The old man snorts. `More like had, if you ask me. I don't think he's heard a peep out of her since all this started.'
Everett's detective antennae flicker at this. It might mean nothing, but on the other hand `“
`What's her name?' she says, taking the proffered mug.
`Search me. He doesn't bring 'em here.'
Ev's heart sinks. `You've never seen her at all?'
The old man ferrets about in the cupboard for biscuits and comes up with garibaldis. She tries not to think about how long the packet has been in there.
He shuffles across to the table and sits down. `I did see her once or twice at a distance. A couple of months ago, maybe? But she had her back to me. Brown hair, longish.'
Which could be almost anyone, thinks Everett. But it could also be Nadine Appleford.
`One thing I do remember though,' he says, offering her the packet of biscuits. `He was teaching her to drive.'
* * *
Somer takes a seat on the armchair opposite Faith. She has her arms wrapped round her legs and one cheek is resting on her knees. A waffle blanket has been tucked round her shoulders.
`How are you?' says Somer softly.
There's no reply. She can see the tears on the girl's face.
`I just came to see how you were doing. There isn't much I can tell you at the moment, I'm afraid.'
Faith seems to register Somer's presence for the first time. She raises her head and wipes her eyes. `Mum said that carrier bag came from our house.'
Somer sighs. `I know. We still can't explain that. I'm afraid Nadine's not saying very much.'
Faith drops her head again. Somer can't imagine what it must be like `“ to discover someone who's supposed to love you has betrayed you. And in such a cruel and deliberate and spiteful way.
`Do you know many of Nadine's friends?'
Faith looks up at her then shakes her head.
`Do any of them have a van? Any sort of vehicle that might have been the one you were taken in?'
Another tiny shake of the head; the tears have started again. She's begun to rock gently, her hands gripping tighter round her knees.
`I'm sorry, Faith, but I had to ask.'
Jess slides down next to Faith on the sofa and puts a hand gently on her shoulder. `I'll put some food on in a bit,' she whispers. `Mac and cheese, your favourite.'
There's no acknowledgement from Faith, but she doesn't push the hand away.
When Somer stops at the front door a few minutes later and turns back to look at them, they're still sitting there, in the same position; the only sounds the patter of rain against the windows and the soft hiss of the gas fire.
* * *
Sent: Mon 08/04/2018, 21.55 Importance: HighFrom: DCVerityEverett@ThamesValley.police.uk To: DIRuthGallagher@ThamesValley.police.uk Subject: Ashley Brotherton `“ URGENTSomething's been bugging me about the whole Nadine thing so I just went over and spoke to Ashley's grandfather again. He told me Ashley had a girlfriend he was teaching to drive. In car parks, places like that. Mr Brotherton doesn't know her name and only has a vague description but from what he said, it could definitely be Nadine.So just because she's only 15 and doesn't have a licence doesn't mean she couldn't physically drive that van. And if she was his girlfriend she'd know about the spare key by the back door too.I think it's possible Nadine got a bus down there the morning Faith was attacked and `borrowed' the van while Ashley and his grandad were at the funeral. The timing is really really tight but I think she could just about have done it. And Mr Brotherton said Ashley parked the van in the next street that day, to make sure there was room for the funeral cars, which would have made it a lot easier for someone to take it without anyone noticing.I know it's a crazy long shot, but it is feasible. Remember what that witness said about the van driver having their cap pulled down low over their face? That would make sense, if it was Nadine. She wouldn't want anyone to clock how young she is.And it would also give us a v. good reason why she's refusing to tell us who her accomplice was: she can't do that, because she never had one.VE* * *
`DC Everett? It's Ruth Gallagher `“ I just got your email.'
Gallagher is on her hands-free in the car, at the traffic lights in Summertown. Everett is only a hundred yards away, if she did but know it, upstairs in her flat, tipping a can of cat food into a bowl with her free hand.
`That was a damn good hunch of yours `“ well done.'
`Thanks `“ it just suddenly came to me `“ if someone borrowed Ashley's van, why not a girlfriend? Why not Nadine?'
`You're right about the timing though `“ she'd need miraculously good bus connections. And both ways: she didn't just have to collect that van from Blackbird Leys, she had to get it back there too, and get back to school.'
`I know, but it's only five miles `“ it could be done. Just.'
`Well, it may be we'll have to put that to the test ourselves, but first things first. Have you spoken to Ashley?'
Gallagher can hear a vague wailing noise in the background; not a baby though, more like a cat. A particularly insistent cat.
`I tried,' says Everett, raising her voice a little, `but since he can't work with his cut hand he's gone up to Blackpool with some mates. I'm afraid he's not picking up his phone.'
`Did you ask his grandad to have a go? Ashley's more likely to answer him than some number he doesn't recognize.'
`Yes, I did, but it just went to voicemail. But don't worry, he's promised to try again first thing tomorrow. And if I have to, I'll go over there and watch him do it.'
* * *
Adam Fawley
9 April 2018
08.25
Alex is still asleep when I get to the hospital. But she stirs a little when I take a seat next to the bed, and opens her eyes. She smiles, that delicious slow first-thing-in-the-morning smile of hers that makes my heart turn over.
`Shouldn't you be at work by now, Detective Inspector Fawley?'
`I think community outreach can do without me for a while.'
Yesterday it was a talk to the local Deaf Club about how the police deal with vulnerable witnesses; today it's a Careers session at Cuttleslowe Secondary. It's important stuff and someone should be doing it. I'd just rather it wasn't me.
Alex sits up now, slowly, pulling the bedclothes around her. Instinctively, without thinking. As if she's protecting the baby, even from me. Outside, in the corridor, I can hear the rattling trundle of the breakfast trolley.
I reach across and take her hand. `I can't stay too long but I'll come back later, as soon as I can get away.'
She smiles, but this time it's a sad thin affair. `Ironic, isn't it. All those years I wanted you not to work so late and now you're home early all the time, and it's all my fault.'
`It's not your fault, and with luck it won't be for much longer. I heard on the grapevine that Ruth Gallagher may be near an arrest for Sasha Blake. One of her teachers. And if it was him, he was in north Wales in the late nineties, so there's no way he's a Parrie suspect we just failed to find. So try to put it out of your mind, OK?'
`You like her, don't you?' she says. `This Ruth Gallagher.'
`Yes, I do. She's good at the job but she doesn't make a show of it. And she's managed to get the team doing what she wants without forcing them to work a whole different way. That's not easy.'
`Even Quinn?' says Alex.
`Even Quinn. Probably because she's got a teenage boy at home and she's just transferred the technique.'
We exchange a smile. I'm telling myself I can see a little more colour in her cheeks now, and perhaps I can.