‘She wouldn’t have liked Maryanne turning up again,’ says Parnell before adding, ‘When did she turn up, Saskia? When did she get back in contact with you?’
‘Beginning of the month. I hadn’t heard a thing from her since the day she left. I nearly died when I opened the door. So did she, actually – she said she was just chancing it, she didn’t actually think I’d still be here. She looked really different, that shocked me too – still pretty but sort of plain, and she’d lost her accent, pretty much. It’s like she’d completely erased her past. Can’t say I blame her.’
‘And what did she want?’ asks Renée.
‘She didn’t really say at first, just asked if she could come in. So I said “yeah, why not” and I went to make us a coffee, but then as I was walking back to the living room, I saw her standing in the spare room’ – she pulls a perplexed face – ‘and I thought, “what the hell is she doing?’ Then suddenly she turns round and says, ‘This is where I had him. This is the only place I ever held him.’ And I swear, I know this makes me sound like an idiot, but for a minute, I was like, ‘Who? What are you talking about?’ and she said “Daniel” and then burst into tears. Jesus, she’d even given him a name.’
‘Her baby?’ confirms Renée. ‘So she’d regretted giving him away?’
Saskia nods. ‘Although she certainly didn’t at the time. All she ever used to talk about was the money she’d made, what a great option it’d been. I don’t think I even knew she’d had a boy.’
‘Regret’s not always an instant thing,’ says Parnell. ‘Time does the opposite of heal sometimes.’
‘Time, and not being able to have kids,’ replies Saskia, matter-of-fact. ‘It all came pouring out over three cups of coffee. She was married now, see, and they’d been having IVF and it hadn’t worked. And she thought her husband was having an affair to cap it all off. She just kept saying that she couldn’t stop thinking about him – Daniel – whether he was happy, what he looked like now, that sort of thing.’ She gives a small shudder. ‘It was weird. I mean, I felt sorry for her and everything but I hadn’t seen her for so long, it felt awkward.’
‘So how did she end up staying at the flat?’
‘She just came out and asked me. She might have lost her accent and that gorgeous black hair but she definitely hadn’t lost her front. She said she’d left her husband and she was running low on money and she didn’t know what to do to now. I felt like I couldn’t say no. But it was OK for a few days though, we chatted about old times, how mad it all was, and I was starting to think, not that she could stay with me permanently or anything, but just that we could be friends. Then all of a sudden she starts getting intense again.’
‘Intense?’ asks Renée.
‘Hassling me to put her in contact with Gina so she could ask her about Daniel. “Ask what?” I said. She says, “Gina might know where the parents are now, where he is.” She reckoned she wasn’t out to make trouble, she just wanted to know he was OK.’ Her face darkens. ‘Well, of course, I knew Gina would flip so I tried to put her off. I said I didn’t know where Gina lived and that we hardly spoke, I just direct debited the “rent” to her. But then she starts saying, “Can’t you pretend there’s a problem with the flat, the plumbing or something, and then maybe she’ll come here?” I was like, “Yeah right, Maryanne, like Gina’s going to turn up here with her toolbox.” I think she’d almost forgotten what they were like, how dangerous they could be. Anyway, we had an argument about it, I said she’d have to leave and so she piped down after that, said she’d drop it. And she did as well, until about a week later when she tells me she’s run into someone and found out where Gina lives. She was fucking elated.’
‘Who?’ says Parnell, elbows on the table, leaning in. ‘Who had she run into?’
My heart quickens and I move closer to the screen. This is it. This is the moment where my life could literally be pulverised. After all, how do I know she can be trusted? How do I know she meant what she said back at the house? It could all be a game. An elaborate ruse to undermine any case we try to bring against her favourite-landlady-cum-pimp.
Gina Hicks’ voice floods my head.
‘Saskia knows she’s on to a good thing .?.?.’
‘I don’t know who she’d run into,’ she says firmly, subject closed. ‘Just someone. I didn’t ask because I didn’t want to know.’ In that moment she looks straight at the camera, eyes lasering mine. ‘She didn’t have the exact number of the house but she went over there a few times, reckoned she saw Gina pulling into her road once but she ignored her. And so she kept going back, almost staking out the place, it was nuts. Anyway, after a few visits, I get this “what-the-fuck?” call from Gina, asking if Maryanne’s been in touch with me. So I say she has, and that she’s probably not going to let things go until she gets some sort of answer, so can she just meet her, fob her off with something? Eventually she says, “OK”, and we go to the house a few days later.’
‘We?’ says Parnell, sensing something concrete.
‘Too right. I was worried for Maryanne but I won’t lie, I was worried about my position with Gina too. I thought if I was there, I’d be able to .?.?.’ – she takes a moment to think of the word – ‘.?.?. mediate, keep things civil. I thought Gina would appreciate that. Guess I shouldn’t give up my day job, eh?’
‘What happened?’
‘It was Gina’s fault it all turned nasty. Maryanne was fairly calm to begin with, just asking questions, you know? But Gina was in a funny mood, I could see it the minute she let us in. She could have just said, “I don’t know where the parents are, sorry. But I know they were great people, they’d have given him a great life.” End of story – well hopefully, anyway. But she didn’t, she told her the truth.’
Parnell pulls in closer. ‘The truth?’
She drags her fingers down the side of her face. ‘There were no parents. They were just acting, people paid by Mackie to make the girls feel better about handing their babies over. The vast majority were sold on to traffickers, global set-ups, for seriously big money too so God knows what happened to them. Nothing good, I’d say. And Gina told this to Maryanne.’
‘Did you know this?’ asks Renée.
A small movement, pitiful. ‘Not at the time. I’d have never gone along with it if I’d known. I mean, I was greedy, I’ve admitted that, but I’m not a monster. I honestly thought those babies were going to safe homes.’
‘And why did Gina tell Maryanne this?’ says Parnell, confused. ‘Why not, as you say, just fob her off?’
Saskia looks around the room for an answer. Time doesn’t appear to have made sense of it. ‘Honestly? I don’t know. Gina was edgy from the minute we got there, which I understood to a point, but if she’d just played nicely, I reckon Maryanne would have trotted off eventually. Instead she tells us to go up to the first floor, to the utility room, for fuck’s sake, like she didn’t want us dirtying her good rooms. Then she says Maryanne’s got two minutes max before she wants her out of her fucking house. But Maryanne keeps going with all these bloody questions and Gina just sort of flips, says she hasn’t got a clue where Maryanne’s baby is, or anyone else’s for that matter. Tells her they were all sold off to traffickers within minutes of leaving the flat. Maryanne went for her, sort of pushed her out onto the landing, there was a struggle.’
Parnell’s head is slightly bowed. ‘Are you saying you saw Gina Hicks kill Maryanne?’
‘No.’