“When?”
“Recently.”
“Past week or two?”
“A bit longer.”
“A month?”
“Aye, about that.”
“How old? His age? Older? Younger?”
“Older. She wasn’t no fifteen-year-old, I can tell you that.”
“How old?”
“Hard to say when they’re that age.”
“What age?”
“Young woman.”
“How young? Late teens, early twenties?”
“Aye, around that.”
“Taller or shorter than him?”
“Shorter. Luke were a big lad for his age. Tall and skinny.”
“What did she look like?”
“Dark.”
“You mean she was black?”
“No, her skin was pale. She just dressed dark, like him.
And her hair was dyed black. She had red lipstick on and them studs and chains all over t’place. And she had a tattoo,” she added in a hushed tone, as if saving the greatest sin for last.
Banks glanced at Annie who, he happened to know from experience, had a butterfly tattoo just above her right breast. Annie gave him a look. “Where?” she asked Josie.
Josie touched her upper left arm, just below the shoulder. “There,” she said. “She was wearing one of them leather waistcoats over a T-shirt.”
“What was the tattoo?” Annie asked her.
“Couldn’t tell,” said Josie. “Too far away. I could just see there was a mark, like.”
This woman shouldn’t be too difficult to find if she lived in or near Eastvale, Banks thought. It was hardly Leeds or Manchester when it came to girls in black with studs, chains and tattoos. There was only one club, The Bar None, which catered to such a crowd, and then only two nights a week, the rest of the time being reserved for the techno-dance set. It was possible she was a student at the college, too, he thought. “Would you mind if we sent a sketch artist over to work on an impression with you this afternoon?” he asked.
“I suppose not,” said Josie. “If Sir and Madam don’t mind, like. Only I’m supposed to be doing t’upstairs.”
Banks looked at her. “I don’t think Mr. and Mrs. Armitage will mind,” he said.
“All right, then. But I can’t promise owt. Like I said, I didn’t get a close look.”
“Can you tell us anything more about her?” Banks asked.
“No. It was just a quick look. I were having a coffee and a KitKat at the food court when I saw them walk by and go into that there big music shop.”
“HMV?”
“That’s the one.”
“Did they see you?”
“No.”
“Did you tell anyone you’d seen them?”
“Not my place, is it. Besides…”
“Besides what?”
“It was a school day. He should have been in school.”
“What were they doing?”
“Just walking.”
“Close together?”
“They weren’t holding hands, if that’s what you mean.”
“Were they talking, laughing, arguing?”
“Just walking. I didn’t see them so much as look at one another.”
“But you knew they were together? How?”
“You just know, don’t you?”
“Had you seen them together before?”
“No. Only the once.”
“And you, Mr. Batty?”
“No. Never.”
“Not even when you picked him up from school?”
“She weren’t no schoolgirl,” said Josie. “Not like I ever saw.”
“No,” said Mr. Batty.
“What did you talk about when you gave Luke a lift?”
“Nowt, really. He wasn’t much of a one for small talk, and we’d nowt in common. I mean, he weren’t interested in sport or anything like that. I don’t think he watched telly much, either. He’d nothing to talk about.”
Only death and poetry and music, thought Banks. “So these journeys passed in silence?”
“I usually put the news on the radio.”
“How did he get on with his parents?”
“Wouldn’t know,” answered Josie.
“Hear any rows or anything?”
“There’s always rows between parents and kids, isn’t there?”
“So you did?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Who between? Luke and his mother?”
“Nay. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth as far as she were concerned. Spoiled him rotten.”
“His stepfather, then?”
“Like I said, it were nowt out of t’ordinary.”
“Did you ever hear what was said, what they were arguing about?”
“Walls is too thick around here.”
Banks could believe that. “Did anything unusual happen lately?”
“What do you mean?” Josie asked.
“Something out of the routine.”
“No.”
“Seen any strangers hanging about?”
“Fewer than normal, since they can’t go for their country walks.”
“So you haven’t seen anyone?”
“Hanging about? No.”
“Mr. Batty?”
“Nobody.”
They were getting no further with the Battys. Banks wasn’t certain whether they were holding anything back or not, but he decided he might have another chat with them a little later on. Just as they were leaving, he turned around to Mr. Batty and said, “Ever been arrested, Mr. Batty?”
“No.”
“We can easily find out, you know.”
Batty glared at him. “All right. Once. It were a long time ago.”
“How long?”
“Twelve years. Public nuisance. I were drunk, all right? I used to drink a lot in those days. Then I met Josie. I don’t drink anymore.”
“What was all that about?” Annie asked when they were back in the car.
