David did not stir from his position blocking the doorway. ‘My daughter is too upset to answer any more of your questions right now. I sent your police liaison officer packing and now you can return to the police station as well. Go and do your job and find my granddaughter.’
As he began to close the door, his wife appeared in the hallway behind him.
‘Who is it, David?’
Her face grew taut on seeing Geraldine on the doorstep and her eyes glowed with longing.
‘Is it–? Have you found her? Is she–?’ she stammered, starting forward.
‘I’m afraid we haven’t found Daisy yet, Mrs Armstrong. We’re following several leads. I’m sorry to disturb you, but I do need to ask Jessica a few more questions.’
‘I told you to leave my daughter alone,’ David said. ‘This constant badgering isn’t helping her –’
‘Let the sergeant come in,’ Anne interrupted him, giving her husband what appeared to be a warning frown. ‘We must help the police in any way we can. Let her do her job.’
‘If they were doing their job properly, Daisy would be back with us by now,’ he replied.
‘I’d like to speak to your daughter,’ Geraldine repeated.
‘You can speak to me,’ David said. ‘Daisy’s my granddaughter.’
‘I have a few questions to put to Jessica. It won’t take long.’
‘I’m not leaving her alone with you,’ he replied firmly.
Geraldine stared at him. ‘Are you concerned about what she might say? Is there something you would like her to keep quiet about?’
David flushed with irritation. ‘I don’t know what that’s supposed to imply, but I resent your tone, Sergeant, and if you can’t keep a civil tongue in your –’
‘I need to speak to your daughter,’ Geraldine interrupted him impatiently. ‘We can do this at the police station, if necessary, but it would be easier and quicker to talk here and now, and we don’t want to waste time. I’m sure Jessica would feel more comfortable talking to me here, in familiar surroundings. We are all keen to find your granddaughter as quickly as we can and reunite her with her mother. So shall we stop wasting time in pointless argument?’
David sniffed, and seemed about to retort. Thinking better of it, he withdrew and stomped away along the hall, grumbling irascibly. Anne took Geraldine into the living room where Jessica was staring fixedly at a game show on the television.
‘I’d like to ask you a few questions,’ Geraldine said.
David followed Anne and Geraldine into the room. ‘Don’t let her hector you, Jessica,’ he barked.
Jessica seemed calmer than she had been on the previous occasions when Geraldine had seen her. As she sat down, Geraldine asked Anne and David to leave her and Jessica alone.
‘I’m staying right here,’ David retorted.
‘You might as well do what she wants, or she’ll never go away,’ Jessica said. ‘Go on, please.’
Anne shooed her protesting husband out of the room.
‘Jessica,’ Geraldine began as soon as the Armstrongs had gone, ‘how long have you and Jason been married?’
‘Just over three years.’
Geraldine stared directly at Jessica, studying her reaction, as she posed her next question. ‘And who is Daisy’s father?’
Jessica gave a credible appearance of being surprised. ‘What do you mean? I don’t understand the question. Jason is, of course.’
‘I need you to tell me the identity of Daisy’s biological father.’ Geraldine leaned forward. ‘It’s possible he abducted her. That kind of reaction isn’t unprecedented in situations like yours.’
‘What are you talking about? What situations? I don’t know what you mean. Jason’s her father –’
‘Jessica, we know that’s not true. DNA found in Daisy’s cot establishes that you are her mother, and someone other than Jason is her father. The longer you continue lying about it, the less chance there is that we will find her. Your husband needn’t necessarily find out the truth, unless that turns out to be unavoidable, but the priority now is to find your daughter and return her safely to you. So, let’s go through this again. Who is Daisy’s father?’
Jessica shook her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered, looking terrified. ‘I had no idea… I always thought Jason was her father… I’m telling you the truth.’
Geraldine was inclined to believe her. ‘Very well, but there must have been another man in your life around fifteen months ago, because there’s no question that Jason isn’t Daisy’s father.’
Jessica had gone pale and she was trembling. ‘I don’t know,’ she mumbled. ‘I don’t know.’
‘Think very carefully. Who were you having an affair with?’
‘No, no, it was nothing like that. Please, you mustn’t say anything like that. We have to pretend it never happened. If you say anything, I’ll deny it. No, no. It’s not true. It’s not true.’
‘Jessica,’ Geraldine said, very gently, ‘the DNA confirms it. So I’ll ask you again, who were you having an affair with?’
‘No, no, it wasn’t like that. It wasn’t an affair. You can’t say it was an affair.’
‘What wasn’t an affair?’
‘There was this one, but it was just the once, one time, that’s all. It was just a fling, a stupid one-night stand. I went out… Oh God, this is all so horrible.’
‘Who was he?’
Jessica shook her head helplessly. ‘I don’t know. I don’t know. I was drunk. I’ve no idea who he was. It was just a ghastly mistake that should never have happened. I didn’t even know his name. We barely spoke before we… outside a pub… I don’t know why I did it. Jason had gone away for the weekend with his friends.’ She shuddered. ‘I thought she was Jason’s. Oh God, this is awful.’ She looked at Geraldine. ‘Don’t tell Jason. Please, please, don’t tell him. I never meant him to find out that I had… it didn’t mean anything. There’s no reason why Jason should ever know. Please. And please don’t say anything to my parents.’
