She stopped speaking as Gavin answered the door. He smiled and stepped aside.
‘You two started a family since the last time we were here?’ she asked.
‘Niece sitting for Rachel. She needed to get out of the house for a bit.’
Kim marvelled at the dynamics of the twins; one minute they were acting as though they hated each other, the next Rachel was leaving Zach in charge of the thing she valued most in the world.
‘Everything okay with Rachel?’ she asked.
‘Yeah, she just needed some space for a few hours – to process everything that’s happened. It’s how she deals with stuff.’
Kim followed him into the lounge that had shrunk since their last visit due to the Moses basket and baby holdall now in the room.
Mia was fidgeting on Zach’s lap.
‘Hello, officers. Gavin, I think she’s, err…’
He lifted the child up and held her forward for Gavin to take. His nose wrinkled with distaste.
‘I swear, Zach, you’d better not be this precious when we have our own,’ he said, calmly taking the baby from his husband’s arms.
The top of the sideboard had been cleared and turned into a baby changing space.
‘Just move the nappy bag and take a seat,’ Zach said as Gavin lay Mia on the changing mat. Her fussing had changed to a low gurgling noise.
Gavin used one hand to squeeze a squeaky teddy in front of her face and the other to open the all-in-one suit.
‘Nicely done,’ Kim observed.
‘Lots of siblings growing up,’ he said, undoing a nappy with one hand.
Zach was watching him with a smile on his face too.
‘So you and Rachel made up after this morning?’
She had pretty much screamed all kinds of loser in his face.
He looked genuinely confused. ‘Oh, that was nothing. You should see us when we really get going. There’s fur flying all over the place, though it doesn’t last long. She gets a bit uppity being the firstborn – oldest child and all that by about eight and a half minutes – but who’s counting? I’ve beaten her at everything else since, and besides, Rachel always comes around by the time she wants something.’
‘She didn’t ask her husband to come home so she could take some time out?’
‘I think she might have been planning on calling him to meet her for a coffee. A bit of time alone,’ he said, nodding towards Mia.
‘She certainly needs his support right now. You’re very lucky,’ she said, nodding towards Gavin, who was fastening up Mia’s all-in-one suit.
‘Luck has nothing to do with it,’ Zach said with a strange smile. The closest name she could give it was satisfaction with a hint of smug secrecy.
‘He’s very passionate about the business, isn’t he? Daryl?’ Kim asked.
‘Someone in the family has to be,’ Zach answered. ‘Bookcases and sideboards just don’t do it for me – or for Rachel either.’
From what she’d seen, the business was far more than that, and it was probably hurtful for William that neither of his adult children had any interest in the business that had supported them their whole lives. She couldn’t help wondering what Zach’s actual passion was.
‘May we talk about your mother, Zach?’ Kim asked.
He eyed her suspiciously. ‘I thought you said she had nothing to do with it.’
‘That hasn’t changed. Your mother didn’t kill anyone, but we’d like to understand the nature of her emotional troubles.’