They passed Michelle coming into the glass conference room, carrying a large handful of tissues. She gave them a disapproving look.
‘What do you think?’ asked Erika, when they emerged out onto the street.
‘I’m gonna say it. Cos I know we were all thinking it. What the hell was she doing with him? Talk about out of his league!’ said Peterson.
‘And I don’t think he knew her at all,’ said Moss.
‘Or, she only let him know what she wanted him to know,’ added Peterson.
16
By lunchtime, the official news of Andrea’s death was playing across the media. As Erika, Moss and Peterson approached the Douglas-Brown residence, the bank of photographers had grown on the green outside, churning up the melting snow. This time they didn’t have to wait on the doorstep and were shown straight through to a large drawing room with a double-aspect view of the tree out front and a large garden behind. Two large pale sofas and several armchairs surrounded a long, low coffee table. An open fireplace was decorated in white marble, and in the corner sat a baby grand piano covered in an assortment of framed photographs.
‘Hello, officers,’ said Simon Douglas-Brown, rising from one of the sofas to shake their hands. Diana Douglas-Brown was sitting beside him, and didn’t get up. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her face bare of make-up. David and Linda sat at opposite sides of their parents. Simon, Diana and David were still dressed in black, but Linda had changed into a tartan skirt and a baggy white woollen jumper, on the front of which embroidered kittens chased balls of wool. Erika recognised the jumper from the picture on Facebook. Andrea had worn it with Barbora.
‘Thank you for seeing us,’ said Erika. ‘Before we begin, I would just like to apologise to you if my manner yesterday was rude. It wasn’t intentional, and I apologise unreservedly if I caused you any offence.’
Simon looked surprised. ‘Yes, of course, it’s forgotten. And thank you.’
‘Yes, thank you,’ echoed Diana, croakily.
‘We’d just like to find out a little more about Andrea’s life,’ said Erika, taking a seat on the sofa opposite the family. Peterson and Moss sat either side of her. ‘May we ask you a few questions?’
The family nodded.
Erika looked at David and Linda. ‘I understand Andrea was supposed to meet you on the night she disappeared?’
‘Yes, we were due to meet at The Odeon in Hammersmith, to watch a film,’ said Linda.
‘Which film?’
David shrugged and looked to Linda.
‘Gravity,’ Linda said. ‘Andrea kept saying how much she wanted to see it.’
‘Did she say why she cancelled?’
‘She didn’t cancel; she just didn’t turn up,’ said Linda.
‘Okay. We have a witness who saw Andrea in a pub in South London, The Glue Pot. Does that mean anything?’
The family all shook their heads.
‘That doesn’t sound like somewhere Andrea would go,’ said Diana. She sounded a little woozy and vacant.
‘Could she have been meeting someone? Did Andrea have any friends around there?’
‘Goodness, no,’ said Diana.
‘Andrea did get through a lot of friends,’ said Linda, flicking her short fringe out of her eyes with a twitch of her head.
‘Linda, that’s not fair,’ said her mother, weakly.
‘But she did. There was always someone new she’d met in a bar or a club – she had so many memberships. She’d be crazy about them one minute, and the next they’d be cut off. Excommunicated for some minor misdemeanor.’
‘Like what?’ asked Erika.
‘Like, looking nicer than she did, or talking to the guy she wanted to talk to. Or talking about themselves too much . . .’
‘Linda,’ said her father, warningly.
‘I’m telling them the truth!’
‘No, you are slating your sister, who is dead. She isn’t here to fight with you, anymore . . .’ Simon tailed off.
‘Did you go out with Andrea to bars and clubs?’ asked Moss.
‘No,’ said Linda, pointedly.
‘When you say “memberships”, what do you mean?’
‘Memberships to clubs. I’m not sure they’d be the kind of clubs you’d go to,’ added Linda, looking Moss up and down.
‘Linda,’ said Simon.
Linda shifted uncomfortably on the sofa, her broad backside spilling over the edge. ‘I’m sorry, that was rude,’ she said, flicking her fringe again. Erika wondered if it was a nervous tic.
‘No probs,’ said Moss, amiably. ‘This isn’t a formal interview; we merely want information to help catch Andrea’s killer.’
‘I can give you the list of clubs where Andrea had memberships. I’ll talk to my secretary, get her to email them over,’ said Simon.
‘Linda, you work at a florists, yes?’ asked Peterson.
Linda looked him up and down approvingly, as if noticing him for the first time. ‘Yes. It’s my mother’s business. I’m assistant manager. Have you got a girlfriend?’
‘Um, no,’ said Peterson.
‘Pity,’ said Linda, unconvincingly. ‘We’ve got some lovely stuff coming in for Valentine’s Day.’
‘What about you, David?’ asked Peterson.
David had sunk down into the sofa, and he stared ahead vacantly with the neck of his jumper pulled up over his bottom lip. ‘I’m doing my MA,’ he said.
‘Where?’
‘Here in London, at UCL,’
‘And what are you studying?’
‘Architectural History.’
‘He’s always wanted to be an architect,’ said his mother proudly, putting her hand on his arm. He pulled it out from under her touch. For a moment, Diana looked like she might break down again.
‘When did you last see Andrea?’ asked Erika.
‘The afternoon before we were due to go out,’ said David.
‘Did you go out with Andrea much in London?’
‘No. She was more Kardashian bling. I’m more into Shoreditch, y’know?’
‘You mean the bars and clubs in Shoreditch?’ asked Peterson. David nodded. Peterson added, ‘I live in Shoreditch. I got a mortgage just before the property prices went mad.’
Linda regarded Peterson, as if he were a cream cake waiting to be devoured.
David went on, ‘Yeah. When I finally get access to my trust fund, I’m buying my own place in Shoreditch.’
‘David,’ warned his father.
‘Well, I am. He asked me a question and I answered.’
There was an almost imperceptible shift in the room. A look passed between Simon and Diana, and then there was silence.
‘So, Linda, you are a florist, and David is studying. What did Andrea do?’ asked Moss.
‘Andrea was engaged to be married,’ said Linda, her voice heavy with irony.
‘Enough!’ roared Simon. ‘I will not have you two talking like this, filling the room with this horrible atmosphere. Andrea is dead. Brutally murdered! And here you are taking pot shots at her!’
‘It wasn’t me, it was Linda,’ said David.
‘Oh yes, it’s always me. Always Linda . . .’
Their father ignored them. ‘Andrea was a beautiful girl. But not only that, she lit up a room when she walked in. She was beautiful, and vulnerable and . . . and . . . a light has gone out in our lives.’
The atmosphere in the room changed. The family seemed to shift on their chairs to move into each other and become a unit.
‘What can you tell us about Andrea’s friend, Barbora Kardosova?’ asked Erika.
‘I think she was the closest Andrea ever had to a best friend,’ said Diana. ‘She even came on holiday with us. They were so close for a time, and then she just vanished. Andrea said Barbora just moved away.’
‘Do you know where she went?’
‘No. She didn’t leave a forwarding address; didn’t answer any of Andrea’s emails,’ said Diana.