‘You were her best friend, right? Did the two of you not talk about things like that?’
Georgie hesitated. ‘Of course, b-but there isn’t anything wrong between them. She loves him.’
‘I still remember the first boy I fell for. Do you have a boyfriend, Georgie?’
‘No. Not at the moment.’
Was that a hint of jealousy? Kate couldn’t be sure. ‘My first boyfriend turned out to be a bit of a snake, actually. All the time I thought he was the one, it turned out he was carrying on with a friend behind my back. I was probably about your age. All I’m saying is, you have plenty of time before you start worrying about those things.’
Georgie’s gaze was on the window again. ‘I’m not worried.’
‘Good. Quite right. And Daisy wasn’t worried about Alfie? We’ve been told they argued earlier that day. Did Daisy mention the argument to you?’
‘No.’
‘Do you think whatever they argued about caused her to run away?’
‘Look, I don’t know why she ran away, okay?’ Georgie suddenly blurted, startling Kate.
‘I’m sorry to keep asking the same question, but if I’m to stand any chance of bringing her home, I need to understand why she left. At the moment, the only thing that seems to have been out of place in her life was that argument with Alfie. Do you know him well?’
Georgie was glaring at Kate. ‘No… what I mean is, I knew him through Daisy, that was all.’
‘Do you know if they were sleeping together?’
‘What? No.’
‘Are you sure? I know she is only fifteen, but he’s older and—’
‘They weren’t sleeping together!’
‘How can you be so certain?’
‘I just am, okay?’
‘She would have told you?’
‘Yeah.’
‘So, it’s unlikely she was pregnant then?’
Georgie snorted. ‘You’re kidding, right?’
‘I promise, what you tell me now won’t go any further, but I need you to help me.’
‘I’m not lying! Daisy didn’t want to have sex with Alfie; she was saving herself. She liked Alfie, and she liked the attention he gave her, but she didn’t think she loved him. She thought she was too young to understand her feelings, so wanted to keep things relaxed with him.’
‘And he was happy with that? At eighteen, his hormones must be running riot.’
Georgie’s attention returned to the window. ‘You’d have to ask him about that, but trust me when I say she wasn’t sleeping with him, and she wasn’t pregnant.’ Georgie’s attention was diverted by a text message, to which she quickly replied. ‘Listen, I’ve told you everything I know. You can drop me here and I’ll make my own way back.’
‘I thought you were meeting someone.’
She lifted her phone. ‘Not anymore.’
‘Then let me drop you back home. It’s raining and so cold, and—’
‘Thanks, but I’d rather walk.’
Kate indicated and pulled over when it was safe to do so, and watched Georgie as she left the car and walked off into the distance, her head dipped. She was sure there was still more going on, but couldn’t put her finger on what.
23
‘Georgie swears she couldn’t have been pregnant,’ Kate whispered to Patel, when she was back in the office.
‘Well, that’s something, I suppose,’ he muttered.
As a mother, Kate could understand how difficult Patel had to be finding the investigation, given he was a father of two young daughters. ‘You okay, Patel? I can get someone else on this if it helps?’
He glanced over, appreciating the offer. ‘Thanks, ma’am, but I’m okay.’
Kate smiled, he was always a professional to the end. ‘Well, if that changes, you know where I am.’ Kate answered the desk phone on the second ring. ‘Matthews.’
‘Come to my office immediately,’ the supe said firmly, a command, rather than a request.
What now? she wondered.
Unless…
Kate felt for the phone in her pocket. Nothing new from Tara.
‘Supe wants an update on the case,’ Kate advised Patel as casually as she could muster, before standing and heading to his office.
Taking a deep breath, she knocked twice, and entered. The supe sat with his back to her as she closed the door. ‘You wanted to see me, sir?’
He swivelled his chair around, and blinked as if trying to remember why he had summoned her. He looked terrible; his tie had been pulled down and the top button of his shirt unfastened. ‘Ah, Kate, I wanted to check on your progress. I have a meeting with the chief super in half an hour.’
