Close to Home (DI Adam Fawley #1)(30)

The more I hear about Sharon Mason, the less I understand her. For someone so superficial, she’s curiously opaque. There’s something going on here, but I sure as hell don’t know what it is. ‘Did you look at the CCTV for the period after Leo and Daisy left, to see if anyone was following them?’

‘I checked frame by frame for the half hour after, but there wasn’t anything obvious. A few boys did leave heading in the same direction, but that doesn’t prove anything. Kids aren’t stupid these days. They know where the cameras are. Especially if they’re up to no good.’

‘All the same, can you follow up on the bullying angle, Chris? See if we can come up with some names. The teachers must have an idea who it might be.’

‘Right, boss.’

‘Who’s next – Quinn?’

Quinn gets up and comes to the front. ‘Barry Mason claims he was late home that day because of an emergency at one of his sites. One in Watlington. Well, I’ve checked, and he only has one job there, and work’s been halted for three weeks. The owner told me she paid Mason ten grand a month ago and hasn’t seen him since. Keeps saying he’s coming and never turns up. She knows of at least three other people in the same position. Builders, eh? What a wanker.’

‘Don’t get me started,’ I mutter blackly. ‘So, if Mason wasn’t in Watlington where he was supposed to be, where the hell was he? Quinn, can you see what you can find?’

‘Won’t be easy without access to his credit cards and phone records. But I can see if number-plate recognition has picked him up anywhere.’

‘OK, everyone, one last thing. As of now, we have no grounds to arrest either of the Masons, so the family will be going home. In the full glare of the watching media. It’s going to get pretty tough for them the next few days, but whatever the press and the Twitter trolls throw their way, we can’t afford to be blinkered. There could still be other explanations for Daisy’s disappearance that don’t involve the family at all. As the lawyer the Masons will no doubt soon be hiring will be the first to tell me.’

Gislingham makes a face. ‘What I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall in that house tonight. Or a bug in the blender.’

I see Anna Phillips smile at that. ‘Bug as in insect, or bug as in device?’

Gislingham grins. He has a good grin. ‘Either would do.’

‘So,’ I say, bringing it to a close. ‘Has anyone got anything else? No? In that case meet again first thing tomorrow. Thanks, everyone.’

As I make my way back to the door, Everett swings alongside me. I could tell she had something else on her mind, but she obviously didn’t want to raise it in public. She does that a lot; I wish she’d have the courage to back her own instincts, because she’s rarely far wrong. And it would do Quinn good to be challenged once in a while. By someone other than Gislingham.

‘What is it, Ev?’

‘In Daisy’s classroom they had a board up with drawings the children did of their fairy tales.’

I wait. Ev’s not a time-waster. There’ll be a point to this.

‘Before we realized Daisy’s story was missing, I had a look at the picture she did of it.’ She gets out her phone and opens up a photo. ‘See?’

It’s not that easy to make out, but I think there’s a little girl at the bottom of the picture wearing a tiara and a pink tutu, and towering over her a much taller female figure with a broomstick and an outsize handbag. There’s a rather strange creature with foliage growing around its head like ivy, holding a bundle under one arm, and on the right a young male figure with yellow hair is fending off a monster with a huge snout and a curled tail. ‘So you think – ’

‘That the little girl is Daisy? Definitely. All little girls want to be princesses. Or ballerinas.’

I smile. ‘Or both, it would seem, judging from this.’

‘And Daisy’s father was always calling her his princess.’

My turn to make a face. ‘Pass the sick bag.’

‘I know, boss, but if you’re eight – ’

I shake my head. ‘I’m not disagreeing. Just nauseated.’

But Ev’s not finished. ‘What really struck me is the woman behind the little girl. See the shoes? Those strap things at the front? And talk about killer heels.’

And now I see what she means. ‘They’re just like the ones Sharon Mason was wearing this morning. Is still wearing, for all we know.’

Ev nods, then points to the monster. ‘Nanxi Chen told me Daisy had a new name for her dad. She’d started calling him the He Pig.’

I glance at her quickly and she nods. ‘I know, and I’m trying very hard not to jump to the obvious conclusion. Trouble is, these days we see child abuse everywhere. It may not be that at all – it could just be she’d had a row with her father and she was letting off steam. Something completely innocent. Like not getting the latest Cabbage Patch doll.’

I smile. No prizes for guessing Everett has no kids. ‘I don’t think they’re quite the thing any more, Officer.’

She grins. ‘Showing my age. But you get what I mean. We all know how kids overreact sometimes. Everything seems enormous when you’re that age.’

She flushes a little then, but I don’t let it register. ‘When did this start – the pig name?’