Free Something Wicked by Kerry Wilkinson

He had a rummage through the rest of the items: swimming certificates, ticket stubs
from gigs and movies, a few more photographs – nothing out of the ordinary. Andrew pushed the tub back under the bed and rearranged the shoes just as Jenny was spinning around in her
chair.
    ‘It’d take ages to do a deep search on his hard drive, but he’s not bothered trying to hide the things he’s downloaded. There are a few pirated films, some music, a bit
of porn. What you’d expect from a teenage lad, I’d suppose.’
    ‘Can you get into his email?’
    ‘He doesn’t have any mail client programs on here, but it would have been on his phone anyway. He’s probably got a webmail account. I checked to see if there were any
auto-logon details in his browser’s history but there aren’t. This isn’t the way people work nowadays.’
    ‘Shall we ask to take the laptop?’
    Jenny held out her hands. ‘Up to you. I can keep going through it but I’d be surprised if there was much there.’
    Andrew knew that if she thought it was a waste of time, then it would be.
    ‘What do you think in general?’ he asked. ‘You’re only a few years older than Nicholas.’
    Jenny puffed out her cheeks and began twiddling her hair. ‘Yeah, but I liked all the school stuff. I read textbooks. My room was nothing like this.’
    ‘What about mates?’
    ‘I didn’t have a boyfriend at school because it didn’t interest me. I left all the other girls to fuss around. I hung out with a few people here and there but I’m not
that needy.’ She paused, chewing on the skin inside her cheek, head at an angle. ‘I suppose I don’t really hang around with people that often.’
    ‘What do you do after work?’
    ‘Dunno really . . . stuff. Watch TV, read, go walking around the city. There’s always something going on. I don’t really plan ahead that much.’ She flicked her hair
backwards and spun in the seat back to the laptop. ‘Anyway, if you’re asking what I think about the room, then it looks normal enough. He’s got a weird taste in films but so have
lots of people. You’re probably right that his mum hid everything under the bed because she didn’t want to look at it. Times are changing, though. If people want things to be known,
it’s all over social networks, or half-a-dozen other places. Searching people’s rooms will only get you so far. When I get back to the office, I’ll track down the pages of
Nicholas, his mates and Lara. That’s where we’ll find the real dirt.’ She stopped again as the laptop screen went black. ‘If there is any, of course. I didn’t
mean—’
    ‘I know what you meant.’
    Andrew carried the magic books and photograph downstairs. Richard and Elaine were in the living room, watching a television programme about auctions. As soon as Andrew entered the room, Richard
lunged for the remote control, muting the show and looking up expectantly, as if Andrew and Jenny would have already found a vital clue.
    Andrew thrust the books up into the air. ‘Can we take these? Obviously we’ll return them.’
    The couple replied in unison: ‘Of course.’
    Andrew indicated the book on top. ‘Did these belong to Nicholas?’
    Richard answered: ‘We guess.’ He glanced sideways at his wife, giving away the fact it was her who had packed them away under the bed. ‘Kids go through phases, don’t
they? One month it’s all football, then it’s computers, or whatever.’
    ‘Did the police keep anything?’
    Richard shook his head. ‘They returned it all a few weeks ago. I suppose that was the catalyst for me coming to you. That was the point where we knew they’d given up.’
    Andrew bounced from one foot to the other, balancing the books between his hands, with Jenny apparently reading his mind and slipping her car key into his pocket. ‘I’m going to take
these outside,’ he said. ‘If you could show us the rest of the house afterwards, that’d be appreciated.’
    A couple of minutes