‘Does Daisy’s biological father know about her?’
‘How could he? I told you, I don’t even know who he is. If I passed him in the street I wouldn’t recognise him. I was too drunk to know what I was doing. It was a long time ago. And I had no idea at the time… How could I have told him? I never told anyone. No one knows. No one. Jason mustn’t ever find out. He would –’ She broke off suddenly, her eyes widening in shock. ‘He’d be so upset,’ she concluded lamely.
‘It was fifteen months ago,’ Geraldine said. ‘And Jason knows nothing about this fling you had?’
Jessica shook her head, seemingly too overwhelmed with fear to utter a word. ‘Please don’t tell him,’ she pleaded, when she recovered sufficiently to speak. ‘It would destroy our marriage. I know my husband, and he’s not the type of man to forgive something like that. Please don’t tell him.’
‘I think it’s something you should probably tell him yourself.’
‘How can I tell him now, after all this time? I can’t tell him. And if you try to tell him, I’ll deny it. No, you can’t tell him. Please. It would destroy us.’
‘Well, it’s up to you whether you ever tell your husband or not, and, in any case, maybe it should wait until Daisy has been found. But she might want to know about her father when she’s older. For now, can you tell me anything about the man you had sex with? Anything at all?’
Jessica shook her head, making her blonde hair swing around her face. ‘I can’t tell you what I don’t know.’
Geraldine drove away thoughtfully. There seemed to be a motive for Jason to have resented Daisy, if he had discovered the truth about her parentage. But if Jessica had genuinely believed Jason was Daisy’s father, she couldn’t have said or done anything to make him doubt that, and Geraldine was fairly convinced Jessica had been telling the truth when she insisted s
he had always believed Jason was Daisy’s biological father. On the other hand, with Daisy gone, Jason would never need to learn the truth about Jessica’s deception. If Jessica had disposed of the baby, then she had not counted on the police discovering those drops of blood in the cot. Yet it was Jessica herself who had drawn Geraldine’s attention to the blood, and it stretched credulity to suppose that Jessica would have done that if she had killed Daisy herself to cover up the fact that Jason was not her biological father. On the contrary, she would have disposed of the sheet and replaced it straight away. Somehow the case seemed to be growing more complicated with every passing day.
10
‘What did that policewoman want?’ David demanded. ‘Tell me everything she said. I want to know exactly what they’re doing to find Daisy.’
‘I don’t have to tell you anything,’ Jessica replied, scowling.
‘Jessica, don’t speak to your father like that. He’s trying to help,’ Anne said.
‘This is all the fault of that bloody good-for-nothing,’ David fumed. ‘I told you he was a waste of space. You should have listened to me before you went running off to marry him. I told you all along, he’s not right for you.’
Jessica returned her father’s glare with what she hoped was an equally ferocious scowl of her own.
‘If you say another word against Jason, I’ll leave this house and go and find a hotel to stay in, on my own, and you’ll never see me again. How dare you insult my husband like that, when he’s not even here to defend himself. You wouldn’t dare say that to his face.’
Her fists clenched in an involuntary response to David’s belligerent outburst.
‘I’ll say what I damn well please about my own son-in-law in my own house,’ he snapped.
‘Not in front of me, you won’t.’
‘Whose fault is it that all this has happened?’ David asked, too angry to think about what he was saying.
His voice dropped to a reasonable tone, but the expression in his eyes remained as furious as before. ‘I can’t begin to understand why you agreed to marry that man. Don’t kid yourself we are ever going to be pleased if you insist on staying with him.’
‘Here we go again. You never wanted me to marry him. You and my mother, you never approved of him, did you? But be honest, for once, this isn’t about me and my happiness, is it? You don’t think he’s good enough to be your son-in-law.’
Anne stood up, flustered and trembling.
‘Stop shouting, please, both of you. They must be able to hear you halfway down the road. David, what’s got into you? Keep your voice down, for goodness’ sake. Do you want the whole street to know we’re fighting here?’
She stared at her husband and her daughter, aghast. David was on his feet, red in the face and sweaty, looking like he might have a stroke at any moment, while Jessica stood facing him, her fists clenched at her sides as though she was preparing to launch a physical assault on her father. Watching them, Anne let out an involuntary whimper. David spun round and frowned at her.
‘What’s the matter with you now?’ he demanded, turning the full force of his temper on her.
‘Stop it, both of you!’ she cried out. ‘Listen, I know we’re all feeling frazzled, but how is this going to help the situation if you two fall out? Don’t you think Jessica needs all the support we can give her right now? We all do,’ she added plaintively, staring at David.
Jessica whirled round and dashed out of the room, and they heard her footsteps pounding up the stairs.
Anne turned to her husband. ‘Arguing like this isn’t helping. David, Jessica’s upstairs crying. I’m going to speak to her.’
‘I’ll go –’ David began but Anne interrupted him.
‘You’ve already upset her enough for one day. You stay here and I’ll go.’
