There was a long pause, and then:
“Naomie’s father. His name’s Darren Betts. I was at school with him and we’ve been knocking around on and off for twenty years now.”
“He’s your boyfriend?”
Sharon snorted, then said:
“When he feels like it.”
“He has other girlfriends?”
Sharon nodded.
“Denise Roberts?” Helen asked, suddenly making the connection. Callum Roberts had mentioned a “Darren” too.
“When he’s not here, Darren sometimes goes... there.”
Sharon Jackson said the last word with utter disdain, as if Roberts were shit on her shoe. Sanderson was sure Roberts probably felt the same way about her.
“Is that what your row with Naomie was about?”
“Guess so.”
“What happened?”
“Nothing. We argued, that’s all.”
“What happened, Sharon?”
“She drove Darren away, didn’t she?” Sharon responded, her tone suddenly plaintive and self-pitying. “She fusses around him, trying to get him to do stuff he doesn’t want to do, gets in his face, you know?”
“What did you do?”
“I shouted at her a bit.”
“And?”
Sharon said nothing, staring at the floor.
“And?”
“I gave her a bit of a slap, all right?”
“Youhither?”
“I shouldn’t have, but she’s just so fucking clingy... and sometimes I lose it. I hit her a bit—”
“More than once? Did youbeather? Sharon, I’m asking you a question—”
“Yes, I’ve told you. I took a belt to her, but I didn’t do any permanent harm. It’s no more than what I had done to me when I was a kid—”
“And she knew this Denise Roberts, she knew that her father went there when he wasn’t here?”
“Yes, she heard me and Darren talking about it. She’s not stupid.”
“Jesus Christ. What about the other places? The Simms house in Millbrook or the Harris place in Shirley? Does he go there?”
Sharon suddenly laughed. “Are you crazy? Folk like that wouldn’t let him in the front door. He wouldn’t be knocking around inthoseparts of town.”
