It Could Have Been Her(76)
“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that. It’s not Covid, I hope?”
“No.” Annie shook her head sadly. “No, much worse than that, I’m afraid.”
The DI nodded and returned to her notes. “And the child? Who lives here? I saw her in your front garden a few days ago. She wasn’t here when the original case was being investigated, so I assume she is your daughter’s child?”
“Yes. That’s right. Daisy, my granddaughter.”
“Is she here?”
“Well, I’d hope so given that we’re in the middle of a government lockdown. Yes. She’s in her room, doing schoolwork on her computer.”
“Right. Would it be possible to talk to her?”
“What for? She wasn’t born when that girl went missing.”
“I appreciate that, but still, I’d like to meet her, if I may?”
“Now?”
“Yes. Please.”
“But she’s in lessons. She can’t just walk out.”
“It won’t take long. Three minutes at most.”
I saw Annie’s nostrils flare slightly, her jaw set. Annie did not like being told what to do. But then she nodded and said, “Fine. I’ll go and get her.”
The DI turned back to me as Annie left the room. “How long have you lived here, Mr. Tucker?”
“About three years.”
“And you’re… Jessamine’s partner?”
I nodded, and then shrugged. “I mean, yes, I suppose I am. At least I was, but I’d say we’re more platonic now. Since she got ill. I mostly take care of her, and Daisy and Annie.”
“And the dog.” The DI glanced down at Hugo, who was sitting dutifully at my feet.
“Yes. And the dog.”
“How did you meet Ms. Black?”
“Oh,” I said. “In the pub, actually. She used to go in there with the dog; I saw her every day. I felt sorry for her, I suppose. But then it turned into something more than that and I moved in here in early 2017.”
“So, I don’t suppose you know much about the original investigation? Anybody ever mention it to you?”
“No.” I shook my head slowly. “This is the first time I’ve heard anything about it. Who was she, this Claire Connolly?”
“She was a young woman from Cheshire. She’d been living in London for a few years, in Kentish Town. She’d been studying music production at a London university. Very popular. Very well liked. A bit scatterbrained, according to her family and friends, prone to doing spontaneous things, changing plans, being a no-show, that’s why her friends didn’t report her missing for five days.”
“And now you’re reinterviewing everyone, are you, from the initial investigation?”
“Well, no, not everyone. Just this household.”
“Because?”
“I’d prefer to talk to Mrs. Black about that, since she was living here at the time.”
I shrugged. Fair enough. But my palms were sweating and my heart was racing. All these years I’d known there was something fundamentally sick at the core of this house, and now… here it was.
Annie returned with Daisy, who was in her pajamas, as she was all day every day at that time. I watched the DI’s face as she turned to greet Daisy, and I saw something strange flash across her features.
“Hello, Daisy,” she said. “Sorry to disturb your lesson. This won’t take long.” She introduced herself and explained why she was there, and then very slowly she pulled a photograph out of her bag and slid it across the table toward Daisy. She stared deeply at Daisy, watching her reaction. “This is a lady called Claire Connolly. Do you feel as if you might ever have seen her before?”
Daisy touched the edge of the photograph and stared at it thoughtfully. “I don’t know. I mean, maybe? She looks, like, a tiny bit familiar, I suppose? But I don’t think I know her. No.”
“Thank you, Daisy. And tell me, what’s your date of birth?”
“Third of October 2006.”
“So, you’re… thirteen and a half?”
“Yes.”
DI Brooks sighed and placed her hands together on the top of the table. She turned back to me and to Annie. “So, here’s the thing,” she said. “I’ve done some research, and I can see that Daisy is enrolled at Waterside Academy in Islington and that she attended St. John’s Primary School in Hampstead and that she is registered with a GP surgery. But Daisy does not have a birth certificate or a passport. I could find no record of her birth at any hospital in the greater London area. And I’m confused, to be honest. Is there any reason, Mrs. Black, that your daughter didn’t register Daisy’s birth?”
I turned to Annie, looking for a flicker of something, but her face was smooth and impassive. “My daughter gave birth at home. There were complications regarding the baby’s father, complications regarding Jessamine herself. She kept putting it off. And off. And off. I offered to take the baby myself, numerous times, but she wouldn’t let me. And then suddenly Daisy was a year old and still not registered, so we just skipped it and registered her at school using her NHS card.”
DI Brooks tapped her pen up and down twice against her notepad. “Right,” she said. “I see. And may I ask, who is Daisy’s father? Mr. Tucker and I have already established it’s not him.”