‘Mmm.’ Kathy felt her eyelids drooping. ‘Sorry I didn’t get to meet Suzanne.’
‘Another time… hopefully.’
‘At least you must have plenty of spare beds here now.’ She remembered crisp white sheets from an earlier visit.
‘Absolutely. And I can manage to supply breakfast. But I make toast in an electric toaster these days.’
‘Thank goodness for that.’
19
‘I t’s about the photographs, is it?’ Mrs Tait asked. ‘You wanted to show them to Naomi?’
‘That and one or two other things, Mrs Tait. You remember Detective Chief Inspector Brock, don’t you?’
‘Course. Come in and sit down.’
Her husband straightened himself in his armchair as they came into the sitting room. He looked out of sorts, as if he’d just lost an argument. ‘Blimey,’ he muttered. ‘How many coppers does it take to change a bleedin’ lightbulb?’
‘Jack!’ his wife hissed, and said to Kathy, ‘Did you want to speak to Naomi in her room?’
‘We’d like you to be present, if you don’t mind, Mrs Tait,’ Kathy said, although of all the interviews with juveniles she’d conducted, she suspected that this one would have been a lot easier if they hadn’t had to have the relative present.
‘Sit down and I’ll fetch her then.’ She shot a warning look at her husband and hurried out.
‘Goin’ to snow, then, is it?’ he asked belligerently.
‘Could be.’
‘Last time it snowed the central heating packed in. Sod’s Law, innit?’
Kathy smiled. ‘Has Naomi got to go to work today?’
‘Yes. All weathers. She’s not put off by a bit of weather.’
‘Do you and Mrs Tait get over to Silvermeadow to see her when she’s working?’
‘The wife goes sometimes. Not me. Can’t be bothered, waiting for a bus.’
‘No,’ Kathy said, looking aimlessly round the room, at the new lottery ticket on the mantelpiece, the photo of the other sister. ‘Must have been easier for you when Kimberley was around. I suppose she had a car.’
Jack Tait frowned suspiciously at Kathy, then looked up as his wife and Naomi came in.
‘What was that?’ Mrs Tait asked. ‘Who had a car?’
‘We were talking about getting to Silvermeadow,’ Kathy said. ‘I suppose it was easier when Kimberley could take you there in her car.’
‘Oh, yes, she had a nice little car. What was it, Jack? A Renault, wasn’t it? But she didn’t go to Silvermeadow. She worked down Barking way, and if she wanted the shops she would go to Thurrock. She took me there several times. Jack didn’t come.’
‘Did she never go to Silvermeadow?’ Kathy asked.
‘I don’t think that she ever did. Did she, love?’ She turned to Naomi, who shrugged indifferently. ‘Anyway, how can we help you?’
Kathy showed Naomi the photographs. She studied each one slowly before shaking her head.
‘What about the little girl?’ Kathy asked, pointing at the picture, but again the answer was no.
‘So what’s this in aid of then?’ Jack Tait said. ‘I thought you’d found the bastard who was responsible for Kerri. The papers said he topped himself.’
‘There are still some loose ends, Mr Tait.’ Brock spoke for the first time, very deliberately. ‘And we’re pretty sure that Naomi can help us sort them out.’ He looked at the girl, who slowly raised her eyes and met his.
‘Like what?’ her grandfather demanded.
‘The man you just referred to, he died from an overdose of a drug.’
Mr Tait snorted with disgust. ‘Figures.’
‘This drug is manufactured as an anaesthetic, for animals.’
Kathy sensed both grandparents stiffen as this sank in. But Naomi, still and attentive, her eyes fixed on Brock’s face, showed no reaction at all.
‘It’s known as Ketapet, and it’s used by vets. In fact it’s one of the drugs that Kimberley was accused of stealing from-’
‘Now just wait a minute!’ Jack Tait half rose out of his seat, face reddening with anger.
‘Jack!’ his wife interrupted sharply. ‘I’m sure they’re not suggesting there’s any connection with Kimberley.’
‘Well, yes, I’m afraid there is, Mrs Tait. We’ve established that it was exactly the same batch of that drug that Kimberley took. Isn’t that right, Naomi?’
‘Naomi?’ her grandmother cried, horrified. ‘What’s it got to do with Naomi?’
‘I’d like her to tell us,’ Brock insisted.
The girl continued staring at him for a moment, then lowered her eyes. ‘I don’t know,’ she said softly. ‘I don’t know anything about it.’
Jack Tait immediately said, ‘There!’ His wife just stared at Naomi for a moment, then got up and went and sat by her side, putting an arm round her shoulders.
‘Naomi,’ Kathy said, ‘please tell us everything you know. It’s very important. You remember when I told you about the drug we’d found in Wiff ’s den? And you asked what the drug was? When I told you ketamine you were shocked and upset. You knew, didn’t you? Well, we found Wiff later that night, and Speedy. Both of them were dead, from overdoses of ketamine, the same stuff your sister had.’
Mrs Tait put a hand to her mouth, looking as if some familiar horror was revisiting her, but Naomi was as unmoved as before. ‘No,’ she said calmly. ‘I told you what I thought. I knew that Kerri had tried K, and I thought Wiff might have been killed by the same man as gave it to her.’
‘But how could it possibly be the same batch as your sister had?’
‘I dunno. I s’pose she must have sold it to someone, and they sold it to someone else. How would I know? You can give me a blood test if you like-I’ve never touched that stuff.’
‘But your gran just told us that Kimberley never went to Silvermeadow. Whereas you-’
‘You tricked me into saying that!’ Mrs Tait said indignantly. ‘I don’t know whether she went or not. She may have done, without telling me. But Naomi’s a good girl. She wouldn’t get mixed up-’
Her husband raised himself unsteadily to his feet, face furious. ‘I’ve ’ad enough of this.’ His voice choked with phlegm and he fought to continue, his good hand pointing at the door. ‘You get out, you hear? Get out!’
Brock got to his feet. ‘No need to get upset, Mr Tait. We’re going. We had to ask these questions, you understand. Last thing we want is to cause you more upset, especially at this time of year.’ He looked again at Naomi, giving her a kindly grin when she looked up. She made a sad little smile in return, and Mrs Tait, somewhat mollified, showed them to the door.
As they made their way along the deck, Brock muttered, ‘Yes, she knows.’ ‘You think?’
‘I’m sure of it. She had the same look that those two kids had when they showed me their handiwork with the tree. She knows exactly how her sister’s Ketapet got to Silvermeadow. But she’s thought her story through, and she’s very cool.’
He stopped at the stairs, resting his hands on the concrete wall as he thought about it. From below they could hear the footsteps of someone climbing up.
‘Her friend Lisa isn’t so tough,’ Kathy said.
‘That’s what I was thinking.’
The figure of a man emerged out of the gloom of the stairway. He glanced up and they recognised Gavin Lowry, looking even paler and more pinched than usual.
‘They told me you’d be over here,’ he said, slightly out of breath, vapour rising from his mouth. ‘Thought I’d see if I could help.’
‘Thanks,’ Brock replied. ‘How are things with you?’
Lowry shrugged. ‘Oh, you know, sir. Pretty shitty.’
‘Yes, I can imagine. Have you been talking to Connie?’
‘She won’t have it. Taken the kids to her parents. Told me to move out so she can come back.’
‘Maybe when the dust settles, Gavin,’ Brock said. ‘Sometimes it’s the secrecy that holds people together. Now it’s all out in the open she may have second thoughts.’