He didn’t look himself, and Kate knew it was wrong to pry, but she just couldn’t help herself. Sitting down across from him, she tried a tentative, ‘Is everything okay, sir?’
He looked startled, then relived. ‘Is it that obvious?’
‘I wouldn’t be much of a detective if I couldn’t spot it. You can tell me to mind my own business if—’
‘My daughter,’ he interrupted matter-of-factly.
Kate tried to rearrange her face to disguise how much she already knew. ‘What about her?’
‘Oh it’s… it’s nothing. Forget I said anything.’
‘I think we’ve known each other long enough to know that what is said in this office stays in this office.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘You’ll learn soon enough how challenging teenage girls can be. Your daughter is a picture of innocence now, but just wait, as soon as she becomes interested in boys and growing up, that will all change.’
Kate swallowed audibly. ‘Has something happened to your daughter, sir?’
‘I shouldn’t be burdening you with my personal problems.’
‘I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t care, sir. A problem shared…’
‘If only it were that simple.’ He sighed again, this time deeper and longer. ‘I think the pressure of exams and leaving for university has been taking its toll. On us, as well as Tara. Things at home have been… difficult recently and then she left the house last night, without a word of where she was going. Judith – my wife – and I were awake until the early morning waiting to hear whether she’d come home… and then she messaged just after nine this morning to say she’d been staying at a friend’s house.’
Kate could feel her cheeks reddening. Tara had lied to her; her parents had no idea she wouldn’t be home. ‘At least she was safe; all’s well that ends well. I’m sure she’ll come home with her tail between her legs when she realises how much worry she’s caused you.’
He nodded towards the phone. ‘My wife just phoned. Tara is home, but they’ve just had a blazing row about her not calling. With everything going on with the Daisy Emerson disappearance… well, it’s difficult not to overreact.’
‘Does Tara have a boyfriend at all? I mean, maybe she was staying with him.’
But the supe shook his head. ‘She isn’t interested in boys… not like that, anyway. I mean, she’s had boyfriends before, but she’s focused on going away to university and doesn’t want to commit to a relationship when Oxford is so close.’
Kate clenched her teeth to keep her mouth shut, wondering how much Tara had actually confessed to Judith during the row.
‘I’m sorry, Kate,’ the supe offered, ‘I can see how uncomfortable this is making you. I’m sure everything will work out for the best, like you said. Back to business: you were going to update me on your progress with the Emerson case?’
Kate couldn’t hide her relief that he wanted to change the subject. She was about to speak when a knock at the door interrupted her.
‘Enter,’ the supe declared, straightening his tie, suddenly aware of himself again.
The door opened and DI Naomi Hendrix peered around it. ‘You wanted to see me, sir? I can come back if —’
‘Please come in, Naomi. This concerns you, too.’
Hendrix closed the door and took up the seat next
to Kate. Neither woman acknowledged the other. Although both reported in to the supe, it wasn’t often that their paths crossed, but when they had in the past, it hadn’t gone well. Hendrix’s parents had escaped apartheid and moved to the UK when she was only four; her stunning looks and short cropped hair perfectly shaped her formidable attitude. Hendrix had a reputation as a tough-talking and committed copper, but it didn’t make her less-than-affable attitude any easier to live with.
‘DI Matthews is looking for a girl – a prostitute – working one of your patches,’ the supe said. ‘Kate?’
Kate resigned herself to the ambush. ‘She is aged between twenty and thirty, fair haired, and had some kind of scorpion tattoo on her lower leg. We believe she worked the St Mary’s patch, but her foot was found severed in a room covered in blood-spattered plastic.’
Hendrix turned to face her, studying Kate’s features for cracks as she pulled out her own notebook and made a show of noting down the information. ‘I’ll speak to my team,’ she said, her voice showing no emotion. ‘Branding isn’t uncommon in that neck of the woods. Can you describe the tattoo to me?’
‘It was removed in the last week. I can show you the parts of it we’ve managed to identify, but—’
Hendrix suddenly looked up. ‘It was removed?’
