‘That was awkward,’ said Forrester in a carrying whisper as they closed the door to Felix and Nancy’s flat.
Forrester had only joined the unit eight weeks ago, and Maud wondered how he would deal with life in the Met. He was big-boned and awkward, his eyes wide apart, his shoulders hunched to disguise his height. He was anxious to please and his enthusiasm hadn’t yet been rubbed away. She had seen him with his peers, trying to join in the joshing and banter, but always one step behind. Either he would learn to be one of the gang or he wouldn’t. She wasn’t sure which was worse.
‘What did you make of them?’
Forrester furrowed his brow.
‘I feel sorry for him.’
Maud thought of Nancy sitting tensely in the chair, her eyes bright with fear and defiance. She thought of Felix, his exaggerated gentleness and air of martyred patience.
‘Don’t you?’ Forrester asked.
‘No, I don’t. You sort those DNA swabs. Him, her, everyone else we talk to in the house.’
She knocked on the door of Harry and Olga’s flat and heard shuffling footsteps before the chain slid across the bolt and the door swung open. She found herself face to face with a large, red-faced baby. Holding the baby, looking too small for the task, was a tiny woman. She was wearing a shapeless dress and slippers, and her hair was tied tightly back from her narrow face.
‘Hello?’
‘I’m sorry to bother you. Are you Olga Fisk?’
‘Yes.’
‘I’m Detective Inspector Maud O’Connor. We were wondering if we could have a word.’
‘What’s this about?’
‘We’re here about the death of Kira Mullan.’
Olga furrowed her brow. ‘I thought that was all over.’
‘Can we come in?’
Olga moved away from the door and the two detectives followed her into the flat. It was smaller and darker than Felix and Nancy’s, with no door out to the garden. There were baby things everywhere – little garments hung over the radiator and the backs of chairs, a changing mat on the floor, an overflowing basket of dirty clothes and towels and muslins next to the washing machine, a buggy against the wall, bottles in the sink along with unwashed dishes. On the table was a pile of medical textbooks. There was a slightly rancid smell in the air of sour milk and wet clothes.
‘Sorry for the mess,’ said Olga. ‘The washing machine’s broken and the landlord doesn’t fix it. And the roof, it keeps leaking.’ She gestured upwards.
‘That’s hard,’ said Maud, wondering how three people could live in this tiny, damp flat.
‘Harry’s got exams. That’s my husband.’
‘Which must make it even harder. How old’s your baby?’
‘Lydia. She is three and a half months.’ She jiggled Lydia on her hip, then pressed her lips against the downy crown of her daughter’s head.
‘Is your husband here?’
‘He’s at the hospital. Why do you want to speak to him?’
‘We’re talking to everyone in the house. We want to speak to you as well.’
‘He’s here all day tomorrow, before doing nights. What do you need to know?’
‘Can you remember what you were doing on the Sunday that Kira was last seen?’
Olga nodded. ‘I told the other officers,’ she said. ‘Can’t you look at what I said then?’
‘I’d like you to tell me,’ said Maud.
‘All right,’ she said reluctantly. ‘Harry and I were here all morning. We were both tired. Lydia had been awake a lot and there had been the noise of the party as well, all night. I tried to keep Lydia quiet so Harry could revise. In the afternoon, he looked after Lydia for an hour or so while I met a friend for coffee in the new place by the cinema. That was sometime after three. I met my friend a bit after half past three. Sometimes,’ she added, ‘I have to get out of here, get away from her.’ She looked apologetically at her baby, as if she could understand. ‘I love her of course, but being a mother – it can eat you alive. There are days I feel I am disappearing. Then I have to remind myself who I am. Harry understands that.’
Maud nodded.
‘Did he look after Lydia here?’
‘No. He left when I did and took her out in the buggy. She sleeps in the buggy. And then after I’d had my coffee, I went to meet him, and we walked back together. We were here after that until six, when he went to have drinks with the neighbours. I was here with Lydia.’
‘Neither of you went out apart from this?’
‘I went to the corner shop with Lydia mid-morning, half past ten or eleven, for milk and then walked round the block, but it was nasty weather; we didn’t stay out. And Harry went for a ten-minute walk after lunch to clear his head.’ She saw Maud’s questioning look. ‘That was at about two thirty, something like that. Before three, anyway.’
‘And you didn’t see Kira?’
‘No.’ Olga stroked her baby’s plump cheek. ‘The last time I saw her was the day before.’ Tears filled her eyes. ‘She said she would babysit.’
‘That was nice of her.’
‘Yes. I didn’t know her well, but I think that she was a nice person. She was always friendly and cheerful, and she was kind to me. It’s hard to believe—’
‘That she took her life?’
‘Yes.’ Olga held the baby closer. ‘It’s very sad.’