Wendy sung like a canary.
She admitted to Naomi how she had kept in favour with Stephen, despite all the times she got called out of work to sort out the twins.
"It's wasn't rape," she insisted, "he never forced me. It was like a deal between us."
"You gave him sexual favours and in return he wouldn't fire you?"
Wendy gave Naomi a look, "no… that's not…exactly right. It was so I wouldn't get fired but… I put myself in that position that I could be fired."
"By having two teenaged siblings…"
"That were misbehaving yes."
Naomi nodded. Despite her probing there was no judgement in her voice (oddly flat, very similar to Lawliet's. She hadn't sounded like that until the interview started and Wendy wondered if she had changed her voice for professional impartiality, or if this was her real tone and the bright lyrical speech that is common in people when they talk, was actually fake.) On the coffee table in front of them was a recorder. However, Naomi was still taking notes on a little pad also.
"Did he ever reprimand you in any normal way?" asked Naomi after scribbling for a moment.
Wendy frowned, "what do you mean?"
"Well," Naomi looked at her with big dark eyes, "in most jobs, as I'm sure you know, if a line manager is unhappy with a worker, they have a system in place. So it may be that you have an unofficial, verbal warning, then a meeting, and then finally a last warning in paper saying you will lose your job if you don't… say… stop coming to work late."
Wendy let out a small humourless laugh, "sounds like school." She hoped it would break the ice a little.
Naomi remained unmoved, as passive and still and staring as before. Not staring… analysing. She was more like her brother than Wendy had given her credit for.
"Schools mimic the workplace," Naomi answered at length, "it's a way of trying to prepare us for the world. So did he have a procedure and was it ever followed?"
Wendy thought for a moment, feeling almost a little taken aback. What was the policy in her workplace? Honestly she had never read it though she was sure they had one. Still… she had never had anything official done.
"No," she answered at last, "he never said or did anything like that."
"How about any of the other women?"
"I don't think so… He spoke to Eileen once in the office because she kept coming in late but that was it."
"Who is Eileen? What is she like?"
"She's nice. Older lady, worked there for about forty years. We all supported her during that time. It was her family, you see, they were giving her a hard time about money and I think the stress was getting to her."
Naomi nodded along, "so the only lady you know to have been professional reprimanded was a much older lady? Not any of the younger ones? How about your male colleagues?"
"I don't have any."
"No male cleaners?"
Wendy shrugged, "it's cleaning. Men don't go for it."
"Plenty of janitors and window cleaners are men," answered Naomi lightly, writing on her pad again, "lots of jobs involving cleaning have men in them. Seems odd that such a big business had no cleaners. It's a large office, isn't it?"
"Yeah. And we are a big team."
"Do you clean anywhere else?"
"No," Wendy took in a breath. She felt stressed, and ruffled by Naomi's change of character. "Just that office."
"Does anyone else work elsewhere?"
Wendy frowned. "No… but – "
Naomi glanced up from her notes, her eyes liquid pools of deep brown, "but what?"
"I think some of them did extra work for Stephen. I'd see a few at the end of shifts going into the minivan the company had. I didn't think much of it. It's extra work. I only noticed because I briefly thought it'd be good to have some extra hours but," she shrugged and took a deep inhale of her cigarette, "I figured I'd have to be more friendly to Stephen than necessary and I needed to be home for the kids. I couldn't afford less time with them."
Naomi cracked a small smile then, "you're doing really well Wendy. Thank you."
"So you're sure there was nothing else they divulged to you?" Light looked over at Lawliet, who was sitting in the passenger seat of Light's car, surrounded by an obscene amount of sweets, chocolates and cupcakes.
"Obviously," Lawliet said lowly, curling up his legs into a crouch so that he looked like a giant fucking owl.
