Page 9 of Guilty Mothers

‘Well, come in anyway,’ she said, stepping to the side.

The house was the same layout as its neighbour, and Kim headed to the kitchen. Ten or so mugs were upended on the sink drainer; returned, refreshed and ready to go again.

Kim introduced herself and Bryant. ‘May we ask you a few questions about Sheryl Hawne?’

‘Of course,’ Rosie said, switching on the kettle, which went into boil mode almost immediately. Oh, she was a keen one. Even the kettle was on permanent standby.

‘We’re fine, Mrs Kemp,’ Kim said, taking a seat at the table. Bryant followed suit.

‘Please call me Rosie,’ she said. She turned off the kettle and sat down.

‘Would you mind telling me about your neighbours?’

‘What would you like to know?’ Rosie asked cagily.

Ah, they’d got a canny one here who wasn’t going to answer open questions. The answers to those were often the most revealing.

‘How long had Mrs Hawne lived here?’ Kim asked, taking another route.

‘I’d say about fifteen years. The wee one was six or seven when they moved in, I think.’

Kim waited for more.

Rosie waited for another question.

‘Was there a Mr Hawne?’

‘Not that I ever saw.’

‘Did she ever mention him?’ Kim asked.

‘And when would she have done that?’ Rosie asked, crossing her arms. For a moment, Kim forgot who was questioning who.

‘Maybe over coffee, passing the time of day in the street, chatting over the garden fence?’

‘Oh, I must be the first neighbour you’ve spoken to,’ Rosie said with a knowing smile.

‘Does that matter?’ Bryant asked.

‘Not really. I just thought you might have spoken to people with kids the same age as Katie.’

‘Go on,’ Kim urged.

‘Well, they made more of an effort with her than we did. Our two were long out of the nest, so short of the occasional hello, me and Edmund, God rest his soul, had little to offer her. She was a young thing with a little kid so…I mean, we sent them a Christmas card but that’s about all.’

‘And what would the other mums in the street have told us?’ Kim asked.

‘That Sheryl Hawne was rude to the point of being anti-social. There’s not one person in this street ever stepped foot in that house.’

‘Why not?’ Kim asked, realising that Rosie was a woman who needed many prompts. Although with the best will in the world, Rosie couldn’t swear to the fact that Sheryl never had any visitors.

‘Kept everyone at arm’s-length. Some of the moms tried to arrange play dates with their kids, but she always said no. She always said Katie had lots of allergies, that she was a sickly child, but I always thought that made no sense.’

‘Why’s that?’

‘Well, she’d have been around all them other kids at school and at the pageants. So the local young moms took the huff and stopped asking her.’

‘They knew Katie did pageants?’