‘No problem. Please attend Halesowen police station at your earliest convenience. Feel free to bring legal—’ Her words were interrupted by the buzzing of the door.
‘Was that supposed to scare me, Inspector?’ Lorraine asked as Bryant closed the door behind them.
‘It was intended to give you the idea that we want to speak to you either here or at the station. Your choice.’
Lorraine indicated towards the two chairs as if to say ‘well now you have your way’.
‘I’ll stand thanks,’ Kim said, moving closer to the reception desk. ‘I’ll get right to it, Lorraine. We’re here about an altercation you had with your neighbour.’
She stuck her chin out. ‘Go ahead. I’ve got nothing to hide. I beat her up, pleaded guilty, did my time. Nothing to hide.’
‘And no regrets either?’ Kim asked.
‘Absolutely not. I gave her fair warning.’
‘About the daffodils – sorry, pansies?’ Bryant asked.
‘No, to move house. I didn’t want to live next door to her, and I was there first.’
Kim wondered if Lorraine had any clue how petulant she sounded, which was not attractive on a woman in her early thirties.
‘And this was because she was gay?’ Kim asked.
Lorraine nodded. ‘Yep. I didn’t like her. I don’t like any queer folks, especially a woman living right next door. Her bedroom window looked onto my garden. She could have been perving on me any time.’
Kim wanted to laugh at the sheer stupidity of the woman. Sometimes it was hard to believe that women like Lorraine still existed.
‘You were scared that she might find you attractive?’ Bryant asked.
‘Of course. They’ll go for anyone, won’t they?’
‘I don’t actually think that’s how it works, but what if it had been a man’s bedroom?’ Kim asked.
Lorraine shrugged. ‘I wouldn’t really have thought too much about it. I mean it’d be natural for a bloke to have a gawp, wouldn’t it?’
Oh, it was good to know the double standard still survived in bigoted and outdated views.
‘I’m not sorry, if that’s what you’ve come to ask. I’m glad I beat the shit out of her. It got her to move.’
Kim felt the rage build in her stomach for the victim of this hate crime. The violence was bad enough, but Kim could imagine the insults and abuse she’d received for having done nothing wrong. ‘And you think that’s okay?’
She shrugged. ‘I mean, I wish I hadn’t had to do eighteen months in the slammer for it, but it was worth the time.’
‘You have no sympathy for your victim?’
‘Nope, and if I’d lied about that, I’d have been out five months earlier, but I ain’t gonna lie. I hate the queers. I don’t mind the blacks, the Indians, the Romanians or the Jews. I just hate the queers.’
Kim thrust her fists into her front pockets before they acted on what she was feeling. ‘Ever beat anyone else up?’ she asked.
Lorraine shook her head. ‘Nah, I keep it all online now. I abuse people over the internet. Way more fun and it doesn’t bruise my knuckles.’ She laughed at her own joke.
Kim and Bryant let her laughter hang in the air as Charles Stamoran appeared from behind.
‘Everything okay?’ he asked, placing his hands on Lorraine’s shoulders; a wildly inappropriate action in the workplace unless…
The brief smile that passed over Lorraine’s face confirmed the unless.
Despite the place they both worked, Kim had to wonder if Charles Stamoran knew just how foul his mistress was.