Light looked back out the front window. He had only a hot coffee with him, which he had bought from some fancy independent coffee shop which Lawliet had scoffed at before being offered delicious vegan brownies which were perched on the dashboard. Lawliet hadn't been too cool to reject the offer of those, Light cynically had noted. In fact, Lawliet's "working class rage" was all the more annoying considering he was actually a very wealthy, well-travelled brat, but still…
They had been sitting in the car for a little over an hour exchanging small talk whilst staring at a dark factory. They'd spent a good while discussing music after a small argument over whether the radio should be put on or not. Light insisted on saying he liked middle of the road chart music like Ed Sheeran before finally admitting that he loved metal bands like Amon Amarth. Lawliet, shockingly, was into extremely dorky pop music and was some sort of expert on all things girl-band related.
"It was Spice Girls that turned me," Lawliet had said, "then I got into Britney Spears and was so confused as to whether I loved her more than Christina."
"I bet your bedroom looked like a fourteen year old girls'," Light sneered.
Lawliet just nodded, "yeah it did. But I was too independently minded to worry too much about gender norms."
"Did you get bullied in school?"
"No, but I often was involved in vigorous debate. I went to a school where everyone wanted to be different. It was… sort of the opposite of a stereotypical school I suppose. Everyone had their own schtick."
"Oh, so you weren't so independently minded after all! You're such a fake!"
"Am not." Lawliet frowned, surprised by how stung he felt by that comment, "I did love that music. I still do. I don't care. It's fun. I'm getting into a lot of Korean and Japanese girl-bands now. I saw a few when I went over there."
"Korea and Japan? You've been to both places?"
"South Korea, yeah, and Japan." There was a pause before, "I'll probably never see those lands again."
Light looked over at Lawliet. It must be hard, going from riches to poverty.
"I kept my music tastes a secret," said Light after some time.
"Why?"
"It didn't match my image?"
Lawliet smiled, "what was your image?"
"Preppy. I watched a lot of American television growing up and I guess I just wanted to be the cool character that was loved and liked by all. And if not loved then to have enough affection around me that no one could give me a hard time without inviting a reign of drama down upon their heads."
Lawliet wanted to delve into that. What did that mean? Light was handsome and tall and from a good family. Why was he so insecure, even back then? Sure teenagers in general tended to be, but it still threw Lawliet off. He thought back to when he and Light first met, how much he disliked Light and saw him as a fake. Maybe he wasn't fake. Maybe he was just… worried a lot. Lawliet stole another look at Light. Was it pressure that caused that worry? If so, who from?
Lawliet shoved a Dairy Milk in his mouth. And Light said he was fake. Him! But… he was keeping secrets. A big one involving Light even…so was Light right?
Lawliet shifted in his seat, disconcerted.
"So…"he began, "what American shows did you watch that were so inspiring?"
The conversation turned into TV they watched now; Light liked documentaries and the news (which Lawliet laughed at him for) whereas Lawliet had gotten into watching tawdry reality TV with Wendy (which Light laughed at him for) but both agreed that they loved dark crime mysteries.
It was less tense than what it had been back in the apartment. Maybe because it was dark and they didn't have to look at each other.
Maybe because it felt less like a date.
In any case, the pressure was off and Light felt, for the first time in years, that he could actually talk to someone. The closest he had felt to being this engaged in conversation was when he had spoken to Jan (he was still quite stung how she just blew him off) and before that with the Book Club, mainly because it had been so bizarre.
Light glanced over the Lawliet (who was shovelling jelly beans in his mouth quickly and accurately) and felt a rush of gratitude that they weren't fighting anymore. At some point their cold war had been called off and he was happy about that. Light had never really had any friends before. He knew how to get people to like him, but that wasn't the same as creating a real connection.
His mind suddenly recalled an image of Kiyomi. He pushed it aside; he didn't want to think about her tonight.
They sat without conversation for around twenty minutes before;
"We should go inside," sighed Light, feeling bored and restless and tired of listening to Lawliet chewing, "maybe see what it is they're doing – "
"SHSHSHSHSHHH!" spluttered Lawliet suddenly, spraying the dashboard with chocolate spittle.
