Free Dead To Me by Cath Staincliffe Page A

the flat on the understanding that it was a sole tenancy, so he couldn’t just move in there wholesale, but he had his feet under the table from the get-go.’
    ‘And their relationship?’ Rachel said.
    ‘He was an enabler. Without Sean, Lisa might have kicked the drugs into touch. An outside chance. With Sean, forget it. Like trying to stop smoking when someone’s waving a full pack of King Size in front of your face, lighter at the ready.’
    Rachel instantly craved a cigarette. ‘We’ve had reports of domestic violence,’ she said.
    He gave a nod. ‘According to her records, Lisa had a reputation for violence when she was in Ryelands. Now and then she’d explode. A lot of anger.’
    ‘Can’t think why,’ Rachel said.
    He smiled. ‘Sean, I don’t know so much about, but he doesn’t have any compunction about hitting a woman.’
    ‘But it wasn’t necessarily Lisa who was the punchbag?’
    ‘No, though he’d be stronger than her.’
    Rachel agreed. He wasn’t a big lad, but he wasn’t a weed either, and Lisa had been slightly built. ‘Did Lisa ever use a knife?’ She thought of the crime-scene album, the blood. Had Lisa gone for Sean and he’d wrested the weapon from her, used it?
    ‘Not that I’ve come across. Anything to hand, I’d imagine. You think he might have done it?’ Raleigh asked.
    ‘Too early to say,’ Rachel said. ‘Would it surprise you?’
    ‘No, not at all,’ he said frankly.
    ‘OK. Lisa was signing on?’
    ‘That’s right, we were looking at access courses and improving her literacy and numeracy skills. Getting Lisa into a job and getting shot of Sean would have been the way to turn it all around, but it’s hopeless out there. That age especially. Dozens of kids after every minimum-wage vacancy.’
    Rachel tried to imagine the girl on the mortuary trolley in a job interview. Failed.
    ‘Things weren’t great between Lisa and her mother. It was all or nothing. Denise veered from being a wreck unable to cope with anything to wanting to be best buddies. That inconsistency, it’s very difficult for a child. Denise would get drunk and emotional and ring Lisa, and either Lisa would hang up or they’d end up in a shouting match. Our aim is to keep families together as much as is possible, but sometimes the family isn’t a healthy unit. The relationships get stuck in a self-perpetuating cycle that doesn’t help anybody.’
    ‘Sounds hopeless,’ Rachel said.
    ‘Sometimes I think it is, but I’m not a complete pessimist.’ He smiled. ‘With the right sort of intervention, sustained and well resourced—’
    ‘Throw money at it,’ she said.
    ‘Couldn’t the same be said in crime prevention? Early intervention, working with the family as a whole? Tough love?’ He was smiling, teasing her.
    ‘How often did you see Lisa?’
    ‘Every fortnight at first, then once a month. She could phone in between if there were problems.’
    ‘Did she?’
    ‘Couple of times. Cock-ups with the housing benefit, that sort of thing.’
    ‘Was she involved in any other sexual relationships?’ Rachel asked.
    ‘No.’ He looked curious.
    ‘Prostitution?’
    ‘No. Though she wouldn’t necessarily tell me.’
    ‘She didn’t confide in you?’
    ‘Not much. Conflicting view of social workers. She knew I was there to help, to give her support, but that can be read as bossing her about.’ His phone rang again and he glanced at his watch. ‘Timewise …’
    ‘Nearly done,’ Rachel said. She skimmed back over her notes. ‘And when did you last see her?’
    ‘The twenty-fifth of November.’
    ‘And how was she then?’
    ‘I had no particular concerns – nothing new, anyway,’ he amended. ‘I’ve tried talking to her about rehab, but it’s got to come from them.’
    ‘Was anyone threatening her? Did she have any enemies?’
    ‘No.’
    ‘Thanks. If anything else occurs, just give us a ring.’ Rachel passed him a card, the MIT number. It didn’t have her name on yet,