And yet I have a feeling in my gut – it’s one I recognise from all my days of investigating, of tying ends up – that finally it’s starting to make some kind of sense. But the full truth hasn’t emerged; it’s still hidden, so the dots don’t join up – yet.
Yassine won’t say any more about why Kaye told him to say he wasn’t there; he claims he doesn’t really understand. He’s extremely uncomfortable, that’s obvious. But he does tell me he’s moving out of Kaye’s for a bit.
‘They need some time,’ he says, but I get the sense that he wants out of there, and frankly I don’t blame him.
‘I’m sorry,’ he repeats yet again. ‘It was wrong, and I feel ashamed for my lie.’ His English is very formal, and I tell him not to worry. I don’t want to alienate him – though it’s a pisser. It certainly didn’t help Jeanie, did it? It just made her think she was crazy.
All of these lies.
* * *
South Beds News Agency is the most local to here. I put a call in.
‘I’m trying to find out about an incident with a Lisa Daisy Bedford, sometime in early 2014,’ I make a stab at the date. It can’t have been that long before Matthew met Jeanie – it has to be in-between Kaye leaving and him dating Jeanie. ‘Nothing is coming up on my searches, but I understand the accident was bad enough for her to have been hospitalised.’
As I hang up, the schoolgirls from the sweet shop hurry into the café, all flicky eyeliner and over-pierced ears.
I wave at them, and they rush over to my table, eyes boggling.
‘We did try, but we couldn’t tell her to come, cos she got picked up early,’ the taller one breathes, full of her own importance.
‘Oh yeah?’ Shit. ‘By her mum?’
‘No!’ Cornrows chews her gum ferociously. ‘We weren’t sure, cos we were in the common room when it happened, but Sherry Noyce said they reckon it was by her dad!’
If that’s true, I think, there must be no charges. The school wouldn’t release her to him if he’d been charged.
If they knew it was him collecting her of course.
‘Sherry gave me her number. I texted your number to her,’ the tall one says proudly. ‘To Scarlett, I mean. Said you were worried.’
‘That’s brilliant,’ I say, feeling more worried now.
And I have another feeling, as I gather my things and thank the girls.
The other feeling, one that’s growing all the time, is that this was never about Jeanie.
That Jeanie maybe just got in the way.
* * *
I’m thinking that if I can’t get to Scarlett yet, there’s one other person I really want to talk to.
The news agency calls me back as I’m waiting for another cab.
‘Marlena Randall? I don’t have anything for you on Lisa Daisy Bedford, but I can tell you why you can’t find owt.’ The woman is a bored Mancunian. ‘There’s an injunction on the story.’
‘Injunction?’ My ears prick up. I love an injunction: it always means there’s buried trouble. ‘Do you have any more details?’
‘You know perfectly well I’ll be in contempt of court if I tell you anything.’
‘Ah come on…’
‘Come on, yourself. You might be Old Bill for all I know.’
‘I’m not,’ I say through gritted teeth. ‘I’m a journalist.’
‘Yeah, I know who you are.’ She sniffs. ‘I recognise your name.’
‘Well then, you know I’m not police. And I’m paying for this…’
‘Why don’t you ask the lawyer who applied for it then?’ she suggests. ‘There was a minor involved; the name wasn’t ever released.’
‘Who was the lawyer?’
‘Day and Young, it says here. Tenth of March 2014,’ she tells me. And then, tartly, ‘That’s all you’re getting, love.’ She hangs up.
Day? Why does that name ring a bell?
Appetite whetted, I need to find this girl Daisy – and fast. I text Robo with her name, saying I need an address within the hour.
In the meantime, I contemplate going back to the house – but will Matthew be there now? I never found the home movie before I was interrupted – and I badly want to know what it was that Jeanie thought she saw.
And anyway I want to hear what he’s got to say for myself – my sister’s husband. What excuse Matthew has for doubting Jeanie, for believing whoever it was that was trying to damage her, over his own new wife, who loved him so deeply. For not seeing she was being manipulated by someone who had it in for her…