‘I’ve got one.’ The girl indicated what looked like a Coke in front of her.
‘Oh, you shouldn’t have-’
‘Don’t worry. I’ve started a tab for you with Vin at the bar.’
‘Oh?’
The girl took a long swig from her drink. ‘And actually I’m ready for another.’
‘Coke, is it?’
‘With a large voddy in, yes.’
Vin, the girl at the bar, knew about ‘Donna’s tab’ and knew she’d want a ‘large voddy and Coke’. Carole wondered idly what ‘Vin’ might stand for. The girl didn’t look like her idea of a ‘Lavinia’, but she couldn’t think of anything else.
Carole had by now decided that she was definitely going to need a drink. To her surprise the George’s Head turned out to have an extensive wine list and she got her Chilean Chardonnay.
Back at the table she found Donna Grodsky studying the huge A3-size menu. ‘Better order quick. Hell trying to eat once the little bugger wakes up.’
‘What’s his name?’ asked Carole.
‘Kyle.’ The girl looked at her defiantly. ‘And I love him to bits.’ She put down the menu. ‘I’ll get the sirloin steak, medium rare, with everything and extra onion rings.’
It was the most expensive item on the menu. Carole wondered briefly if she was being taken for a ride. On the other hand, all of the prices at the George’s Head were extraordinarily cheap. And if Donna Grodsky did have any useful information. . She gave in the order at the bar, adding a tuna and cucumber baguette for herself.
Carole was disarmed when she returned to the table by Donna saying, ‘Thanks for picking up the tab and that. I used to be quite a girl for the clubs and the pubs, but since I’ve had Kyle. .’ She raised her unfinished first glass, said ‘Cheers’ and gulped down what was left. ‘Real treat for me these days, this is,’ she went on. ‘Getting out of the flat, seeing people who aren’t Kyle or my mum.’
‘His father. .?’ asked Carole tentatively.
The girl let out a bitter chuckle. ‘What do you think? He scarpered soon as he knew I was up the duff. Not that I mind. I wasn’t in love or anything like that. He was quite fit but, anyway, he served his purpose.’
‘You mean you wanted to get pregnant?’
‘Too right I did. Always wanted to have something I could really call my own. Now I’ve got Kyle. Anyway, council wouldn’t have given me the flat if I hadn’t got the baby.’
Carole bit back various
‘Sure. I liked her. That’s why I hope nothing bad’s happened to her.’
‘Her mother thinks she was murdered.’
‘I know. But there’s lots of things that can happen to girls of her age that aren’t murder.’
‘That would cause her to disappear?’
‘Yeah. I know plenty of girls down here in Brighton who just moved out of their homes. Mostly from a long way away, Scotland, the North. They just couldn’t stand the way their parents kept going on at them. Nobody knows where they are, but they haven’t been murdered. They’ve just started leading different lives.’
‘And you think that’s what happened with Marina?’
‘I think it’s more likely than her being murdered.’
‘You’re probably right. Susan — Marina’s mother — talked about her having a lot of sleepovers with her school friends. .’
‘Nothing odd in that. We all did.’
‘Did she stay at your place?’
‘Coupla times. Look, I know what you’re going to ask next.’
‘Oh?’
‘Did she stay with me the night before she went missing?’
The girl was brighter than her appearance might suggest. ‘How did you know I was going to ask that?’
‘Because the police did too. It’s the obvious question to ask.’
‘You said on the phone you weren’t very impressed with the police’s enquiries into Marina’s disappearance.’
‘No, well, they just went through the motions. Don’t blame them really. Marina was sixteen, over the age of consent. If she wanted to move in with a boyfriend, well, that was her business, wasn’t it?’
Carole was very quick to pick up on that. ‘And is that what she did? Move in with a boyfriend?’
Donna Grodsky blushed. She’d said more than she intended. ‘I don’t know,’ she stuttered. ‘I mean, that’s what she said she wanted to do, but I don’t know if it was kind of just an idea or if she’d actually got someone in mind.’
‘Did you tell the police what she’d said?’
‘No, of course I bloody didn’t!’
‘Why not?’
‘Because she was my mate. Look, if she’s moved in with some bloke to get away from her mum, I’m not being much of a mate if I set the police off investigating that possibility, am I?’
‘And for the same reason you didn’t tell her mother?’
‘Of course I didn’t.’
They were interrupted at that moment by the arrival of Vin with their food. The portions were massive. Donna’s steak and accompaniments hardly fitted on her plate. And Carole’s baguette was served with chips, which she hadn’t expected. But they did look rather good chips.
Carole noticed that both their glasses were empty. ‘I don’t know if you. .?’
‘Yeah. Vin, get me another large voddy and Coke. And same again for Carole.’
‘Oh, I’m not sure that I-’
‘Go on, get ’em, Vin.’ As the barmaid went off, Donna Grodsky demanded, ‘Why’re you looking at me like that, Carole?’
‘I’m not looking at you like anything.’
‘Yes, you are, and I know exactly what you’re thinking. Third double vodka and she’s meant to be in charge of a baby.’
‘No, I wasn’t-’
‘You don’t think I’m breastfeeding the little bugger, do you?’
‘No, I-’
‘Look, I’ll have you know this is the first drink I’ve had for three weeks. I can’t afford booze on the pittance of a handout the government gives me. So when someone offers me a drink, I’m not going to say no, am I? And it’s not like you’re not getting what you asked for. I’m answering your questions, aren’t I?’
‘Yes. I’m very grateful for-’
‘Then why’re you looking so bloody disapproving?’
‘I’m not deliberately doing it. I just think,’ Carole confessed, ‘that I’ve got the kind of face that does rather. . tend to look disapproving.’
Donna Grodsky looked at her and then suddenly burst out laughing. ‘I think you’re right, you know. You’ve hit the nail bang on the head there. You were born looking disapproving, weren’t you?’ She looked down sharply to the buggy where Kyle was starting to move his little arms. ‘Better get a move on with the eating. He’ll be waking up in a few minutes. Then he’ll want to be picked up and have his bottle.’
‘Do you mind if we get on with the questions too?’ asked Carole.
‘Not if you don’t mind.’
‘Why should I mind?’
‘Well, my mum always told me — and I’m sure your mummy told you, and all — that it was bad manners for me to talk with my mouth full.’
Carole realized that she was being sent up. She grinned. Donna grinned back. Maybe there had started to be something of a bond between them.
‘The obvious next question,’ said Carole, ‘is whether you have any idea whether Marina really did have a boyfriend and if so, who he was.’
