Dead Memories (D.I. Kim Stone #10)(12)

The watch on his left wrist was expensive and showy. On the other wrist was a thick chunky belcher chain that matched the one around his neck. She’d never been a fan of jewellery on men but, even her own prejudices aside, it was the context. In her mind, you didn’t come to work in all your finery when you were dealing with people who didn’t know how they were going to get their next meal.

The people that frequented the community centre didn’t do it out of choice. It wasn’t found on any ‘places to visit’ website, like TripAdvisor, or listed as a desirable destination. The people who came here were at rock bottom, homeless, street workers, unemployed. All of them in need of help. The man was doing nothing wrong but it just struck her as a little cold and insensitive.

‘I understand you’re familiar with a couple that go by the names of Amy Wilde and Mark Johnson,’ she said nodding an acknowledgment towards a woman sitting at a desk on the other side of the room.

On the far-left wall was a row of blank screens. Kim thought about the one-room centre on Hollytree that was run by volunteers who opened for just a few hours each week and the place was rammed from the second they opened the door. They had one computer that had been thrown out by the dinosaurs with less memory than a smartphone but it was constantly in use.

‘Yes, your girl sent out an email asking.’

‘Yes, my detective constable was attempting to make an identification,’ Kim said, coolly.

She saw a smile tug at the mouth of the woman although her typing fingers never paused.

‘And you knew them?’ Kim clarified.

He hesitated. ‘As well as I know any of the people that come here. We don’t get emotionally involved with our customers,’ he added, narrowing his eyes. ‘But I’d like to know exactly what they’ve done, officer.’

She didn’t appreciate the immediate assumption that they’d done something wrong.

‘They died, Mr Jenks,’ she said, aware that the victims’ names had not been included in any news reports. She’d only known their names for half an hour herself.

The fingers to the right of her stopped tapping but the woman didn’t turn.

‘How?… I mean…’ His words trailed away as he put it together. ‘The news last night. It was Amy and Mark – the couple that overdosed?’

‘What can you tell me about them?’ she asked, answering nothing.

The tapping to her right had resumed but slower.

He took a moment to think.

‘They were a strange couple. From very different backgrounds. Amy had a stable family, Mark was shunted around the care system and has never had a proper home, so they were very different characters.’

‘Any enemies you know of?’

The typing stopped.

Kim turned to her colleague.

‘Bryant, mind taking a couple of notes?’

His expression asked if she’d lost her mind but he took out his notebook anyway.

Harry Jenks licked his lips and shook his head.

‘No one they pissed off at all?’ she repeated. ‘Took one too many needles, ate an extra portion from the soup kitchen?’

He shook his head.

The typing resumed slowly but Kim could see a set expression on the woman’s face. Kim found it ironic that she was learning more from the person in the room that wasn’t speaking.

‘And when was the last time you saw then?’ she asked.

He consulted something on his computer screen. They last signed in three weeks ago. They took condoms, needles and ate cottage pie.’

‘And that’s the last time you saw them?’

‘Absolutely,’ he answered.

The woman pursed her lips.

Kim held out her hand for Bryant’s notebook.

‘Just making sure you’ve got everything,’ she said, opening it up.

She read the single line that he’d written: ‘The Guv has lost the plot!!!’

Kim hid her smile.

‘Yes, I think that’s everything,’ she said, standing. ‘Thank you for your time, Mr Jenks, and I’m sure we’ll be back to talk again once we know more.’

She motioned for Bryant to go ahead as she passed by the woman’s desk. She caught her eye and nodded before continuing to the door.

She closed it behind her before Bryant raised an irate eyebrow.

‘What the hell was that all about? I’m not bloody senile and I can recall basic facts, especially when we’ve just learned a total of bugger all,’ he ranted, striding to the car.

She stayed silent while he vented. Sometimes it was a welfare concession on her part. The poor bloke was stuck with her day in, day out. He needed to vent now and again.

‘And where’s my pocket notebook?’ he asked, holding out his hand.

‘Ah, well, about that…’

‘Officer, wait, you dropped this,’ said the typing woman holding out Bryant’s notebook.

‘Devious, guv,’ Bryant whispered before the woman reached them.

Kim pretended to check herself and then shook her head.

‘Oh, I’m sorry. Thank you, Miss?…’

‘Mrs Tallon, Emma. I’m the Assistant Manager.’

‘Oh, so, you’d have known Amy and Mark too?’ she asked, conversationally.

Mrs Tallon hesitated before nodding. ‘I don’t do much of the evening work, kids you know, but I was here that last night any of us saw Amy and Mark.’