Child's Play (D.I. Kim Stone #11)(54)

‘Test, ask questions and they got to pay for the privilege.’

‘So, Belinda was a freak to be exhibited and extorted. And what was Veronica’s gift?’

‘Spelling and a bit of piano playing. But Belinda was the star attraction.’

Stacey couldn’t help wondering how much fun those nights had been for the girls.

‘Well done, Tiff, that’s—’

‘I’m not done yet,’ she said, looking back at her notes.

Over the last couple of hours Stacey had found herself hoping that Tiffany wasn’t going to be whisked away quite yet. Maybe at the end of the day but not right now.

‘The play nights eventually turned into radio, theatre and television appearances. The more they did the more they were in demand. Spent some time touring Europe and a trip to New York in the early Seventies. Can’t find much public exposure after that, but I’ve got the footage of the last TV show they did.’

‘Pull it up,’ Stacey said, wheeling her chair across the office.

She watched as the screen sprang into life.

The set was a typical chat show arrangement, with the host named Kenny Franks sitting to the left of a glass table and the family on the right. The two girls sat side by side with their parents on higher stools sitting behind.

Stacey was first struck by the appearance of the girls. She guessed that Belinda was around ten or eleven and Veronica fourteen or so. Both were dressed in the same floral printed dress with a bow on the left of their head. Short white ankle socks and flat ballet shoes completed the look. It was an outfit suited to Belinda’s age but incongruous on the older girl.

Both were sat with their legs crossed at the ankles and their hands folded neatly in their laps.

Stacey found something fairly disturbing about the whole picture.

‘Turn up the volume,’ Stacey said as the camera zoomed in on Kenny the host who wore a smile as wide as the lapels on his check-patterned jacket.

‘…and the secret to their success is study, study, study?’ Kenny asked, looking over the girls’ heads to the parents.

‘Absolutely,’ Mr Loftus answered without humour. ‘If one has a gift it must be honed and practised.’

‘But with some time for fun?’ he asked, smiling at the girls.

‘Of course,’ Mr Loftus answered but didn’t elaborate.

‘And you lovely young ladies are going to demonstrate the results of all that hard work for us, aren’t you?’

Both girls nodded as the audience clapped expectantly.

‘Is this really entertainment?’ Tiff whispered, as the host took a card from the hand of an otherwise invisible producer.

‘Okay, we have a few pre-prepared maths questions here. So, we’ll start with Belinda.’

Stacey noted that the girl’s expression didn’t change at all.

‘Okay, first question of three. What is three thousand, two hundred and fifty-four multiplied by seven thousand, six hundred and ninety-three?’

‘That’s twenty-five million, thirty-three thousand and twenty-two,’ she replied after blinking twice.

‘Oh my goodness,’ Tiff said, leaning forward.

Kenny laughed out loud and looked around. ‘I can’t believe it. She’s absolutely right.’

The audience cheered and clapped. Belinda smiled in response, her parents beamed with pride but Veronica remained emotionless and still. It was no surprise to her that her sister had answered the question correctly.

Kenny leaned forward towards the girl.

‘Did you see my card?’

She smiled and shook her head. ‘I’m not a cheat, sir.’

‘Okay, let’s see if we can make it a bit harder this time.’

‘I don’t like this,’ Tiffany said.

‘And yet we’re still watching,’ Stacey observed.

‘Okay, what is seventy-three thousand and six divided by seventeen and multiplied by one hundred and forty-three?’

Three blinks. ‘It’s 614,109.29,’ she answered.

Kenny turned to the audience in amazement. ‘She’s right, folks.’

The audience thundered their applause.

‘You are astounding, young lady,’ he said as the applause died down.

‘Are you ready for your final question?’

She swallowed and nodded.

Stacey found herself leaning forward.

‘Okay, here goes. What is seven hundred and sixty-seven multiplied by one hundred and ten divided by eleven and multiplied by three hundred and sixteen?’

Four blinks. ‘That’s two million, four hundred and twenty-three, seven hundred and twenty… one.’

Kenny’s face had been forming into wonder right up until that last digit.

He frowned, as the audience waited expectantly.

‘Almost,’ he said, with forced cheer.

The audience waited silently.

‘You were one digit off. It’s seven hundred and twenty, not seven hundred and twenty-one, but that’s still pretty close,’ he said, as the crowd began to clap without enthusiasm.

‘Blimey, that was tense,’ Tiff said, as the footage continued to play. ‘I mean, one mistake and the crowd are—’

‘Because anyone can get the sums wrong sometimes,’ Stacey observed. ‘What they want to see is someone who never gets it wrong. They now know she’s fallible. Forget the two impossibly difficult questions she just got right that no adult in the audience could have answered. She got it wrong and it doesn’t matter by how much.’