‘Just painting the boys’ room,’ he said tightly.
‘We were led to understand that your ex-wife has?—’
‘For now,’ he said, cutting her off as he edged past them and headed to the kitchen.
Evidence of the boys’ existence was everywhere Kim looked. Photos, wellington boots, jackets, bikes.
He may have relinquished custody of the boys, but the majority of their possessions hadn’t followed them. Clearly, he was awaiting their return.
Joe and his wife took seats at the table. The woman pulled her chair closer to her husband.
‘Lucinda and I were waiting for your visit,’ he said, repeating her words.
‘Why’s that?’ Kim asked.
‘It’s no secret I was angry with Ashley Reynolds. Now she’s dead,’ he said, opening his hands.
‘You feel she failed you?’ Kim asked once Bryant was seated beside her.
‘She did fail him,’ Lucinda answered before her husband had a chance to respond.
‘But wasn’t her report favourable to you?’
‘It was, but it didn’t go far enough. She’s been involved for five years – she knows me, Abby and our boys.’
‘What more could she have done?’ Kim asked.
‘She could have declared Abby unfit to parent them. She could have stated that her mental health hadn’t improved and that she would be a danger to them. She didn’t.’
‘Isn’t that the remit of a mental health professional?’ Kim asked, knowing such a statement would have been beyond the woman’s expertise and an overreach of authority that would have given her report less credibility with the judge.
‘Does it matter who says it as long as it gets the right result?’ Lucinda spat.
Joe put his hand on her arm.
Lucinda protested and continued. ‘No, love, she needs to know the truth. Ashley knew the boys should have stayed with us. She knew they were happy, healthy and well cared for. She knew Abby was a waste of fucking space, but she wouldn’t put any of that in her report. It was her fault we lost them.’
He nodded his agreement.
Kim realised there was no point trying to explain that Ashley’s role was to report on the boys and their home life, stability, education and welfare. That was it. Her job didn’t entail managing the whole situation. Her job was to assess the best place for the boys, and she had done that. On this occasion, the judge hadn’t agreed with her.
‘You were quite vocal in your anger towards her,’ Kim challenged him.
‘Wouldn’t you be?’ Lucinda cried.
Kim ignored her and waited for a response from the person she’d come here to question.
‘They are everything to us,’ he said, squeezing his wife’s hand. ‘We made a family, and we did everything together. They were thriving, they felt safe and?—’
‘Do you know what one of the boys did when I was taking a couple of aspirin for a headache?’ Lucinda interrupted, fixing her gaze on Kim. ‘He knocked the bottle from my hand and told me he didn’t want me to die. Kids should never see that kind of thing, but every time Abby tried to hurt herself, the boys were there.’
‘I lost two jobs through fear of what was going on at home,’ Joe agreed.
Kim didn’t doubt the intensity of his love for his children. It was evident everywhere she looked. Problem was, the more he demonstrated it, the more she saw his motive for killing the person he felt had taken them away.
‘Your anger can sometimes get the better of you though, can’t it?’ Kim asked.
‘If you’re referring to the domestic violence charge, I admit it. I admitted it to the police officers who attended that day, and I admitted it to the judge. I hit her. I punched her, and I shouldn’t have done.’
