Kath and Naz came back in with more bloody tea. Honestly, they meant well but she really needed a proper drink. She ignored the mug they put near her and took out another fag.
‘Everyone will be looking now,’ said Jodie. ‘Just a few more questions – I need to be clear where you were last night.’
Sandy sighed. ‘Like I said, I was working at the bar, the Flamingo Bar, and then I slept over.’
‘So if we contact the owner, they’ll confirm that, will they?’
‘Sure.’ Brett wouldn’t thank her if the police went sniffing round. Her hands were shaking a little, but she managed to light the cigarette and took a long drag. Kath was looking at her, flapping her hand in front of her face. For Christ’s sake, thought Sandy, I can smoke in my own flat, can’t I? ‘I don’t see what that’s got to do with anything, though,’ she said. ‘Can’t you just drop it?’
‘I’m afraid we can’t. We need a full picture of Mina and her family.’
‘Well, her family’s just me. Love me or hate me, I’m all she’s got.’
‘And her father?’
Sandy sent her daggers.
‘Sorry, Sandy, I’ve got to ask.’
‘Jason? He’s nobody. A deadbeat. He hasn’t seen her for six years.’
‘Is there a chance that Mina could be with him? That he picked her up from school yesterday?’
Sandy laughed. ‘No. Like I said, he doesn’t want to know. No child support. Not even a birthday present. He’s out of the picture.’
‘I’m going to need his details.’
‘Yeah, whatever.’
Jodie took down the contact details that Sandy had for him.
‘Could you text him anyway, please? Tell him what’s happening? On the off-chance that Mina’s looking for him.’
Sandy pulled a face. ‘I’d rather not. Could you do it? I really don’t want him messaging me.’
‘Sure,’ said Jodie, calmly. ‘What about other family? Are there grandparents she might go to?’
‘No, I told you. I’m her family. End of. I don’t have anything to do with my parents, and I don’t want Mina to either. Don’t want them doing to her what they did to me.’
‘What was that, Sandy?’
Sandy’s expression darkened. ‘What’s this? Therapy?’ She put on a plummy voice. ‘“How does that make you feel, Sandy?” No thanks, Jodie. Been there, done that. That’s one of the things they tried – my parents – to fix me. Make me normal like them.’
On her chair by the door, Sandy could see that Kath was riveted. Sandy cringed inside at the thought of her neighbour knowing all about her. Now she was sending her a sympathetic look, which was even worse.
‘When’s the last time you saw them?’ Kath said.
‘I don’t know. Mina was about four. We went for Christmas. It didn’t go well.’
That face again. Seriously, it wasn’t judgemental – not the tangible, tight-lipped disapproval that was her mum’s default expression – but sympathy was almost worse. The thought of people feeling sorry for you.
Jodie cleared her throat and Kath sat back in her chair and mimed zipping up her mouth. ‘Going back to Mina,’ Jodie said. ‘It sounded earlier like you don’t always get on?’
‘Not always, no, but that’s normal, isn’t it? She’s almost a teenager. We’ve been through a lot together. I can’t lie and pretend it’s always great.’
‘So, yesterday morning, was that one of those days when you weren’t getting on? Did you have a row before she went to school?’
Yesterday seemed like a long time ago. Sandy couldn’t remember much about it at all. She certainly couldn’t remember a row.
‘No, it was just … normal. I could hear her moving about getting ready. I got up cos I needed to use the bathroom and then I made a coffee. She’d had her breakfast by then and was packing her schoolbag. I asked her if she’d done her homework and she said yes, cos she always does it. That was it.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes.’
The cigarette was calming her down a bit. She took another drag and saw Kath and Naz exchange a quick glance.
‘What did she take with her?’
‘Just the normal stuff – her bag, her coat. She put a little fold-up umbrella in the outside pocket of her bag. That’s all.’
It was clearer now in her mind’s eye. She could see Mina stuffing that brolly into the side of her backpack, her plaits falling forward as she bent over, bright pink scrunchies at the ends, keeping them done up. Shit, the scrunchie. If that bastard at the shop had hurt her, so help her she’d …
‘Sandy?’
She realised that Jodie was looking at her.
‘What?’
‘You were telling me about yesterday morning.’
‘Yeah, okay. I told her I’d be back late. I gave her a few quid to get something for tea. She was fine; she’s so sensible. She just said, “Bye, Mum,” and set off.’
Not strictly true. She had pretty much ignored Sandy that morning, just carried on with getting ready when she had walked into the kitchen. It was only when she had said she’d be back late that Mina had looked at her. She hadn’t said anything, just looked and her eyes were sort of dull and closed off.
‘No arguments, then?’
‘No.’
Again, another look between Kath and Naz. What was it with those two?
‘And is anything else missing? Has she taken anything else with her?’
‘I haven’t checked properly. I mean, she wouldn’t run away – she’s not that sort of girl.’
‘Let’s have a look at her bedroom together, shall we?’ said Jodie.
‘Okay.’
She stubbed the cigarette out and got up off the sofa. Everything felt unreal, except it was suddenly too real at the same time. She stumbled a bit as she walked into the bedroom. There was that feeling again, the one she’d had when she first came back to the flat, that absence, that emptiness. It was starting to hit home. Mina. Her Mina. She was really gone.
She looked around the room. There was a mattress on the floor, like the one she had, but Mina’s was neat – the duvet all squared up. The chest of drawers on one side of the room had a selection of Mina’s things on top, all set out in order – her hairbrush, a box of tissues, some little toys that came with Happy Meals. Mina’s drawings were up on the wall, loads of them, stuck up with Blu-tack, like a little art gallery.
She opened each drawer in turn. Everything was folded up neatly. She couldn’t really tell if any clothes were missing. If they were, it would just be one or two things.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘There could be some pants and socks gone. I’m not sure.’
She glanced round again and it struck her then, with a tightening feeling in her guts, how her little girl had tried to make the best of this room, to make it homely. She hadn’t really noticed before. She hadn’t noticed much at all.
‘What about her toothbrush? Has she taken that?’
They both went into the little bathroom. Two brushes were standing in a mug on the shelf above the sink.
‘The pink one’s hers,’ said Sandy. ‘She hasn’t taken it. I’m telling you, she wouldn’t run away. Not my Mina. Someone’s taken her.’