Free Thicker Than Water by Kerry Wilkinson - DS Jessica Daniel 06 - Thicker Than Water

almost in unison and Jessica knew she was going to struggle. She thought it might have helped to bring Rowlands with her. Even though he’d had the hump
since breaking up with Chloe, he could still turn on the matey-charm thing with other young men, banging on about ‘the footy at the weekend’ or some stupid video he’d seen on the
Internet.
    ‘How long have each of you known Oliver?’ Jessica asked.
    They were both sitting up straight, hands in their laps, with Richard slightly the taller of the two. His brown hair was neatly side-parted, his skin showing a few acne scars. Regardless of
upbringing, there was no escaping certain aspects of being a teenager. He peered towards Jessica but stared at a spot just to her right. ‘We’ve been coming here since we were thirteen,
so five years.’
    ‘Is that the same for you?’ Jessica asked Terry.
    The second boy had sandier-coloured hair but a posture which perfectly matched his friend’s. ‘I’ve been here since I was nine,’ he said. ‘We became friends not long
after Rich and Ollie started, so five years too.’
    They both spoke in a considered fashion and Jessica couldn’t quite work out if it was because they had been trained in the same way they had clearly been taught how to sit, or if it was
because they were both in some sort of shock. Still, if that headmaster bellowed at her to sit up straight and pronounce her words properly, she’d probably do it.
    She nodded towards Richard, waiting for him to look towards her. ‘How about you start? Just tell me about what Oliver was like.’
    ‘How do you mean?’
    ‘What type of things did you do together?’
    The young man shrugged dismissively before responding and Jessica was pleased to see not every aspect of being a teenager had been coached out of him. ‘He liked scientific things, he was
interested in the stars and constellations. He was talking about doing astronomy at university.’
    ‘He was pretty good at art too,’ Terry added. ‘But I’m not sure that’s what he wanted to do, even though he could.’
    ‘I noticed a few computer games at his house . . .’
    For the first time, Jessica saw the two boys interact. They looked sideways at each other, sharing a grin. ‘We used to go to Ollie’s to play games,’ Richard said. ‘My mum
and dad wouldn’t let me have any and Terry lives too far away.’
    Jessica nodded. ‘What about girls? Was there anyone Ollie was seeing?’
    The smiles vanished almost instantly, both young men’s gazes returning to the floor. Jessica suspected their awkward behaviour was simply because they weren’t used to being in a room
on their own with a woman.
    ‘He wasn’t going out with anyone,’ Richard said.
    ‘Do you know that for sure?’
    ‘Definitely, we would have known. He was more interested in other things.’
    From everything she had seen, Jessica had no reason to doubt that. ‘Were you into anything else? There seems to be a lot on offer around here: sports, trips, visits and so on.’
    ‘None of us really do sports,’ Terry replied. ‘It’s sort of encouraged around here but it’s not our thing.’
    ‘What about the trips?’
    ‘We’ve gone on a few,’ Terry replied. ‘It’s no big deal. Some people get involved in everything around here. They’re in every club and go on every
visit.’
    ‘You don’t, though?’
    ‘Nope.’
    For the first time, Jessica had an inkling that, although the trio might well be uncomfortable around girls and perhaps a little naive, they weren’t as perfect as everyone made out.
Terry’s pronunciation had sounded carefully coached until the ‘nope’, when it had slipped back into his local accent.
    Jessica slouched slightly in her chair. ‘So what do you get up to away from school? Come on, I know what it’s like being a teenager, you can’t just sit around playing games all
day? You must have a laugh somehow? I got up to all sorts of stupid things when I was your age.’
    Instead of