Kate nodded. ‘By laser, according to the pathologist.’
‘If it had been removed that would suggest she’d bought her freedom. Leave it with me. I’ll find you a name.’
Kate was taken aback by the lack of argument or disagreement. ‘Uh, thanks.’
The supe clapped his hands together. ‘Splendid. If you would both excuse yourselves now, I’m expecting a call from the chief.’
Following Hendrix out of the door, Kate hurried to catch up with her. ‘Hey, Hendrix, I just wanted to say thank you for not challenging me in there.’
Hendrix paused and turned to face Kate. ‘No matter what I think of you as a person, if some sicko out there is attacking the ladies on my patch, then I will do everything in my power to stop him. Fair enough?’
Kate was about to nod her acknowledgement when Patel came bounding down the corridor. ‘Ma’am, thank God. It’s Daisy’s Facebook profile: someone just accessed it.’
24
All eyes fell on Kate as she burst into the Incident Room. ‘Talk to me, people. Where is she?’
‘Working on it now, ma’am,’ DC Freeborn said, a phone pressed firmly to his ear.
Kate headed to the board so all the team could see and hear. ‘Tell me how it happened.’
Laura stepped forward. ‘I took the call from the Emersons. They’d been phoned by a friend of Daisy’s asking them if she was now back home. Long story short, the caller told them that Daisy had just liked one of her Facebook posts, which is what had made her think Daisy was back.’
‘Who was the caller?’
‘Hannah Grainger, ma’am, a friend of Daisy’s.’
‘And it was her post that was liked? What did the post say?’
‘It was an image of Hannah, Daisy and Georgie, taken about a year ago. Hannah had uploaded it with a message saying, “Missing You x”, and approximately ten minutes later Daisy liked the post.’
‘She didn’t comment, just liked it?’
‘That’s right, ma’am.’
Kate made eye contact with each member of the team. ‘This could be the confirmation we’ve been searching for that Daisy is still alive, and is trying to, or is ready to communicate. Did she like anything else while she was logged in?’
Laura looked over at Freeborn, who was in deep conversation with someone on the phone. ‘As soon as the call came in, I told Ewan, ma’am, and he loaded up Daisy’s profile, but it doesn’t look like she did anything else. He’s now talking to the UK-based office for the website, trying to get more detail.’
‘Why weren’t we aware of this sooner? It doesn’t look good when we have to rely on the victim’s parents to supply us with news. We need to be better than this.’ Kate paused. She hadn’t meant to take out her frustrations on the team. As she looked at each one of them, she couldn’t escape how tired they all looked; each had put in way over their contracted hours to progress the investigation.
‘We don’t know for certain that Daisy accessed her own profile,’ Humberidge sneered. ‘For all we know her abductor is just toying with us.’
Kate had wanted to raise the possibility more sensitively. ‘Humberidge makes a fair point,’ Kate said evenly, taking a mental note to speak to him about his tone in meetings. ‘For all we know, Daisy wasn’t the one to like the post. We need to identify where the profile was accessed from and narrow down exactly who is responsible. Hopefully, it will be Daisy and we’ll have great news to share with the Emersons, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.’
Kate dismissed them with a nod, and made her way to Freeborn’s desk, hovering over his computer as he spoke on the phone. Taking his mouse, she scrolled across Hannah Grainger’s page, opening the photo of the three girls and studying it for any clue as to why Daisy had chosen to like it now.
The girls were dressed in their school uniform – navy blue skirt and blazer, with paler blue blouse – but it must have been taken later in the day, as Daisy had removed her blazer and tied the ends of her shirt in a fifties-style knot. The girls were grinning inanely, clearly enjoying the moment. Daisy was in the middle of the two other girls, and Hannah was the one holding the selfie stick. Kate couldn’t escape how similar the three girls looked. Beneath the photo, Daisy was listed as liking the image at 18:45.
‘They’ve put me on hold,’ Freeborn said, lowering the phone.
‘What are they saying? Can they confirm if Daisy accessed the profile, or someone else?’
