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‘Oh, Jesus,’ she groaned.
‘It’s a pear.’
‘Pair of what?’ she asked, knowing she was going to find out whether she asked or not.
‘Pear as in fruit. It’s a variety originally found in Perton and dates back to before the eighteenth century. They’re small and dry and used for making perry.’
‘Okay, marginally better than talking about Stacey’s love life but still not scintillating conversation.’
He shrugged as though he had nothing better to offer and took a left turn behind a small park.
‘That one,’ Kim said, pointing to a semi-detached red brick house with a small Citroën on the drive.
‘Still living with parents?’ Bryant asked, parking the car.
‘Unless he makes more from deceiving people than we thought,’ she said, getting out the car.
Bryant grunted his agreement as they headed up the path.
The door was opened on the first knock by the male Kim had seen talking to Tiff. He was barefoot, wearing jeans and a band T-shirt.
‘Neil Dobson?’ she asked, showing her ID.
He nodded and opened the door. ‘This is about Victoria, isn’t it?’
The news had hit the media an hour earlier.
‘We just have a couple of questions,’ she said, following him into a lounge that was a study in the oatmeal colour palette.
‘Please sit down,’ he said, waiting to see where they landed before taking a seat himself. ‘Can I get you anything?’
Despite what he did to earn a few quid, she couldn’t fault his manners.
‘No, we just need to ask about your relationship with Victoria.’
‘Of course,’ he said, pulling out a foot stool and placing it in front of the television. ‘I mean, I can’t quite believe she’s gone.’
‘Were you close?’ Kim asked, hoping to gauge the level of their relationship.
‘I wouldn’t say close. We had a laugh now and again.’
Kim wanted to ask if they laughed together about the people they duped in her show. The image of the two of them chuckling conspiratorially behind Tink’s back warmed her blood by a couple of degrees, but she held it in check.
‘We both like the old Carry On films,’ he said, clarifying, when Kim remained silent. ‘Inappropriate, I know, but we used to laugh about them.’
‘You worked for her?’ Kim asked, moving along.
‘Kind of,’ he said cagily.
‘You provided a service and received money?’ she rephrased.
He nodded.
‘Mr Dobson, there’s little point hiding exactly what you did for Victoria. We already know that you pumped audience members for personal information and then fed it back to Victoria for her to use in her show.’
His surprise at the depth of her knowledge was evident. He made no effort to deny it.
‘Can you tell us how that started?’
