think she disapproved?’
‘What, of the whole sex thing? Yeah, maybe she did. But she’d run her mouth so often about doing it and not caring that she couldn’t go back on it now.’ He looked at Slider propitiatingly. ‘You know what girls are like. Worse than boys for boasting and talking dirty. They egg each other on. It’d make a cat blush, sometimes, the things they say.’