Necessary as Blood

slightly vague expression. She had been thinking that if Gail‘s sons were dealing drugs, they weren‘t doing too well at it, when she caught sight of the large flat-screen television half-hidden by a pile of packing cases. Beneath the TV, a satellite box and DVD player sat on the floor, beside a Bose sound system. Plastic Guitar Hero guitars lay to one side, next to toppling stacks of DVD boxes.
    Put those things together with the sofas (ugly but probably expensive) and the fancy coffee machine in the kitchen — all were items that could easily be bought with handy, untraceable cash.
    ‘She‘s a good girl, my Donna. And those are Donna‘s kids,‘ Gail went on, sitting down on the bloated chair with her own cup. ‘She had ‘em all fixed up for that portrait studio, you know, the one where you get all the different sizes, and the little ones you carry in your purse.‘
    Gemma noticed that she didn‘t refer to the children as her grandchildren. ‘They‘re very good-looking. Like Charlotte.‘
    Her face clouding, Gail said, ‘That Charlotte. You said you seen her, so you‘ll know. She‘s a darkie. Still,‘ Gail gave a gusty, martyred sigh, ‘she‘s my flesh and blood, and it‘s my duty to take her in.‘
    ‘Will you be moving, then?‘ Gemma gestured at the packing cases.
    ‘Oh, no. Not me. It‘s my boys. That social worker says they‘ve got to move out before I can have my own granddaughter. My boys pushed out of their own ‘ome, if you can credit that! I don‘t know as what I‘d do without my boys. Why just Saturday, they borrowed their mates‘ van and took me to pick out this furniture. Brought it home that very night, too.‘ Gail shook her head and her blonde hair wobbled. ‘They look after me, don‘t they?‘ She gave Gemma a sudden fierce glare. ‘It ain‘t your friend who told that social-worker lady those bad things about my Kev and my Terry?‘
    ‘Oh, no. It can‘t have been,‘ said Gemma, thinking it wasn‘t an outright lie, as she had been the one who‘d passed the drug rumours on to Janice Silverman. ‘Where will they go, your sons?‘
    ‘Well, they can stay with their sister until we get this sorted. Not that she ‘as room, mind you, but she wouldn‘t turn ‘em away. She‘s a good sister, our Donna, not like some who think they‘re too good for their own.‘ Gail kicked her gold sandals off under the coffee table, wiggling her toes, and as Gemma glanced down at one toppled shoe she saw that the label read ‘Jimmy Choo‘.
    She had to stop herself whistling through her teeth and put on a baffled look instead. ‘I‘m sorry. I don‘t understand... Who—‘
    ‘Sandra.‘ Gail‘s tone was venomous. ‘Always thought she was too good for us, from the time she was no bigger than that daughter of hers. And then she married that Paki, and he turned her. Bad enough we have to live here with ‘em. God knows what ‘e‘s done to that little girl, but we‘ll soon see about that. It won‘t take me long to sort ‘er out.‘
    The scummy instant coffee Gemma had been forced to taste for politeness‘s sake came back up in her throat. She thought the fury coursing through her veins must be visible, throbbing in her face. Swallowing hard, she said, ‘I didn‘t know your daughter, Mrs Gilles — Gail — do you mind if I call you Gail?‘ Not waiting for an answer, she prattled on, ‘About your daughter — I never really heard — what was it happened to her?‘
    ‘She run off.‘ It was aggravation, not grief, that coloured Gail‘s voice. ‘Just upped and run off. Probably to get away from that Paki husband of ‘ers. How she could leave that baby, I don‘t know. It‘s unnatural, innit?‘
    ‘Oh, I—‘ Gemma stood up so quickly that the coffee she‘d set on the table sloshed from the mug. Her anger boiled up and she felt she might be physically sick. ‘Oh, I am so sorry,‘ she managed to mumble. She fished a tissue from her handbag, grateful that for a moment her hair fell forward to hide her face. Mopping at the brown liquid, she said, ‘I — I‘m afraid all of a sudden I‘m not feeling too well.‘
    ‘Not catching, is it?‘ Gail looked at her suspiciously.
    ‘No, no, I‘m sure it‘s not. It‘s just the heat. Listen, ta ever so much for the coffee. I hope things work out for you. And for little Charlotte.‘ She flashed Gail a sickly smile and headed towards the door, dodging round the packing cases.
    ‘You,‘ Gail called after her. ‘What