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Kim admired her youthful optimism that they could catch a killer within twelve hours. Either teenage naïveté or watching too many police dramas.
‘Not yet but we will,’ Kim said as Will came back into the room.
‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Nicola said, hedging past her father. Pickles followed closely behind.
‘Here, this is her laptop and work diary but…’ He stopped speaking as he handed them over.
‘But?’ Bryant asked.
‘I was going to say she’ll need them back by tonight.’
‘It’ll take a while,’ Kim said, passing the belongings to Bryant. She turned back to Will. ‘Sorry but may I use the bathroom before we leave?’
‘Of course – just down the hallway.’
Kim headed right for the kitchen.
‘Oh, sorry, I was looking for the loo,’ she said to Nicola’s back.
‘No you weren’t cos you walked right past it.’
Pickles was busy munching his way through a bowl of food, and the girl was mixing batter for a waffle iron. A selection of berries and syrups were evident on the counter. Someone still had a healthy appetite.
‘So, your dad bought you Pickles as a birthday present?’ Kim asked as a warm-up.
‘No, he bought him for me as an adjustment present when I moved schools to live here and lost all my friends.’
‘Oh, I see.’
‘Do you really?’ Nicola asked, turning towards her. ‘So, I suppose you already know that it was impossible to make new friends once anyone found out who my stepmother was. You know how it felt to have spooky noises called out at me all day? How everyone asked if I saw dead people too?’
Kim watched the multitude of emotions pass over her face. ‘I’m assuming you never grew close over the years?’
‘Tolerance is the best way to sum us both up. Sandy was only interested in my dad. I was the unfortunate baggage that came with him. She wasn’t the maternal type, and I’d have rebuffed any efforts of that nature anyway. I had a mother. She died.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Kim said, hearing the pain in those last two words.
‘Thanks, but you didn’t know her. We were okay, Dad and me – we were getting through it. He was starting to smile again. And then he met her and everything changed.’
Kim couldn’t help wondering if this was perhaps the longest tantrum ever recorded. Many people had other relationships after the death of a loved one. It seemed that a great deal of change had hit Nicola during adolescence. That had to have been tough, but it was surprising that the animosity hadn’t diminished over the years.
‘Your father appeared to love Sandy very much,’ Kim offered gently. ‘You don’t begrudge him a second shot at happiness?’
‘Of course not,’ she snapped, pouring the batter mixture into the waffle iron.
Yet there was something that Nicola had been unable to forgive. She waited for the girl to continue.
‘I never wanted him to be on his own forever. I don’t begrudge the fact they met. I just hate the way they met. It sickens me to my stomach, and I could never forgive her for that.’
FIVE
‘They met when she gave him a reading?’ Bryant asked incredulously as they got into the car.
‘Oh yeah, he was looking to communicate with his recently deceased wife, who met an untimely end in a hit and run.’
‘How recent was her demise?’ Bryant asked as Kim sent a text message.
‘Two months.’