With that she scurried out of the room, leaving David muttering darkly under his breath that he wasn’t the one who had upset his daughter.
‘One day you’ll go too far,’ Anne called out over her shoulder as she left the room.
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he replied.
After about an hour, Anne returned. ‘I’ll put the kettle on and make us all a nice cup of tea,’ she said.
‘That’s your answer to everything, isn’t it? A cup of tea. Is a cup of tea going to help us find Daisy?’ David replied.
She shook her head miserably, and slunk away to the kitchen to put the kettle on. Returning through the hall with a tray, she noticed a letter had been dropped through the letter box. Having put the tray down in the living room, she went back to the hall to collect it.
‘What’s this?’ David asked as she held it out to him.
‘It must have been delivered by hand,’ she replied, sitting down and pouring out the tea.
David swore suddenly.
‘What is it now?’ she asked, glancing up anxiously.
There always seemed to be some drama unfolding in her husband’s life, and she was sick of it. Having taken early retirement from his firm of solicitors, David had become increasingly crabby sitting around at home. She had advised him not to retire before he was ready, but he had been adamant that he was not going to carry on working now that his office had been invaded by arrogant young know-it-alls. When he had first entered local politics she had been pleased that he would be kept occupied away from the house, leaving her to pick up her life as it had been before her husband was at home all day during the week. On Mondays she resumed her painting class, on Wednesdays she returned to Pilates, and once Daisy was born she helped look after her every Friday. She had welcomed David’s election to the local council where she thought he would be kept happily occupied. But he seemed to be constantly falling out with one council member or another, and his temper had not improved. When he became leader of the council, if anything he had become even more curmudgeonly. But at least he was kept busy.
‘You don’t understand the pressure I’m under to resist these changes,’ he would tell her. ‘You have no idea how difficult they’re making it for me to just get on with the job. It’s becoming impossible.’
But when Anne suggested, hesitantly, that he might resign from his position, he dismissed the notion with an impatient shake of his head.
‘And how do you suppose they would manage without me?’
Anne could have replied that the council would manage perfectly well without her husband just as they had managed before his election, but she wisely refrained from making any such comment. Not only would it have incensed him further, but she dreaded the prospect of his quitting and being at home all the time.
Instead, she had said, ‘All that responsibility must be hard. They are an ungrateful bunch.’
‘Louts,’ he replied. ‘Ignorant louts, the lot of them.’
‘Surely you have a lot of support among them,’ she said. ‘You were elected, after all.’
David scowled and told her she didn’t understand. ‘You never do.’
He stared at the letter he had taken out of the envelope, and Anne noticed that his normally ruddy cheeks had turned pale.
‘What is it?’ she asked, putting down her mug of tea. ‘Is something wrong? Are you feeling a bit ropey? Can I get you anything?’
Without answering her questions, he held out the letter, and Anne was surprised to see the sheet of paper was trembling in his hand. Afraid the council might have voted to remove him from his office, she took the letter. As she did so, an even more terrible thought struck her.
‘Is it about Daisy?’ she whispered.
Although she and David were not wealthy people, their circumstances were certainly comfortable. She had a small pension from the years she had spent teaching part-time while Jessica was at school, and David received a decent pension from his law firm which seemed to have been very happy to pay him to retire. She wondered if it was possible that
someone was demanding a ransom for her granddaughter’s safe return. Or they might be attempting to blackmail David for reasons that were still obscure to her. Taking a deep breath, she read the letter. It was typed on an A4 sheet of paper, addressed to David Armstrong, Leader of the Council, so there could be no mistaking its intended recipient. There were just three words on the paper, printed in a very large font size so that each word took up a whole line on the paper. The message itself was short and stark: YOU WILL DIE.
Anne raised her eyes from the message.
‘This is a nasty prank,’ David said.
Snatching the piece of paper from her, he crumpled it in his huge fist but she remonstrated before he could destroy it completely.
‘No! Wait. We should keep it.’
‘Keep it? Why?’
‘Because we ought to show it to the police. David, don’t dismiss this so lightly. That’s a death threat. Remember the crazy man who was shouting at you at a meeting in a library the other day? What did he say to you in the car park?’
David shook his head. ‘I can’t remember. I wasn’t really listening.’
‘Well, I was. He shouted that it wasn’t over, and he said you won’t get away with what you’re doing. He said someone was going to stop you.’
‘Idle threats from an impotent heckler.’
‘Maybe, but what if it was more than that? What if he really is out to stop you? I mean, really stop you. David, we have to go to the police before anything else happens.’
David scoffed at her fears, telling her with false lightheartedness that of course he was going to die. Didn’t everyone, sooner or later? Reluctant to let the matter drop, she determined to convince him to report the hate mail to the police.
‘I’m a politician,’ he told her airily. ‘This sort of thing happens all the time.’
His face had resumed its normal florid glow.
‘All right, but if there’s one more threat against you, we’re going straight to the police.’
When David didn’t respond, she replaced the crumpled sheet of paper in its envelope and put it safely away in a drawer in the kitchen.
Deadly Revenge Page 6