Three Little Maids(65)

‘Your underwear, Mrs Flitch?’

Kent got an idea that he knew what she was about to say. ‘Would that be your panties by any chance?’

‘Yes. That’s right.’ She looked surprised. ‘At first I couldn’t think what was happening to them. I looked through my daughter’s things. I thought she might be dressing up in them. They were expensive. A gift from a boyfriend.’ She blew the smoke out in swirling blue rings up in the air. ‘And they weren’t from Woollies or M & S. So I got pretty angry when I realised someone was taking them piecemeal off my clothes line.

‘So I started to keep a watch. Pretended to go shopping and came back and waited.’ She flicked the ash off her cigarette into the tray. ‘And - I caught Raymond Perkins in the act. He was snatching a pair of my panties off the line and he had three more stuffed into his jeans pocket.’

‘Raymond Perkins. So - what did you do about it?’

‘I gave him a clip round the ear. He admitted he’d taken the others too. And June went into the shed where he kept some of his kid’s stuff and found the rest. Cut up to ribbons and no bloody good anymore.’ She frowned and tapped the ash into the ashtray. ‘That really made me see red, Inspector. And there were some small pieces of jewellery he’d kept in a cigar box. They were all mine. They’d gone missing too. I often take off my earrings, see, and leave them by the sink in the kitchen. Still do.’ She shrugged. ‘Well I never locked my back door not till then. They weren’t worth much. It was just dress jewellery; only worth a bob or two. He could see them through the window. I got them all back.’

‘So what did you do about it afterwards?’

‘Nothing.’ She blew more smoke rings and watched them fade with narrowed eyes.

‘You didn’t inform the police?’ She shook her head. ‘Why not? Turner was the community policeman then. He could have spoken to the lad.’

‘He was a youngster and seemed genuinely sorry. June was so upset over it. She tried to pay me back and begged me not to tell anyone. Especially you lot. She didn’t want him to have a charge of stealing on his CV when he looked for a job. So I didn’t say anything to anyone. It never happened again.’

‘So you’re telling me about it now. Why is that?’

She grimaced. ‘Well - it made me feel queer at the time. It was such a weird thing for him to do. But he was at a funny age.’ She shrugged and leant over to stub out her cigarette in the ash tray. ‘Look, Inspector. I didn’t know if he was gay. Or perhaps he had transsexual leanings.’

‘So...’

‘I tried to warn June about this. But she didn’t want to know. June puts a cement block up when she doesn’t want to hear anything bad about her precious grandson. So I gave up. Only time would tell. And he hasn’t done anything like it since not as far as I know. But he had terrible tempers when he was small. And he was steaming mad when Maureen chucked him.’

‘Thank you for coming, Mrs Flitch. I’ll bear this information in mind. You’re sure that no one else but you or Mrs Perkins knows about this youthful indiscretion?’

‘I don’t think so. My daughter might remember. From the time when I went through her things and she caught some of the heated conversation between June and myself. It was a bit fraught at first. Susan has never mentioned it since though. She was only nine at the time.

‘You know he had a thing about his mother. She was known to be free with her favours. June would kill me if she heard me saying this. Pam went to the same school as me. We’re both local girls see. She never divulged who Raymond’s father was. She was only fifteen when she had Raymond. Much too young. But I expect you know that already. Well, I’ve got that off my chest now.’

Kent smothered a smile as she brushed some ash off the dress which showed off her twin assets admirably. ‘I don’t want to get him into any serious trouble but I thought you ought to know how he behaved then. But of course it might mean nothing at all.’

‘Quite right, Mrs Flitch. I’m most grateful to you for telling me this.’

This unexpected information brought into the incident room made the team sit up. ‘This must be what we’ve been hoping for, sir,’ DC Carter said. ‘You can’t pass it over. Not without checking. There could be a connection. Mrs Flitch doesn’t know how the panties were used in the killings. So she can’t be pushing this for any reason of her own.’

Kent studied the eager faces of his team. They’d had a long period, of long days working flat out, and this was the most useful information they’d received from a member of the public so far.