`And what time was your text to Sasha?'
Blake shrugs. `Amanda called around 9.45, so I must have texted Sasha just after that.'
But as Gis well knows, Sasha's phone was already off by then `“ she'd never have received it. Did she get off that bus at Cherwell Drive, in the dark, on her own, to wait for a father who was never going to show?
There's a silence. Blake looks agitated and uneasy but Gislingham doesn't doubt he's telling the truth. He's just terrified about his other half finding out what he was really up to. That's what's got him so jumpy. Not his nineteen-hours-missing daughter.
`I'm afraid we will have to speak to Amanda,' Gis continues, injecting as much disdain into the name as he can get away with. `We'll need her to corroborate what you've said. Perhaps you could give DC Everett her details.'
You're really bricking it now, aren't you, he thinks, looking at Blake's face as he writes down the number. His hand is shaking. Then Gislingham gets to his feet and Everett does the same.
`But don't worry, sir, we won't tell the missus. Unless, of course, we have no choice.'
* * *
Adam Fawley
4 April 2018
17.32
`So where are we, Sergeant?'
It's 5.30, in the incident room. Twitter is alive with rumours of a missing girl and I'm going to be in front of a TV camera in half an hour so I'd quite like to have something I could actually say.
Gis looks up. He has a list, which is a good sign. But he's frowning, which isn't. `We haven't had any luck tracking down Sasha's boyfriend.'
He glances at Baxter. `We don't have her phone, of course, which is making things a lot harder, and we haven't managed to crack the password on the laptop, but we've only had it a couple of hours `“'
`Still nothing on social media?'
`Nope,' says Baxter. `Sod all.'
I turn to Everett. `What about Ashley Brotherton?'
Ev shakes her head. `We did check but nothing doing. Seems he cut his hand quite badly at work yesterday and was sat in the AE department at the John Rad until 10.00 last night waiting to get it stitched.'
I frown; he still seems like a pretty good bet to me. `Has the hospital confirmed that?'
`Not yet, sir, but we've asked for the CCTV from their car park. Apparently the site foreman had to take him in, but they went in Brotherton's van so we should be able to find it on the footage if he's telling the truth. But I think we'll find he is.'
She has one of those I told you so looks on her face now which prickles my irritation. But perhaps I'm just imagining it.
`And Jonathan Blake?'
`Nothing doing,' says Gis. `We spoke to the `њclient`ќ he was having drinks with and she confirmed where he was. Though she was pretty pissed off to be dragged into all this so I can't see Blake doing business with her any time soon `“'
`As opposed to doing the business,' says Quinn with a smirk. `Which I reckon he's already managed.'
`And there's nothing whatsoever to connect him to the assault on Faith,' continues Gislingham, ignoring Quinn. `He's got a solid alibi for that morning, for a start `“ he was on a client call in Swindon.'
I go up to the board and stand there, staring at it. At the pictures of the two girls. At the white space between the two that we still haven't found anything to fill.
`And we're absolutely sure they don't know each other?' I ask, without turning round.
`Yes, sir,' replies Somer. `I asked Faith.'
I pick up the marker pen and draw a circle slowly around Faith's picture. And then another, around Sasha's. And in the centre, where they overlap, I put a question mark. Then I step back and snap the top back on the pen.
`You don't think Sasha's with her boyfriend, do you?' says Somer heavily.
`I hope she is. I hope they're having wild irresponsible teenage sex and haven't yet managed to come up for air. But we have to assume the worst. We always have to assume the worst. Unless and until.'
* * *THE CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURTThe Old BaileyLondon EC4M 7EHBEFORE:THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE HEALEYR E G I N Av.GAVIN FRANCIS PARRIEMR. R. BARNES Q.C. and MISS S. GREYappeared on behalf of the prosecution.MRS. B. JENKINS Q.C. and MR. T. CUTHBERTappeared on behalf of the defendant.Tuesday, 9th November, 1999[Day 18]ADAM FAWLEY, swornExamined by MR. BARNESQ. Name and rank please?A. Detective Sergeant 0877 Fawley, Thames Valley Police.Q. I believe you were the officer who questioned Ms. Sheldon after the attempted assault on 4th September 1998?A. Yes I was.Q. You were already working on the Roadside Rapist case?MRS. JENKINS: My Lord `“MR. BARNES: I will anticipate an objection from the defence, my Lord. DS Fawley, were you already working to apprehend the sexual predator whom the media had by then nicknamed the `Roadside Rapist'?A. Yes. The attack on Ms. Sheldon was the third such crime.Q. But you were in no doubt that this attack was the work of the same man?A. No doubt at all. The MO was the same `“ the plastic bag, the cable ties. It was all of a piece.Q. But no DNA was discovered, I believe?A. No. We believe the perpetrator was very careful not to leave biological trace.Q. And how would he do that?A. By wearing gloves, for example, and using a condom. We also believe he put down plastic sheeting when he abducted two of the victims in his brother's van, to avoid the transfer of DNA from his victims on to the vehicle.Q. Because no DNA from either of the women was ever identified in the said van?A. No. Only that of Mr. Parrie himself, his brother, and two colleagues who had worked with the latter on previous work projects. All three were categorically ruled out as potential suspects.Q. To return to Ms. Sheldon `“ was she able to identify Mr. Parrie?A. Not visually, no. She never saw her assailant's face.Q. What about the van?A. Again, she didn't see it. He placed the plastic bag over her face from behind.Q. But she was able to identify him in another way, was she not? The identification which eventually led to his arrest?A. Yes. She was.* * *Adam Fawley
4 April 2018
18.27
Fiona Blake handles the TV appeal remarkably well. I've done more of these things than any police officer should ever have to, but I can't remember anyone dealing with it so steadily. Somer had warned me, as we drove over to Windermere Avenue, that there was a danger even asking her to do it might push Fiona over the edge, and I knew what she was getting at: for some people, in this situation, that's the moment the truth hits home. That their wife or child or friend or parent isn't just lost or confused or out of touch; they're gone, and they may never be coming back. But it wasn't like that with Fiona Blake. To say she took it calmly doesn't do her justice; she took it for what it is: a chance to ask the world for her daughter back. And for an hour this afternoon we sat there, she and I, going through what she should say, what I was going to say, and how to cope with the press, and she listened and asked questions, dry-eyed, but grey.
And she's still the same now, at the Kidlington media centre, in front of the lights and the cameras and the crush of bodies. She's spoken clearly, and looked people in the eye. No evasive gestures, no glancing away, none of the involuntary signs our bodies betray us with. I remember the last time I sat here appealing for a missing child, and the instinctive unease I felt with every move the Mason family made. But not now. And when I spot Bryan Gow halfway down the room, all he does is nod: This woman is telling the truth. As if I didn't know that already.
And now it's my turn.
`If anyone has any information at all about Sasha or where she might be, please contact us as a matter of urgency. Either at St Aldate's police station, on the phone number we gave earlier, or through the Thames Valley Police social media feeds. You can also contact us anonymously through Crimestoppers.' I pause and turn to the photo of Sasha on the screen behind me. The one her mother chose. The two of them, laughing in the sun.