Deadly Secrets (Detective Erika Foster #6)(11)

‘Who’s asking?’ said the woman, with almost comedic defensiveness. Her voice had a deep smoker’s growl.

‘I am,’ said Erika.

‘The name’s Joan Field.’

‘Can we please come in?’

Joan stood to one side. The dark blue carpet in the hallway was immaculate. ‘Shoes off,’ she added.

‘Can I call you Joan?’ asked Tania.

‘No, I’d prefer Mrs Field.’

‘I’m the family liaison officer,’ said Tania, placing her shoes by the bannister. ‘I’m here in a support capacity, to bridge the gap between Mandy and the police investigation.’

Joan looked her up and down. ‘Bridge the gap? Isn’t that fancy talk for answering the phone?’

Tania ignored the dig.

‘Where is Mandy?’

‘In the kitchen.’

They followed her, passing a living room which contained a heavy red velvet three-piece suite and a small silver Christmas tree, but which was otherwise devoid of any ornaments or photographs and didn’t looked lived-in. At the back of the house was a small kitchen, looking out over the snowy garden. It was clean, but cramped. The ceiling and the walls were yellow from nicotine. A frozen turkey, still wrapped in plastic, floated in the sink.

Marissa Lewis’s mother, Mandy, was a huge woman, her vast frame swathed in a grubby pink tracksuit. She sat at the table, her enormous buttocks spilling over either side of a wooden chair. Erika’s eyes strayed to the old trainers Mandy was wearing, which had been cut up the middle to accommodate her swollen feet. Her face was pale, and her eyes bloodshot and watery.

‘Mandy Trent?’ she asked.

‘Marissa weren’t adopted. We’re blood,’ said Mandy, seeing Erika’s surprise at her appearance. ‘She got her father’s name, and I changed mine back when he fucked off… Marissa got the slim genes from him.’ Her voice was loaded with bitterness.

‘I take it you both want tea?’ said Joan, moving to the kettle.

‘Please,’ said Erika. Tania nodded and they each pulled up a chair.

‘Mandy. I’m here as your family liaison officer,’ said Tania, placing a hand on her arm. ‘This will be a very hard time for you, and I’m here to help, and to explain what happens next.’

Mandy lit up a cigarette and blew the smoke in Tania’s face.

‘What happens next? You want to take me to see her body? It was her.’

‘Are you up to answering some questions?’ asked Erika.

‘I found her outside the front door, this morning, when I took out the rubbish. Just lying there, quiet and still, but the blood. There was so much of it.’

‘Can you remember what time?’

‘Eight-ish.’

‘Marissa lived with you?’ asked Erika.

‘Yeah. She’s paid me housekeeping since she was sixteen.’

‘Do you know where Marissa had been last night?’

‘She had a dancing gig, don’t ask me where. She has – had – a lot of them. She was a burlesque dancer, worked in clubs all around the West End. A few nights a week.’

‘And you heard nothing last night; you didn’t hear her return home?’

‘No.’

‘Did you expect her home at a certain time?’

Mandy shook her head. ‘I’ve done my job rearing her, she’s an adult…’

‘What time did you go to bed?’

‘I nodded off about ten-ish, I think.’

‘You didn’t hear anything?’

‘Like what?’

‘Screaming, sounds from the front garden. A vehicle?’

‘No.’

‘Marissa’s front door key was still in the lock outside when you found her?’

‘Yeah. I told the police that.’

‘Were you in the living room until 10 p.m.?’

‘Yeah, I was watching telly. It was shit. They used to show decent stuff on Christmas Eve.’

‘How long had Marissa been working as a burlesque dancer?’ asked Tania.

‘Three or four years. She’s been doing well for herself, always had bookings. Though she don’t make much money from it – didn’t. She’d pay me housekeeping and then borrow it back three days later.’

‘The gear costs a packet,’ said Joan, as she took cups from the cupboard. ‘Props, costumes she used for dancing. Big feather fans, head dresses. Mandy even moved to the back bedroom, so she’d have more room to store it all, didn’t you?’

‘The back bedroom’s nearer the loo, and I put her housekeeping up,’ clarified Mandy, as if she didn’t want it on record that it was a nice gesture. Erika couldn’t work out what was going on. Mandy seemed so matter-of-fact about Marissa’s death. Joan came over with mugs of tea.

‘Did Marissa have a serious boyfriend?’ Erika asked.

Mandy exhaled cigarette smoke with a long, silent chuckle.

‘They never seemed to hang around long enough to get serious. A lot of the local lads used to sniff around, and she had a few admirers who’d watch her dance, buy her presents…’ Erika and Tania exchanged a look. ‘I don’t want to speak ill of the dead, but my daughter was a right slag. She slept with two blokes on this road, both married. And there were all sorts of lads coming and going, and those were the ones I knew of.’