Both men ducked in their seats, watching as a white minivan drove into the area.
"What weirdo would be here at night?" asked Lawliet making Light roll his eyes at the irony.
The minivan parked in front of the factory. The door opened and a guy clambered out of the front seat. His blond hair was thinning slightly and his shirt was too tight. He opened up the side door of the van and number of young women climbed out. Light squinted, it was hard to see but, "are they wearing the same clothes?"
"Yeah," muttered Lawliet, "a uniform. A cleaner's one."
"Good eyesight."
Lawliet shifted, strangely uncomfortable with the praise, "thanks. But… I recognise it. My Landlady is a cleaner and she wears this uniform."
"Seriously? Wait, the one talking to your sister?"
Lawliet nodded, watching as the girls went into the dark factory and the man drove away.
"That's suspicious though," muttered Light after the girls were gone.
"Maybe they're just cleaning…"
Light gave Lawliet a flat look, "this late at night?"
Lawliet shrugged. He didn't like to think that Wendy was possibly involved with something that was connected to the rape and murder of a woman.
"Come on," Light sat up, Lawliet following his lead, "we should get back."
"Ok, I'm going to give Ray a call. I think he needs to know all of this," Lawliet glanced at Light, "and can you get me to my home please? I'd call a taxi but… I want to make sure my sister is ok."
"Of course," muttered Light, driving away slowly as to not attract attention. "Maybe call your sister first?"
"Yeah," Lawliet looked at his phone, feeling anxious, "yeah…"
Kiyomi wandered into the sitting room where her brother lounged on a couch reading, generic café jazz playing through his laptop speakers.
"Adrian Mole?" asked Kiyomi, sipping her hot chocolate and eyeing his book, "aren't you too old for that?"
"Aren't you too old for those pyjamas?" he responded without malice, "Adrian Mole offers an interesting zeitgeist into an era I wasn't born in."
"Ugh," Kiyomi collapsed on to the soft chair opposite the couch and pulled a woollen blanket over herself, "please, you're making me feel old."
Suddenly, her mobile began to ring out.
"I have to get this," she informed Mido, "it's the police."
"Tell them 'no comment' and insist on a lawyer," he snarked, not bothering to look up from his book.
Rolling her eyes she stepped out into the hallway. It was dark and cold, the winter atmosphere sinking into the cold stone floor.
"Hello?"
"Ms Takada," said a male voice on the phone. It was the police officer she had spoken to before.
She frowned, trying to remember his name, "Detective Penbar, correct?"
"That's right," he sounded a little surprised, "I'm calling because there may be a slight crack in the case of Felicity. We were hoping to talk to her again, but obviously she won't without you. Especially now."
"Especially now she knows you don't believe her and she's going to trial herself for wasting police time?" Kiyomi sneered.
The Detective sighed, "we didn't have enough evidence before. We may have something now… possibly, but we need to talk to her first."
"I'll talk to her tomorrow and see if I can convince her to come in, I'll let you know by midday."
"Thank you," he sighed again, world-weary, "have a good night Ms Takada."
"You too Detective."
Mido raised an eyebrow when she re-entered the warm sitting room.
"You look like the cat who got the cream," he said, "good news?"
"I think so," she smirked, settling back down in her chair, "but I may have to cut my visit short. Something has called me back up north."
He put down his book, looking sulky, "you've only just arrived!"
"It's how it goes sometimes," she shrugged.
They sat in silence for a moment, Mido picking up his book and reading once more. She thought of her father who'd never been around, and their distant mother. She thought about how she felt rejected and feared being left behind.
"Why don't you come with me?" she asked suddenly.
"What?"
"Come with me. We'll tell mom and school that you're looking at the two uni campuses, getting a feel before choosing. But really you can stay with me for a few days."
He smiled, almost shyly, "yes, alright then. Thanks."
"No problem… but I have a Book Club thing I'm going to tomorrow, so you can stay home or come with me."
"I'll come," he said, looking at his book, "I love a good discussion about literature."