‘Honestly,’ Lexie begins, ‘I wish there was something I could tell you. But there really isn’t. I was at the pub, the Swan & Ducks, with an old school friend. There was this group in there, a young group, late teens, early twenties, and they were being quite rowdy. I recognised one of them, Scarlett. She used to be a student here. We’ve always been quite friendly. So I went to say hello and before I knew it I was being dragged into their littlegroup and it felt a bit weird because obviously I’m quite a bit older than them. Plus I was sober. And they were not.’
‘And was Tallulah there then?’
‘Yes, she was there. She was sitting with a boy – her boyfriend, I think?’
Kim nods.
‘They seemed a bit quiet at first. I noticed that. And then Scarlett got a load of shots for the table and then another and everyone got even noisier and noisier and then it was closing time and they were all talking about walking back to Scarlett’s house through the woods, and I thought that was just an accident waiting to happen. So I offered to drive them there.’
‘All of them?’
‘No, not all of them, just five of them. It was a bit of a squeeze and not entirely legal, but I still thought it was safer than them all walking through the woods off their heads.’
‘And what happened when you got back there?’
‘Well, it was so warm last night, as you know, and the lights were all on in their pool, and they all just stripped off and jumped in.’
‘Including Tallulah?’
‘Yeah. She jumped in in her top and pants. She looked kind of self-conscious.’
‘Well, yes, she’s carrying a little baby weight still.’
‘She has a baby?’ Lexie looks surprised.
‘Yes. Noah; he’s one.’
‘Gosh, she looks so young.’
‘She is.’ Kim holds down another burst of tears and forces a smile. ‘So, they all jumped in the pool. And then what?’
‘Well, I kind of – at this point I felt like I needed to supervise. I mean, Scarlett’s mum was somewhere indoors, sleeping, I think, and I realised I was the only sober person at the party so I needed to keep an eye on everyone. I ended up staying until about one. By that time everyone was out of the pool and there was a bit of …’ She looks at Kim quickly from the corner of her eye. ‘… weed. A bit of vodka. Music. But it had calmed down a bit. Tallulah and her boyfriend went indoors. Then Mimi went indoors. So I decided to head back. This guy Liam cadged a lift back with me, because he works here at the school. And that was that.’
‘Liam?’ Kim asks cagily. ‘Who is Liam?’
‘He’s a teaching assistant here. He lives in the apartment above us. He used to go out with Scarlett but they’re still friends.’
‘Is he, I mean, is he …’ Kim can’t find the worlds.
Lexie shakes her head. ‘Oh,’ she says, ‘no. God, no, you don’t need to worry about Liam. He’s the nicest guy in the world. Honestly.’
Kim nods, circumspectly. Then she says, ‘and was there anything, last night – beneath the surface? Did you get the feeling that there was anything untoward going on?’
Lexie turns out her bottom lip and shakes her head slowly. ‘No.’
‘And when you left, who was still there?’
‘Tallulah. Her boyfriend. Scarlett and Mimi.’
‘Well,’ says Kim, already starting to get to her feet. ‘Thank you so much, Lexie. I really appreciate your time, and thank you so much for going back with them all last night, for keeping them safe. Drunk kids in swimming pools. Doesn’t bear thinking about.’
‘No,’ says Lexie. ‘That’s what I thought.’
‘Well, thank you. And this Liam. Do you think it’d be worth talking to him? Might he have any idea?’
‘I doubt it,’ Lexie replies apologetically. ‘He wouldn’t have seen much more than I did.’
Kim looks at the time on her phone. It’s nearly six o’clock. She turns to Kerryanne. ‘Do you think I should call the police?’ she asks softly. ‘It’s been fifteen hours. What would you do?’