“No,” said Banks. “It’s about Les.”
She snorted. “Oh, him. Well, he’s gone, and good riddance, too.”
“So I heard. Any idea where he’s gone?”
She shook her head.
“Why did you throw him out, Brenda?”
“You should know. It was you lot had him at the
station last night, wasn’t it?”
“Did you know the neighbours nearly lynched him?”
“So what?”
“Brenda, it’s dangerous to make accusations like the one you did, especially in front of a crowd. You know from experience how people feel whenever children are involved. They can turn very nasty. There’s records of people being torn apart by angry mobs.”
“Yes, I know. I know all about what people do to child-molesters. They deserve it.”
“Did Les molest Gemma? Is that it?”
Brenda blew out more smoke and sighed. “No,” she said. “No, he never did anything like that.”
“Maybe when you weren’t around?”
“No. I’d have known. Gemma would have …” She paused and stared at the end of her cigarette.
“Perhaps Gemma wouldn’t have mentioned it to you,” Banks suggested. “You told us yourself she’s a quiet, secretive child. And children are almost always afraid to speak out when things like that happen.”
“No,” Brenda said again. “I would have known.
Believe me.”
Whether he believed her or not, Banks felt that line of questioning had come to a dead end. “What reason do you have to think Les was involved in her disappearance,
then?” he asked.
Brenda frowned. “You had him in for questioning,
didn’t you?”
“What made you think that had anything to do with
Gemma?”
“What else would it be about?”
“So you just assumed. Is that it?”
“Of course. Unless …”
“Unless what?”
Brenda reddened, and Banks noticed her glance to
wards the television set.
“Did you think it was about the Fletcher’s warehouse job?”
Brenda shook her head. “I … I don’t know.”
“Did Les ever mention an acquaintance named Carl Johnson to you?”
“No. He never talked about his pub mates. If I ever asked him where he’d been or who he’d been with, he just told me to mind my own business.”
“Look, this is important,” Banks said slowly. “Think about it. When you accused Les out in the street, did you have any other basis for doing so other than the fact that we’d taken him in for questioning?”
“What?”
Banks explained. Brenda leaned forward to put out her cigarette. She held her robe closed this time. “That and the way he’s been acting,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s hard to put into words. Ever since Gemma … well, things haven’t been the same between us. Do you know what I mean?”
Banks nodded.
“I don’t know why, but they haven’t. And he just looks so sheepish, the way he creeps around all the time, giving me guilty smiles. Mostly, though, he’s been keeping out of my way.”
“In what way could he have been involved, Brenda?” Susan asked.
Brenda looked sideways towards her, as if seeing her for the first time. “How should I know?” she said. “I’m not the detective, am I?” She spoke more harshly than she had to Banks. Woman to woman, he thought, Brenda Scupham was uncomfortable.
Banks gently took the focus away from Susan. “Brenda, have you any proof at all that Les had some
thing to do with Gemma’s disappearance?”
