I turn to Alison Stevens.
‘I want to say at once,’ she says quickly, ‘that what you just saw is absolutely against all our operating procedures. Playground supervisors are required to monitor any traffic coming on to school premises and ensure all the children are inside the gates – ’
‘Right now, I’m not interested in what should or shouldn’t have happened. All I want to know is if you have any idea who that boy is.’
She swallows. ‘I wish I did. I didn’t come to Kit’s until last year, so he’d have left here by then if he was one of ours. I’ve just sent a still from the footage to the local secondary heads, but no one’s come back to me yet. I’m afraid some might already have gone on holiday’.
‘Baxter, what time does the camera show Daisy getting back to school that day?’
‘On the nineteenth? She comes back into view about five to one. The bell is going so she just mingles with the other kids as they go back in. None of the supervisors seems to have noticed. And after that, there’s just one more sighting. You said check breaks and lunchtimes, but I thought it worth scanning home-time as well, just in case.’
He clicks on another file and the same corner of the street appears again. The same, but different, because you can tell summer is coming. There are flowers on the honeysuckle and the grass is lush. It reminds me of an old Columbo episode where he cracked the whole case by noticing that one CCTV shot showed a cut hedge and another, supposedly later the same day, an uncut one. If only it were always that easy.
The screen says 3.39 on 9 May. Daisy comes into view, talking to Nanxi Chen. Then Nanxi’s mother appears and there’s some discussion between them.
‘Looks to me like Mrs Chen was due to pick both girls up after school but Daisy’s persuaded her otherwise,’ says Baxter, as Nanxi’s mother leads her away, glancing back once at Daisy before moving her daughter towards their car.
‘We’ll need to check that with Mrs Chen.’
‘Easily done.’
The film continues and three minutes later Daisy is suddenly alert. She can see something – or someone – just out of range.
‘If it’s the boy, looks like he’s staying deliberately out of the way this time,’ says Baxter. ‘Either he’s just realized the camera’s there – ’
‘ – or he suddenly has a reason to be a lot more careful.’
I see the anxiety flood Alison Stevens’s face. ‘Oh no, surely not – he can’t be more than fifteen!’
On the screen, Daisy looks both ways, then hurries across the road. Baxter freezes the frame just before she disappears out of the shot. She has a huge smile on her face.
‘That’s as far as I got,’ he says, sitting back and looking at me. ‘But didn’t Everett say Daisy was really upset after she’d had her secret meeting?’
‘Not upset. Angry.’
‘She doesn’t look angry there.’
‘No,’ I say slowly, ‘she doesn’t, does she? Wind it forward – do it in slow-mo.’
We watch, all three of us. Mothers and sons, mothers and daughters. Even the odd dad looking awkward and out of place. One man wobbles off by bike with two little children pulled behind in a canvas trailer and another drifting along out of sight behind him on a tricycle.
‘Do you offer cycling proficiency tests?’ I say askance.
Alison Stevens blinks, nonplussed. ‘The children are a bit young – ’
‘I don’t mean for the kids. For the fathers.’
A couple of cars go by. Big four-by-fours, a people carrier, even a Porsche. And then an old Ford Escort. It has a bent bumper and a smashed back light, and a dirty rag hanging out of the boot that – deliberately or not – is concealing almost all of the number plate. It’s impossible to see who’s driving, but there’s clearly someone in the back seat.
‘There – freeze there.’
Even at that distance, there’s no doubt at all.
It’s Daisy.
*
25 May 2016, 11.16 a.m.
55 days before the disappearance
Bishop Christopher’s Primary School, Oxford
‘Can I have some quiet, please? Settle down and pay attention. Tabitha, Matty, can you go back to your desks? That’s grand.’
Kate Madigan smiles at her class, and when she’s sure she has their attention, she turns to the whiteboard and writes a word in large capital letters.
FRIENDS
She snaps the top back on the pen and turns to the children. ‘We’re going to spend some time now talking about friendship. What makes a good friend, how to be a good friend, and other things, like what to do if you have an argument with your friend and want to make it up. So who wants to go first – what do you think makes a good friend?’
A hand goes up. It’s a little boy at the front, with curly brown hair and thick glasses.
‘Yes, Jonny, what do you think a friend should be?’
‘Someone who lets you play with their toys,’ he says softly.
Kate nods encouragingly. ‘Yes, that’s a very good start. Someone who will share their toys. Because sharing is very important, isn’t it? We talked about that before. And sharing is an important way to make friends. Anyone else have some ideas?’
A little girl with dark hair in an Alice band puts up her hand.
‘Yes, Megan, what do you think?’
‘A friend is nice to you if you’re sad.’
‘Very good, Megan. That’s important too, isn’t it? If you’re someone’s friend you try to cheer them up if they’re unhappy.’ The little girl nods shyly and puts her finger in her mouth.
‘Anyone else?’
Daisy stands up.
One of the boys at the back makes a face and mutters, ‘Teacher’s pet.’
‘I think,’ says Daisy, ‘that a friend is someone who will help you if bad things happen, and someone you can tell your secrets.’
Kate smiles. ‘That’s very good, Daisy. And do you have a friend like that?’
Daisy nods vigorously, her eyes shining, and sits down.
* * *
—
Later, in the playground, Portia and Nanxi are sitting on the bench while Daisy plays hopscotch. Millie Connor is hovering nearby, desperate to be invited to join in, but the others are pretending not to notice her. Over by the wire fence some of the older boys are kicking a football, and a small boy with red hair is tugging the sleeve of the teacher on duty, saying, ‘Look, look! My tooth came out!’
On the bench, Nanxi is texting on her mobile phone, but Portia is watching Daisy.
‘You know what you said to Miss Madigan about your friend,’ says Portia, ‘who did you mean?’
Daisy gets to the end of the hopscotch grid, then turns and puts her finger to her lips. ‘That’s a secret,’ she says.
Nanxi glances up, unimpressed. ‘You always say that.’
‘Well, it’s true.’
‘So you didn’t mean me or Nanxi?’ persists Portia.
‘Might have,’ says Daisy, avoiding her eye. ‘I’m not telling.’
‘I don’t know why we have to talk about stupid things like that anyway,’ says Portia, peevish now.
‘It’s called Sex and Relationships Education,’ says Nanxi, not looking up. ‘My mom said. She had to sign something saying it was OK.’
‘What’s sex?’ says Millie, edging closer. The others stare at her and Nanxi rolls her eyes.
‘You know,’ says Daisy, as if talking to an idiot, ‘when a boy sticks his thing in you down there and stuff comes out.’
Millie opens her mouth in horror. ‘What, in your knickers? Ergh, that’s disgusting!’
Daisy shrugs. ‘It’s what grown-ups do. It’s supposed to be nice.’
Nanxi stops texting for a moment and looks up. ‘I’m with Millie. I think it sounds disgusting. And in any case, how come you know so much about it?’
Daisy throws her stone on to the hopscotch squares and watches it roll to a halt before starting back down the course.
‘I just do,’ she says.