Fell Purpose

Suddenly she wanted to be popular, and hang around with the in girls, no matter how vapid they were.’

‘You didn’t understand it,’ Slider suggested.

‘Not from her. I mean, when we were younger, we all used to hang out together, and it didn’t matter. Sophy and Chloe and Zellah and me, and another couple of girls, Matilda and Polly, but they’ve left now. And then it all changed.’

‘When did it change?’

‘About eighteen months, two years ago. It used to be that ballet and ponies were the thing, and then suddenly it was nothing but boys. I stopped really liking Sophy and Chloe, but I thought Zellah was different. But she seemed to want to be in with them, so I stayed with her too, for a while. But it all got too silly.’

‘In what way?’

‘Sophy and Chloe were obsessed with sex,’ Frieda said scornfully. She clasped her hands between her knees, her toes pointing away from each other. A child’s unselfconscious pose. ‘It was all they talked about. It was like a competition between them over who could be most outrageous, have the most boyfriends, be the first to go all the way. It was just pathetic.’

‘Do you think they did go all the way?’

‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said shortly. ‘The thing was, Zellah went along with it, competed with them, boasted even worse than them. I’m sure they were convinced she had. They thought she was terrific for it. For being the first. How could anyone be so shallow? I couldn’t understand why Zellah did it.’

‘Maybe she just wanted to be liked.’

‘For that? Why?’ She seemed angry about it.

‘Did she have a lot of other friends?’

‘Not really. I was her best friend, up till then. She wasn’t allowed to have girls home, or to go out much after school, so it made it difficult for her. She was always a bit of a loner.’

‘Well, doesn’t that explain why she might want to try to fit in with girls like Sophy and Chloe?’ Slider said.

He was also thinking puberty, but the onset of that was not something he could or would discuss with Frieda, who didn’t look as if she was much bothered with it yet.

‘But she had me,’ Frieda said. ‘Or she did until she took up with that awful Mike.’

‘Was he awful?’

‘She didn’t think so. She was mad for him. Sophy hated him. After that they didn’t hang around together so much. Oh, but then she remembered she did have another friend,’ she added with a hint of bitterness. ‘When it was convenient to her.’

‘You?’

‘I covered for her. When she wanted to see Mike, I let her pretend she was visiting me. It was one of the few things her father let her do. She’d say she was coming to see me after ballet on Saturday, or after school, but really she was seeing Mike.’

‘Do you think she was in love with him?’ Slider asked, stroking the cat. It had settled, couching on his lap, eyes closed with bliss.

She considered carefully. ‘I think she was infatuated,’ she said decidedly. It was almost comical, the contrast between the adult vocabulary, and the little-girl form before him. ‘She thought she was in love, but when the real thing came along, she realized it was different from what she felt for Mike.’ She looked at him sternly, determined to keep him straight. ‘She didn’t say all this to me, you understand. It’s what I deduced. She never spoke much about her feelings. She was a very private person, really. But she was mad about Mike, but when she met the new man, she dropped Mike like a hot potato. I almost felt sorry for him – not that I think he was the type to care. But she really, really loved the new man. It was different. I could see it was different.’

Slider was almost holding his breath. ‘And who was the new man?’

‘I don’t know,’ Frieda said.

Well, what had he hoped for? It was never that easy.

‘All I know,’ she went on, ‘is that he lived not far from here, because she spoke once about walking from here to his house. And he was a lot older than her. She said something about it being nice to be with a real grown-up and not just a boy like Mike. She went all dreamy-eyed when she mentioned him. But if ever I asked who he was, or anything about him, she clammed up. I got the impression,’ she said in her careful way, ‘that there was something wrong.’ She stared down at the dog for a moment, who wagged hopefully back, but her mind was elsewhere. ‘I know it’s a terrible thing to say,’ she said at last, looking up at him, ‘but I’ve wondered if . . . well, if he was married.’

‘What makes you think that?’

‘Oh, I don’t know. But if he wasn’t, why did it all have to be such a secret?’

‘Because her parents wouldn’t have liked her to have a boyfriend?’

‘Oh, I don’t mean secret from them. Obviously it had to be a secret from them,’ she said, shaking her head at his stupidity. ‘But why keep it a secret from me? She didn’t keep Mike a secret from me. Or from Sophy and Chloe. But I don’t think they even knew she had a new boyfriend.’

‘I don’t think they did either,’ Slider said encouragingly. ‘I think you knew Zellah much better than they did.’

‘I was her only real friend,’ she said bleakly, ‘but still she didn’t trust me enough to tell me about him. I wish I knew why. Nothing’s ever so bad if you can understand.’

‘Can you think of anything, anything at all, that she told you about the new boyfriend? Anything that might help us find him.’

Now her gaze sharpened behind the glasses. ‘Why do you want to find him? Do you think he was the one that . . . that killed her?’

‘I don’t know,’ Slider said, glad to be able to fall back on that. ‘But obviously we want to talk to anyone who knew her well, particularly in the last two or three months.’

‘Well, I can’t think of anything she said, apart from what I’ve told you. Mostly she just said how wonderful he was. And how he understood her. She said that a lot.’ She nodded at Slider emphatically. ‘She really thought he was her soul-mate. She didn’t like her parents much. They were always fighting over her. I’ve seen them with her, at parents’ day, and it was true. Everyone says how proud they were of her, but I don’t think they actually really saw her, as a person. They just wanted to own her. For reflected glory. You know,’ she added seriously, ‘I don’t think it could have been the new man that killed her. I mean, she loved him. And I suppose he must have loved her. So why would he?’

For all her intellectual maturity, she was still untried where emotions were concerned. She couldn’t conceive why love might lead to death.

Atherton was still there when Slider got back to the station, sitting on his windowsill.

‘I thought I told you to go home.’

‘With my boss going solo, risking his all out in the wilderness? No way,’ said Atherton. ‘You might have needed rescuing, and who else was going to go out with the barrel of brandy round his neck? Besides, you’ll want to hear this. Connolly?’

Connolly came in from the CID room with a piece of paper in her hand. ‘I got the gen on the car, sir,’ she said. ‘Two-year-old Toyota Corolla, colour sapphire black.’ She looked up from the paper. ‘That’s—’

‘I know what that is, thank you, Constable,’ he said. ‘I had a lecture earlier today from a career TDA artist.’

‘Registered keeper is a Miss Stephanie Barstowe, address 6 Shirland House, Bravington Road, Kensal Town. Bought new on finance from Kensal Motors, Harrow Road – payments all up to date so far. You asked about tickets – there’s half a dozen outstanding, all around London. No other violations. Insurance is with Liverpool Victoria, fully comp, fifty-pound windscreen excess, self and named driver covered. And,’ she looked up here, with an expression of triumph, ‘the named driver is Alexander Markov of the same address.’

Slider sat down behind his desk. ‘Go on.’