‘Yes, well, I suppose that does put a different spin on things. You want me to hand the case over to Hendrix?’
‘No, sir,’ Kate interjected. ‘I want to pursue it, but I didn’t want to be accused of treading on anyone’s toes. Although the tattoo we identified ties her to a crew, it doesn’t mean she died as a result of their activities. All I want is access to Hendrix’s team to establish who she was working for and who she might be. The forensic pathologist is doing what he can to identify her, but it’s a long shot he’ll be able to confirm much more than that.’
‘Very well,’ he finally said. ‘I will have a word with Hendrix and the three of us can look at the options together. Where are you on the Emerson disappearance?’
‘I’m about to go and catch up with my team now. I’ve had people at both university campuses today and stationed at key points on the route between the two girls’ homes, showing pictures of Daisy to see if anyone witnessed her journey home that night. Patel and I also spoke to her boyfriend Alfie Caplan earlier, and I’m sure he knows more about why she disappeared than he’s letting on. They were seen arguing five hours before she vanished, but claims it was over nothing.’
‘What does your gut tell you: did she run away or did something more sinister happen to her? Should we be looking at an abduction?’
‘I’m ruling nothing out yet. We’ll continue chasing down leads until we find her.’
‘Are you keeping her parents in the loop?’
‘As much as I feel I can. I know they’re going through so much that I don’t want to unnecessarily raise their hopes.’
‘God knows, I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes.’ He reached for the photo frame on the edge of his desk, smiling down at the image it contained. ‘There’s nothing more important than family, Kate. As parents, we do our best to raise them to be polite and courteous, with a strong moral code, but once they’re released into the big wide world, there’s no telling whether they’ll sink or swim. How old is your daughter now?’
‘She’ll be eight next week, sir.’
He smiled whimsically, still staring at the frame in his hands. ‘Such a precious age. I remember when our Tara was that young. She said she wanted to be a vet; loved animals, you see. But they grow so quickly. She’ll be off to university in the summer. She’ll be the first doctor in the family, have I ever told you that?’
He had. Several times since Tara had been accepted at Oxford.
‘You must be very proud, sir.’
‘Seeing those pictures of Daisy in the newspaper last week, it’s hard not to imagine your own children in that position.’ He returned the photo frame and fixed her with a hard stare. ‘You need to find her quickly, Kate. I’m being called for updates continuously. To be honest, I’d rather you hand over the amputated foot to Hendrix and focus your attention on tracing Daisy.’
For the first time, she saw clearly just how strained his face looked. The dark rings beneath his eyes were exposed by his receding hairline, which was looking greyer by the day.
‘I can handle both, sir.’ Kate declared, shuffling uncomfortably. ‘I promise, my team are doing everything they can to find her. She’s our priority.’
He nodded towards her shoulder. ‘Everything okay with you, Kate?’
‘Nothing I can’t handle, sir. Do you want to attend the team catch-up?’
‘I would, but I have a call with the chief super in a minute. Keep me updated with progress, and bring that girl home.’
He sat back down and continued writing, her cue that she’d been dismissed.
* * *
Exiting the room, she headed back along the corridor to the incident room. Spotting Quinlan’s leather jacket on the back of his chair, she scanned the office for him.
She called Patel over. ‘Quinlan’s here?’
Patel gave the office a once over. ‘He was. I think he might be in the viewing suite down the hall.’
Kate nodded. ‘Get the team ready for a brief, and I’ll be back in a minute.’ She spun on her heel and headed down to the tiny room they used for watching security-camera footage, away from the distractions of the incident room. The blind was down, indicating that someone was inside. Kate knocked twice and poked her head around the door.
Quinlan looked back at her over his shoulder, concern descending as he realised who it was.
Kate didn’t wait to be invited in, closing the door behind her and keeping her tone even as she spoke. ‘Where were you this morning? You missed the team meeting.’
He paused the video screen, before turning back to face her again, his eyes on his lap. ‘I had a family thing. I’m sorry.’
She’d never seen him look so grey. Where was the Olly Quinlan who was the life and soul of every celebratory drink? The Olly Quinlan whose cheeky Irish persona helped keep team spirits up when things were going wrong?
Kate was suddenly certain she could smell stale booze in the air. ‘A family thing?’
‘I’d rather not go into detail, ma’am. I’m sorry.’
Kate could sense there was something on his mind, though he was either too ashamed or stubborn to reveal what it was. ‘Is it anything I can help with? You know you can talk to me, Olly.’
His eyes remained locked on his lap. ‘No, ma’am. It won’t happen again.’
Kate crouched down to his level and softened her voice. ‘What you do outside of work is none of my business so long as it’s within the ethics and standards of the law, but when it starts impacting an active investigation, then we need to talk about it.’
His eyes blurred with tears. ‘I swear it won’t happen again, ma’am.’
Kate remained where she was. ‘Although I’m your supervising officer, I like to think I’ve embedded a culture of openness within the unit. You can tell me what’s going on. There will be no judgement and I promise to be discreet.’
‘I just got some bad news, that was all. I wasn’t expecting it and I had a drink. I would never do anything to compromise an investigation.’
But she could feel there was something he was still holding back. ‘You can talk freely, Olly. We’re alone. Nobody needs to know what we’re discussing.’
Their eyes met, and his mouth began to open, before he stopped himself. ‘I’m fine, ma’am. It won’t happen again.’
Realising she was defeated, Kate nodded at the screen behind him. ‘Is that the footage from the school gates?’
He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand and sniffed loudly. ‘Aye. I’ve been jotting down vehicles coming and going.’
Kate straightened. ‘Good. Then you can come and share your findings with the rest of the team. Take a few minutes to freshen up and then come and join us in the incident room. Okay?’
‘Yes, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.’
Kate leaned against the door as it clicked shut. She’d seen ambitious detectives go off the rails before, and she couldn’t ignore the tell-tale signs Olly was showing. She would try again when the opportunity arose. But she just hoped she’d be able to reach him in time.
16
Kate made eye contact with each of her team, before beginning. ‘Let’s hear what you’ve got, starting with our missing teenager.’
DC Freeborn raised his thin arm into the air. ‘Still no activity on her phone or social media. Forgive me for speaking out of turn, but a teenager not on social media is setting alarm bells ringing in my head. Prior to her disappearance on the Friday, she didn’t tend to go more than three hours without accessing the web in some capacity. The site’s administrators have finally sent over a log of her activity from the month before she was last seen. Pages and pages of five-to ten-minute checks, during which time she liked or commented on at least one of her friends’ posts.’
‘Anyone she was interacting with more than others, Ewan?’
‘Her inner circle seemed to be made up of Georgie Barclay, their mutual friend Hannah Grainger and Hannah’s boyfriend Felix. He shares amusing videos he finds on YouTube and tags the others in them, which usually triggers the response.’