“I don’t know why you’re insisting on doing this to her. Don’t you understand how hard this is on Poppy?”
Clarke used all his willpower not to roll his eyes at Jo Bayford, who had eventually allowed them in, but was making her feelings on the matter very clear. She seated them down in the living room, which smelt overwhelmingly of lavender. Clarke spotted at least four candles, as well as one of those room diffuser bottles that Emily used to like. No refreshments had been offered, not even a sip of water. She was clearly hoping they wouldn’t stay long. “I appreciate that, Mrs Bayford, but we do need to speak to Poppy face-to-face now, in light of the recent confirmation of a boyfriend.”
Jo shot him a look of exasperation. She spoke with her hands, waving them about as quickly as she spoke. “But she doesn’t know anything about him. I’ve already told you that!”
“It’s okay, Mum,” came a quiet voice from the doorway. “I’ll do it. For Teig.”
Clarke nodded his head gratefully towards Poppy, who looked rather drowned by the huge navy hoodie she was wearing over leggings. “Thank you.” He glanced back at Jo, who was standing with her hands on her hips, eyebrows raised. “Perhaps we should all sit down?” Ideally, he’d have preferred that Jo leave the room, but he knew there was no chance of that.
Poppy crept in and perched herself on the arm of the sofa. She didn’t look much like her mum. Unlike Jo, Poppy had fair hair and a heart-shaped face. He noticed the family picture above the fireplace and saw it was her father that Poppy most resembled.
“Thank you for seeing us, Poppy. I’m Detective Sergeant Anthony Clarke, and this is my colleague, Detective Constable Rebecca Reynolds.” He gestured towards Rebecca, who smiled warmly at Poppy and gave her a little wave. “You remember speaking with me on the phone?”
“Yeah.” Her voice was small and meek. She barely looked like she belonged in secondary school; it was hard to believe she would soon be starting her GCSEs.
“Of course she does. It’s not like she’s been thinking of much else these past few days,” grumbled Jo. Clarke flashed her a quick warning look. She fell silent, sliding into the seat on the sofa next to Poppy. “You just let me know if it gets too much, sweetie,” she said, a protective air to her voice.
Clarke gave Rebecca the eye, the signal they had agreed for her to take the lead. Jo seemed particularly anti-Clarke, and he hoped that the female presence might ease her up a bit. Rebecca shuffled forward in her seat and spoke softly as she addressed Poppy.
“Thank you for seeing us, Poppy. I know this must be so hard for you. You and Teigan have been best friends for a long time?”
Poppy nodded. “Yeah. Since Year One. We got best-friends-forever bracelets for our joint birthday present when we were ten.” She held out her wrist, modelling a black knotted band with pink gems scattered across it. It had half a silver heart attached, with the word “best” engraved in pink. “She had the ‘friends’ half. We used to wear them all the time, but Krystal said they were tacky, so Teig stopped wearing hers.”
Jo let out an exaggerated sigh and shook her head. “She was trouble, that Krystal girl. She’s the one you ought to be talking to.”
Clarke cut back in. “My understanding is that she and her family moved back to Nigeria a few months ago and that she has since had her Facebook page deleted, so is very difficult to get hold of. Is that right, Poppy? Do you know of any way to get in touch with Krystal?”
Poppy shook her head and shrugged her shoulders. Clarke got the distinct impression that she wasn’t bothered about not being able to contact Krystal.
“Yes, I know that,” Jo snapped. “Her mother seemed to think it was the Westernised world that was the problem, but. believe me, it was Krystal who was the bad influence.
“Be that as it may,” Clarke continued in a steady voice. “It’s highly unlikely we’re going to be able to talk with Krystal, hence, needing to have this conversation with Poppy.”
They all fell silent for a moment before Rebecca carried on. “Poppy, as you know, we’re doing our very best to find Teigan. In our search, we’ve come across some text messages sent from someone saved in her phone as ‘xoxo.’ Do you have any idea who this could be?”
Poppy’s nose crinkled as she sniffed the tears back. “No. Teig wouldn’t tell me anything when she started hanging out with those guys and Krystal. It was their little group. They kept putting ‘Squad Goals’ stuff on Facebook. They didn’t tag the guys or nothing, but the pictures were always two guys and two girls.”
“I understand. But did you have any inkling who those ‘guys’ could have been? Anyone you noticed her acting differently around, or suddenly heard new names, perhaps?”
Poppy stared into space for a moment, absent-mindedly chewing on her lip as she fiddled with the best-friends-forever bracelet. “No names. She and Krys just talked about ‘the guys.’ Like, they thought they were really cool hanging out with older men. Sometimes I heard them talking about ‘xo,’ but then they’d just start singing the Beyonce XO song and it was, like, their little thing.”
“That must have been really hard for you.” Rebecca paused for a moment to give Poppy some time before carrying on. Clarke was impressed — she was much better with the vulnerable teen situation than he was. “They referred to these guys as older. Do you know how old they were, roughly?”
“Nope.” Poppy shrugged her shoulders. Her face flushed a little red, the irritation from months of being left out building up inside her. “Like, they were at least eighteen — I know that because they talked about alcohol and stuff the guys got for them. But that’s all I know.”
“No, that’s good.” Rebecca nodded encouragingly. “This ‘alcohol and stuff’ the guys got for them. What sort of things did it include?”
Poppy nodded her head more animatedly this time. “Oh, loads of stuff. But it was just little bits at a time — they didn’t want her mum to notice. First it was lip glosses, nail varnishes, and stuff. Then he got her this posh bracelet. She wouldn’t wear it at home because she knew her mum would notice, but she was always showing it off at school. It looked proper expensive.”
Clarke and Rebecca exchanged a glance. His stomach churned. It was looking more and more likely that Teigan had indeed been groomed.
Rebecca cleared her throat. “One last question, Poppy. Did you ever get the feeling that Teigan was scared of ‘the guys?’”
Poppy pulled a face, as if surprised by this question. “I dunno …” she said, fiddling again with the dangly half heart of the bracelet. “She’d been a bit more aggy, I guess.”
“Aggy?” Clarke frowned, unsure what this meant.
“It’s what the kids called ‘agitated’ these days,” said Jo, her voice softer now.
“Oh, right.”
“So, she seemed agitated?” Rebecca pressed on. “Is this recently?”
“Yeah,” Poppy shuffled on the arm of the sofa, nodding at Rebecca. “Like, she was getting a bit more like it when Krystal was still here. But I thought that was because she knew Krystal was moving back and didn’t want her to go.” Poppy’s voice weakened a little. “But then she stayed like that after Krystal had gone. Just a bit snappy and weird. She went all in on herself. I thought she just missed Krystal and didn’t want to be stuck with me again.”
Jo put a reassuring arm around her daughter and pulled her into an embrace. “No, darling, that’s not true. Teigan loved you.”
The tears broke through and started creeping down Poppy’s cheeks. She nuzzled into her mum, looking like a small child once again.
“Your mum’s right,” said Rebecca. “Just because Teigan got carried away with other people for a while doesn’t change anything. You’ve always been her best friend, and you still are.”
Poppy lifted her head slightly and spoke in a tiny, fragile voice. “But, how can I be her best friend if she’s dead?”
“She’s not dead,” Clarke interjected. He couldn’t bear to watch the pain on Poppy’s face any longer. “She’s out there, and we’ll make sure you’re reunited soon.”
His eyes met Rebecca’s, and he knew she was hoping the same thing, hoping that he hadn’t just lied to this sweet girl.