dentist near him. Nothing worked. I told you — he was sensitive, see?’ She shrugged. ‘I looked after his teeth best I could from then.’
‘But why did nobody else know who Russell was or report him missing?’
‘We’d just moved into the cottage two days before. Nobody knew us.’
‘And that made it the right time for Rusty to carry out his plan,’ observed Brook.
Yvette looked down at the table. ‘We’d had to leave Prestatyn because Russell was being bullied. We hadn’t even started the new school. Only the landlord knew I was in Denbigh and he never saw Russell. They’d gone out for a walk together. My two lovely boys.’ She smiled wistfully, then her face hardened as she looked at the picture of the hanging. ‘We left at the end of the month. Me and Rusty. The school weren’t going to fret over a boy they’d never seen. Besides, if anyone asked, Rusty had become my son.’
‘So your son, Russell, just ceased to exist,’ concluded Brook. ‘Why not just send Rusty to the new school instead of Russell?’
‘I couldn’t live there after what had happened. What sort of person do you think I am?’
Brook glanced up at Noble’s expression of disgust. PC Patel was trying to keep a poker face. ‘So you moved away again.’
‘Yes.’
‘And got rid of all the pictures of your son.’
‘Rusty said I had to, if he was going to take Russell’s place properly. He had to become him in every way. He was very good at it. He dressed like him, talked like him, picked up all Russell’s mannerisms, pretended he was shy and nervous. .’
‘. . but he was far from that,’ said Brook. ‘He changed your son from victim into bully. He couldn’t help himself, could he? How ironic. He became just as much trouble to schools as Russell had been; only this time others were on the receiving end of
‘There were some issues, yes.’
‘Issues with your new son’s behaviour that meant you had to keep moving around as much as before.’
‘We didn’t mind as long as we could be together, don’t you see?’ pleaded Yvette.
‘Perfectly. You were so desperate and needy that you allowed your lover to kill your son.’
‘You’re making me sound like a monster.’
Noble snorted from his position at the back wall.
‘Am I?’ said Brook, flashing Noble an admonishing glance.
‘You know you are. You’re twisting everything. And I’m not stupid. I know that’s how it looks but I’m really not. I was a good mother but Russell was dead,’ explained Yvette. ‘Don’t you get it? I didn’t know it was going to happen, but it did. There was nothing I could do to bring Russell back.’
‘If there had been, would you have done it?’
Yvette fiddled with the hem of her skirt and absorbed the question. ‘Of course.’
‘Even if it meant standing up to your lover?’
‘I’m a mother,’ insisted Yvette. ‘I would have done anything to protect my son.’
Brook was silent for a moment. ‘Let’s move on to your relationship with Len Poole.’
‘What relationship?’
‘You tell me,’ said Brook. ‘There’s no reason to hide things now, is there?’
Yvette stared at him for a few minutes before coming to a decision. ‘I suppose not.’
‘Start by telling us when you first met him.’
‘I was fourteen. He was at the orphanage.’
‘St Asaph’s School for Boys and Girls?’
Yvette smiled. ‘Girls? I was never a girl. I was a woman. Everyone could see that. Len noticed me as soon as he arrived. He appreciated me, bought me little gifts and gave me money for clothes.’
‘In return for sex.’
‘Don’t be disgusting,’ she yelled, standing up. ‘Do you think I’m a whore?’
‘Sit down, please,’ ordered PC Patel, placing her hands on Yvette’s shoulders and pushing her firmly back into her chair.
‘No,’ said Brook steadily, when she’d calmed down. ‘Far from it. You were under age. Len was an adult. He had a duty of care. Anything you felt pressured to do with him, no matter how severe or gentle that pressure, was the result of his criminal behaviour.’
Yvette’s breathing returned to normal. ‘He said he loved me.’
‘Len?’
‘Yes.’
‘You had sex with him while you were at the orphanage,’ said Brook quietly.
A pause. ‘Not actually at the orphanage,’ she replied. Brook looked at her, waiting. ‘Yes,’ she said almost inaudibly.
‘Louder, please.’
‘Yes,’ she repeated, her face like thunder.
Brook glanced across at Noble, who left the room, his face set hard, concealing the merest hint of anticipation.
‘Detective Sergeant Noble has left the room,’ announced Brook for the tape. He looked back at Yvette. ‘You became pregnant at the orphanage?’ She nodded.
‘Please answer yes or no for the tape.’
‘Yes.’
‘Was Len Poole the father?’ She lifted her head as though trying to remember. Brook assumed she was calculating if the knowledge still possessed monetary value. When she’d decided that it didn’t, she was able to answer.
‘Yes. Len was Russell’s father.’
‘And so you were able to persuade him that he should provide for you and Russell, in exchange for your silence.’
She was amused by Brook’s diplomacy. ‘Persuade, yes. I
‘And he provided that living because if his paternity ever came to light, he would be ruined,’ said Brook. Yvette shrugged as if only just realising. ‘So wherever he moved, he would send for you and set you up in a place nearby.’
She smiled. ‘Something like that.’
‘And give you money.’
‘Yes.’
‘Cash?’
‘Always.’
‘Even after he married his late wife?’
‘Len was aware of his responsibilities,’ said Yvette carefully.
Brook paused before the next question. ‘Did the sexual relationship continue after Russell’s birth?’
‘I’m not a whore,’ repeated Yvette. ‘I don’t have sex for money.’
‘Is that a no?’
‘That’s a no.’
‘Because once you left the orphanage carrying his child, you had the upper hand in your relationship.’
She shrugged again. ‘You could say.’
‘But something changed recently, didn’t it?’ Yvette opened her mouth to speak but thought better of it. ‘When I called last night, Len was at your house, wasn’t he?’
She looked up, startled. ‘How did you know?’
‘I didn’t. But I knew you had somebody with you and I suspected it was either Adam Rifkind or Len.’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘You know about Adam?’
‘Not for certain, but he called you Eve when we dropped in on his lecture. That automatically makes him a
