Close to Home (DI Adam Fawley #1)(33)

VE: But they’re close?

[pause]

FW: What are you getting at? Are you asking me if Barry could have been abusing his own daughter?

VE: Well, could he?

[pause]

FW: To be honest, it’s not the first time I’ve asked myself that since she disappeared, but I really can’t put my finger on anything one way or the other. He was all over her a year or so ago when they first moved here, but the last few times I’ve seen them together she’s definitely been holding back. But honestly, you could say the same about my husband and Alice. A lot changes between six and eight. Girls just start to get shy, even with their own dads.

VE: And is there anything else – something that may not have struck you at the time, but now –

[pause]

FW: Actually, there was. I’d completely forgotten, but Barry came to pick Daisy up from school about three weeks ago. He doesn’t do it very often but I think Leo had a doctor’s appointment or something so Barry collected Daisy. I wasn’t close enough to hear what happened but she suddenly started screaming and crying. Which is not like her at all. She’s usually very calm, very ‘composed’. Anyway, Barry played the dippy dad card – the whole lost and clueless what-do-I-do-now look, you know the sort of thing. Which at the time I just dismissed as another ploy to get the attention of the yummy mummys. But it was a bit odd, now I think about it.

VE: And what’s he like – more generally? With you, say?

FW: Do you mean, has he come on to me? Then yes, he is a bit on the ‘handy’ side – you know the type, always touching your arm, the small of your back. Not safe in taxis, as my old boss used to say. He’s always very careful to stay the right side of banter, but I know what would happen if you gave him the right signals. The sort of bloke who’s always on the lookout, presumably on the basis that if you try often enough the odds are you’ll strike lucky eventually.

VE: And what does Sharon think about that?

FW: Oh Lord, he doesn’t do it around her! She’s the jealous type. Full-on green-eyed monster. I saw her look daggers at Julia Connor once, just because Barry said something about her looking like she’d lost weight. That’s always a sensitive subject where Sharon’s concerned.

VE: There’s a monster in Daisy’s fairy tale too. One with a snout and a curly tail like a pig.

FW: Well, makes a change from dragons, I suppose.

VE: You haven’t heard anything else about pigs, by any chance?

FW: Pigs?

VE: It came up when we talked to Nanxi Chen.

FW: No, sorry. Rings no bells with me.

VE: I see. Thank you. One final thing, Mrs Webster. Barry’s flirting - is Daisy aware of it, do you think?

FW: Interesting question. She’s very clever. Very observant. It wouldn’t surprise me. It wouldn’t surprise me at all.

*

Sent: 21/07/2016, 17.58

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

CC: [email protected]

Subject: Daisy Mason

Thank you for your email. You will understand there are issues here in relation to patient confidentiality, but I can appreciate the gravity and urgency of the situation. My first duty is to the interests of the child, and that being the case, I don’t see any problem in confirming to you that nothing I saw of Daisy Mason would suggest she was being abused. I would, of course, have taken appropriate action had any such suspicion ever arisen. She was rather agitated when I last saw her (about three weeks ago), but not in any way that would suggest abuse. At the time I put it down to overexcitement.

You did not ask about Leo Mason. He came in for his check-up about two weeks ago, just before I left for my holiday, and I noticed he had some fairly severe grazes and cuts, which Mrs Mason said were the result of some ‘rough and tumble’ in the playground. I spoke briefly to Leo’s school nurse about this just before I left and I will be following up with her next week. I therefore feel able to share this information with you as well.

If I can be of any further help, let me know, but please be aware that I will not be able to provide any further details about either of the children, or Mr and Mrs Mason, without the appropriate authorization.

*

At 6.35 Verity Everett rings the bell at 5 Barge Close. As she waits she smooths her uniform. It was still in the removals box in the spare room and smells more than a little musty after all these months. She shunts the belt down a bit, then back up – whatever she does, it never seems to sit right. She wonders in passing how Erica Somer manages to carry hers off so well. Not sexy, exactly, but at least she doesn’t look like a sack of potatoes. She can hear the press pack buzzing behind her, held back at the end of the drive, and she pulls her cap down a bit further over her eyes. But her face is still going to be all over the late-evening news. At least her dad will enjoy that – she must remember to ring and tell him. Not that he’s likely to miss it: ever since her mother died he’s had the telly on all day. Jeremy Kyle, Loose Women, teleshopping. Anything to force back the silence.

And then the door opens. It’s Leo. Which wrong-foots her for a moment.

‘Hello, Leo. I’m Detective Constable Everett. Verity Everett. Is your mum or dad in?’

She knows they’re in – of course they are. They’re under siege. But what else could she say?