‘They’ve confirmed that her email address and password were used to access her profile, but they are currently looking for the IP address. That should confirm whether she used her phone to access the profile or whether it was a computer terminal.’
Kate clicked her fingers at DC Quinlan. ‘Olly, get on to the mobile provider and find out if Daisy’s phone is switched on, or has been in the last hour.’
He offered her a thumbs up in response, putting the phone to his ear.
‘The IP address should also narrow down the location of where the profile was accessed too. That should tell us what part of Southampton she’s in.’
‘Keep on at them. This could be the breakthrough we’ve been waiting for, Ewan.’
He raised the receiver as the hold music ended, and Kate walked away from his desk, collecting her coat and car keys and calling Patel over. ‘I’d better go and visit the Emersons. They’re going to want to know what’s going on.’
‘You want support?’
She patted his arm in thanks. ‘This is something I’d better do alone.’
*
Kate noticed a difference in Val Emerson the moment she opened the door. Gone were the tears, the aching heart and eyes that begged for positivity. In their place was excitement, hope and anticipation. Kate didn’t want to be the one to temper it, but she didn’t want to encourage false hope.
‘Can I come in?’ Kate asked.
Val stepped to one side, and indicated for Kate to enter, but at the last minute pulled Kate into an uncomfortable hug, whispering, ‘I knew she was still alive.’
Kate followed Val to the living room, and it soon became clear that Barry Emerson hadn’t taken the news as well. He paced the room extinguishing one cigarette and lighting another without missing a step.
‘Would you like a cup of tea, detective?’ Val asked, encouraging her to take a seat.
Kate thanked her, suddenly realising how thirsty she was and following Val out to the kitchen, eager to get away from the cigarette smoke. ‘Val, before—’
‘Do you take milk and sugar?’
‘Milk, no sugar, thanks.’ Kate watched Val as she busied herself, moving to the fridge and removing the milk, pouring it into the cups, and then shuffling back to the fridge.
‘Val, please, there’s something I need to—’
‘I’ll just go and see if Barry wants a drink too,’ Val interrupted, heading back into the living room and returning a moment later.
Kate continued to watch her, knowing that Val was stalling the awkward conversation Kate was trying to start. She eventually sat down at the table across from Kate, placing a chipped mug in front of her.
Kate reached out and placed her hand on top of Val’s. ‘There’s something you need to consider, Val.’
Val pulled her hand away and was on her feet, heading for the cupboard. ‘I forgot to offer you a biscuit.’
‘Please, I know you don’t want to hear what I have to say, but I wouldn’t be doing my job properly if I didn’t. Please sit down and let me finish.’
Val remained where she was, her back to Kate and the biscuit tin in her hand.
‘I desperately hope that it was Daisy who went online this evening,’ Kate began, willing Val to turn and retake her seat. ‘But there is a possibility that it wasn’t Daisy. I want you to be prepared in case that happens to be the situation.’
Val remained facing the cupboard, her shoulders slightly dipped. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. ’Course it was her. Who else would know her email address and password?’
‘My team are working to confirm where the site was accessed from and that should put us a step closer to finding out whether it was, in fact, Daisy. We won’t stop until we know for certain.’
‘Why you got to go and say something like that? This is the best news we’ve had since… since that awful night, and now you want to pour water on it.’
Kate’s heart ached as she spoke. ‘That’s not what I’m doing, Val. I’m trying to prepare you for the worst, in case things don’t turn out as we all hope.’
Val spun round, tears ready to spill from her eyes. ‘Why would you wish that upon us? Don’t you believe that if you think positively, positive things will come to you? Think the worst and you’ll bring trouble to your door. That’s what my mum always used to say.’
Kate’s mother had preached the same, but Kate had witnessed too much pain and suffering on the job to believe in the power of positive thought.
‘Once we know the IP address that accessed the account, we should be able to pinpoint the location, and then it’s a matter of looking for any security camera footage and witnesses. As with everything else it should put a step closer to the truth of what happened that night.’
Cold Heart: Absolutely gripping serial-killer fiction Page 12