36

After the disappearance of her baby, and the death of her father, it was hardly surprising that Jessica stared at Geraldine for a moment in complete shock.

‘What do you mean?’ she stammered at last. ‘What are you talking about? What are you saying? What’s that about Jason?’

‘I’m afraid he’s dead. We’re going to need you to identify his body.’

‘You mean you don’t know if it’s him?’

‘I’m afraid it’s definitely him. The DNA we took from his toothbrush establishes it, but we do need you to confirm his identity.’

Geraldine hesitated, wondering how well the pathologist would be able to clean up Jason’s face before his wife viewed it. He had looked quite hideous when she and Ian had seen him lying on the table at the mortuary, with his lurid face and protruding eyes.

‘My baby’s been stolen,’ Jessica replied in a tight voice, ‘and my father’s been murdered, and now you’ve come here asking me to identify my husband’s body? So, my father’s dead. We know that. My mother went to identify his body. There’s nothing anyone can do for him now. And my baby’s been taken, God knows where, and she could be crying for me right now…’ she broke off, sobbing too violently to speak. ‘Find her for me, just find her,’ she mumbled through her tears. ‘I don’t want to hear about Jason, or about my father. I don’t want to hear about people in my family who’ve been killed.’ She paused and gasped. ‘Did he – had Jason – was she there?’

Geraldine would have given anything to be able to reunite the bereft mother with her child, but her job was to investigate the murders of David and Jason. Taking a deep breath, she focused on the reason she had gone to see Jessica.

‘I’m so sorry, Jessica. We haven’t found Daisy yet, but we are doing everything we can to find her as quickly as possible. Do you know a man called Jonathan Edwards? He’s about fifty, very tall and thin, and he used to work as a school librarian?’

Jessica shook her head, looking faintly bewildered. ‘How can Jason be dead?’ she muttered as though she had only just registered what Geraldine had told her. ‘How is it possible? No, not Jason, not Jason.’

‘Jessica, I need you to listen to me, very carefully. This is really important. Do you know Jonathan Edwards?’

Jessica shook her head.

‘How about a younger man called Rod Browning?’ Geraldine asked. ‘He’s about your age, and he has ginger hair and a ginger moustache and beard, and he works in a health food shop in York?’

Jessica shook her head again. ‘I don’t know these people,’ she whispered. Her voice hardened as she asked, ‘Have they got Daisy?’

Understandably she was only concerned about her missing child, although Geraldine did think she might have been interested in finding out who had killed her father and her husband.

‘It’s not that I don’t care that Jason’s dead,’ Jessica said, perhaps realising what Geraldine was thinking. ‘But he’s gone, isn’t he? There’s no point in getting upset, not yet. We have to focus all our attention on finding Daisy.’

‘There is a massive search underway,’ Geraldine assured her. ‘We are going to find her. But my job is working on the murder investigation. That’s important too. Whoever killed your father is still at large and could be a danger to others, as could the person who killed your husband.’

But it was clear that Jessica was barely listening to her. As Geraldine was preparing to leave, they heard the front door close and a woman’s voice shouting, ‘It’s me.’

The door to the living room opened and Anne came in. Her expression changed to one of alarm when she saw Geraldine.

‘What–?’ she asked. ‘What are you doing here? Is it – have you found her?’

‘I‘m afraid we’ve found your son-in-law’s body,’ Geraldine replied quietly. ‘Jason’s dead.’

‘Jason’s dead?’ Anne repeated in surprise.

‘And she’s on at me about dad,’ Jessica said through her sobs.

Anne heaved an exaggerated sigh. ‘We’ve told you everything we know,’ she said, her voice raised in anger. ‘All we’re interested in now is getting our baby back. As for that good-for-nothing husband of hers, we’ll grieve for him as much as he deserves when we have Daisy back.’ She pressed her lips together in an attempt to control herself, but tears filled her eyes. ‘Please, just find Daisy,’ she pleaded.

‘I’d like to ask you a few questions before I go,’ Geraldine replied, resuming her seat. ‘Perhaps we could talk alone?’ she added, glancing at Jessica who was sniffling into a handkerchief.

‘I’ll go and put the kettle on, mum.’

Anne looked as though she was going to remonstrate when Jessica stood up, but she thought better of it and sat down.

‘Let’s get this over with then,’ Anne said. ‘It might sound callous to you, Sergeant, but right now I’m more concerned to support my daughter than to find out who killed my husband. And I certainly don’t care what happened to Jason. Is that a terrible thing to say? David’s gone and past help. I’ll mourn for him, of course I will. We were married for twenty-six years. You don’t just write that off in a moment. We spent a long time together. But Jessica needs me right now and I can’t afford to go to pieces. As for her husband, he was never much of a support to her. I’m sorry he’s dead, of course, but I can’t sit here and tell you I’m sorry he’s out of her life.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean that he only ever thinks – thought about himself. He’s – he was a bully and a – well, let’s just say he was a thoroughly nasty piece of work. She made a big mistake the day she married him. I wouldn’t be surprised –’ she broke off and dabbed at her nose with a tissue.

‘What wouldn’t surprise you?’ Geraldine asked.

Anne glanced at the door and spoke hurriedly. ‘I wouldn’t be at all surprised to discover he took the baby away himself, just to spite her. I wouldn’t put it past him, that’s all I’m saying.’

‘But what would prompt him to do that?’

Anne shrugged. ‘To get back at her. I’m telling you, he’s a nasty piece of work.’

Jessica came back carrying two mugs of tea. She gave one to her mother and kept the other for herself. Evidently Geraldine wasn’t considered deserving of tea.

‘Was your marriage happy, on the whole?’ Geraldine asked her outright.

Jessica gaped and almost spilt her tea. She put her mug down carefully on the table before answering. Geraldine was aware she was considering what to say. Without answering the question, she turned to her mother.

‘What have you been saying?’ she demanded furiously. She turned back to Geraldine. ‘My parents never liked Jason. They thought he wasn’t good enough for me. But honestly, no one would have been good enough for them. Jason and I were happy enough, thank you. Don’t believe a word my mother has been saying about him.’

Jessica seemed to have forgotten about her own attack on Jason. Now she burst into tears. With both Jessica and Anne in tears, Geraldine left. There was no point in pressing either of them for answers, although she had an uneasy feeling that she had somehow been hoodwinked, as though Jessica and Anne were both deliberately hiding behind Daisy’s disappearance to avoid talking about their murdered husbands. But it was impossible to judge whether they were sidestepping the subject from grief or guilt.