Nothing but Meat: A dark, heart-stopping British crime thriller by Adrian Kendrew

‘Okay.’
    Outside, they walked slowly and Simone chatted politely about
how hot it had been but the girl was no fool and just said, ‘Uh-huh,’ at the
right time while she waited for the real questions to come.
    Simone asked, ‘Did Victoria have any other close friends, or
anyone else she spent a lot of time with?’
    ‘Not really, just people at school, but she didn’t spend much
time with them outside of school.’
    ‘Was she a popular girl?’
    Beth hesitated, thinking it through. ‘Vic was like, neutral,’
she said. ‘She wasn’t unpopular but she wasn’t popular either, she was just,
Vic.’ A white butterfly landed on the grass close to them and they watched it
as she spoke. ‘Everyone liked her but she didn’t stand out because she just
kept herself to herself. She just had her own way with things. She didn’t like,
try to try.’ She sighed. ‘I’m not explaining myself very well am I?’
    ‘You’re doing fine. Her father gave us the same impression
about her, she seemed like the sort of person who was strong inside and not
easily influenced by people around her.’
    ‘Yeah that’s it, she was like…’
    ‘Independent?’
    ‘Exactly.’
    ‘And proud of it.’
    ‘Yeah, proud.’
    ‘So, not popular, and not unpopular, can you think if she had
any enemies at all? Not just in school, anyone?’
    ‘No, I already thought about that and no one disliked her. No
one.’
    ‘What about your other friends did the pair of you just hang
out with the same people?’
    ‘Yeah, but Vic was my closest friend.’
    ‘Any boyfriends on the scene?’
    ‘Nah.’
    ‘A one woman girl huh?’
    Beth looked at Simone and slowed to a stop. Simone
apologised, ‘Sorry that was unnecessary. When I was in Victoria’s room I found
some photographs.’ The girl began to blush and looked away. ‘It’s okay Beth,’
Simone continued, ‘I have them with me.’
    ‘Can I have them?’
    ‘I have to keep them for a while but no one else will see
them if they don’t need to.’
    ‘We were just having fun.’
    ‘There’s no need to be embarrassed.’
    ‘I’m not, not really, they’re just like, private and well, I,
we, didn’t think anyone would ever see them.’
    ‘They helped lead us to you.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘Without them it would have taken us longer to come here and
we wouldn’t have learnt so much about Victoria in such a short space of time.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Uh-huh.’ Simone knew it was slight exaggeration but Beth
looked relieved and less humiliated, she relaxed again. ‘Tell me about this
group she went to on Thursday evenings,’ said Simone.
    ‘Vic kind of found God one day and started to go to church
and stuff, I think it had a lot to do with her father, he’s a bit of a train
wreck and she spent most her time looking after him. I think maybe she thought
she could get him to turn his life around, and at the same time make her life a
little easier. It also got her out of the house a few times a week. And she was
doing something positive, something good. She was…proud of that.’
    ‘Where did she meet?’
    ‘At the community centre in Cambridge, it’s like some kind of
soup kitchen or something, it’s a place where the homeless go to pick up a free
meal and talk about stuff.’
    ‘Did you ever go?’
    ‘No, Vic never asked me. It was like her thing.’
    ‘There was a rose on her windowsill. Did you give it to her?’
    A moment of confusion crossed Beth’s face. ‘No. I never saw
it.’
    ‘It was right there on her windowsill; she hadn’t made any
attempt to hide it.’
    ‘I didn’t give it to her.’
    ‘Do you know of any other admirers she might have had?’
    ‘There was someone at the church hall, another volunteer -
some man who liked her, maybe he gave it to her on her birthday or something
and she kept it. She would have told me though, I’m sure of it; we didn’t have
any secrets.’
    ‘Do you know his name?’
    ‘Only that it was Gary something; I don’t know his