54

‘She did seem shocked to hear that her father was murdered,’ Geraldine said.

‘Or was she shocked that we discovered he was murdered?’ Eileen replied. ‘Jessica might have done it and thought she had got away with making it appear her father had died from natural causes.’

Ian nodded and looked at Geraldine. ‘Did you see how agitated Jessica became when you talked about David’s murder?’

‘Yes,’ Geraldine agreed. ‘She appeared genuinely shocked on hearing her father was murdered, and we don’t know she killed him. There are other possibilities.’

‘If Ella told David that Jessica had murdered her husband, he might have threatened to tell other people. Jessica’s liberty could have been at risk,’ Eileen said.

‘I’m still not convinced Jessica killed him,’ Geraldine insisted.

‘Who else could have been so concerned to keep it quiet they would have been prepared to kill David to protect Jessica from discovery?’

‘Her mother?’ Geraldine replied quietly. ‘Isn’t it at least possible that David confided to his wife what Ella had told him?’

‘You really think Anne could have killed her husband?’ Eileen asked.

‘To protect her daughter?’ Ian said. ‘That would be a horrible repetition of Jessica’s crime, if she killed her husband to protect her own daughter.’

‘This all sounds a bit fanciful,’ Eileen said. ‘Let’s speak to both women again before we speculate any further.’

Geraldine and Ian went to see Anne Armstrong.

‘What is this about?’ she asked when she opened the door, scowling at them.

‘Can we come in?’

‘What do you want?’

There was no doubt she was nervous, but she stood aside to let them in. Sitting opposite them in her front room, she gazed anxiously at them, her fingers twisting in her lap. For a moment no one spoke, while tears slid down her pale cheeks.

‘First my granddaughter disappeared, then I lost my husband,’ she whispered, ‘and now my daughter’s being harassed. As if she could have killed anyone. It’s an outrageous accusation. Outrageous. No one should have made that allegation against Jessica. The poor girl only just got her baby back, and now she’s been taken into custody. It’s monstrous.’

As she was speaking, a baby began to cry somewhere in the house and Anne jumped to her feet.

‘Excuse me,’ she said. ‘I have to see to her.’

‘Of course.’ Geraldine glanced at Ian. ‘I’ll come with you.’

Anne turned back. ‘Why? Do you think I’m going to run off with her?’

Geraldine followed Anne into the kitchen where the baby was lying in a travel cot, yelling. Anne scooped her up, making soothing noises as she fetched a small jar of baby food from a cupboard and settled the crying baby in a high chair. As soon as she placed a spoonful of the mush in the baby’s mouth, the baby stopped crying and began slurping and gulping the food.

‘She’s beautiful,’ Geraldine said, and Anne smiled.

‘There’s no way we’re losing her again,’ she said.

‘Ella took good care of her for you,’ Geraldine said. ‘Fortunately, now Jason’s gone you can put all that behind you.’

‘Yes, Daisy’s home where she belongs.’

‘Jessica isn’t,’ Geraldine said.

A faint look of irritation crossed Anne’s face, then she looked over at Geraldine with tears in her eyes. ‘You have to help her. That man she married, he was a monster. He used to beat her. Whatever happened to him he had it coming. I swear, if she hadn’t killed him, I would have done it myself.’ Her eyes glittered as she spoke.

Geraldine waited while Anne finished feeding the baby before reiterating how beautiful Daisy was, and asking to hold her. Anne’s eyes never left the baby as she handed her over and followed them into the front room where Geraldine nodded at Ian.

‘We would like you to accompany us to the police station to answer a few more questions,’ he said.

‘You’ll have to ask me here,’ Anne replied. ‘I need to put the baby to bed.’

‘She’s already asleep,’ Geraldine said, without putting the baby down in the cot. ‘I’ll wait here with her until we have a vehicle to take her with us to the police station where she’ll be well cared for until your release.’

‘My release? What are you talking about? Jessica’s already in custody for a crime she didn’t commit, and now you want to take me as well? I don’t believe this. I refuse to go with you. I’m calling my lawyer.’

‘Good,’ Ian said. ‘He can meet us at the police station.’

Still protesting, Anne made her phone call before accompanying them to the police station. Daisy was transported in a separate vehicle with an appropriate car seat.

Anne’s solicitor was waiting for them when they arrived. A slickly dressed man in his thirties with a southern accent, he insisted on speaking to his client before they began to question her.

‘That evil witch put you up to this,’ Anne began when the interview commenced.

Geraldine and Ian had not yet posed a question but neither of them interrupted her. Anne was sufficiently agitated to make a blunder without any prompting from them. The lawyer narrowed his eyes and listened anxiously, ready to interrupt if it became apparent that his client was going to incriminate herself. On balance, Geraldine was fairly confident she would.

‘That Ella, she set this whole thing up. She’s crazy. We all know she lost her own baby, due to her neglect, and now she’s trying to get her hands on Daisy. She’s already stolen her from Jessica and attempted to run away with her. This is all down to her. She killed her partner because he mistreated her baby, and then she killed Jason and David, so she could keep Daisy. You can’t trust a word she says. She’s the one you should be going after her, not me or Jessica. Leave us alone. We’ve been through enough.’

Geraldine waited for Anne to finish before speaking. ‘Anne, you can’t keep this up. We know Jessica killed Jason –’

‘It was Ella. It was Ella.’

‘You know that’s not true,’ Geraldine said, hoping to persuade Anne to confess.

‘Then it was me, it wasn’t Jessica, it was me, and I’d do it again.’

‘My client is clearly distressed by this line of questioning,’ the lawyer cut in urgently. ‘We need to take a break.’

‘She’s distressed because she knows her daughter is guilty,’ Ian muttered. ‘She’s grasping at straws, blaming everyone she can think of to protect her daughter.’

‘This is not the place to cast judgement –’ the lawyer began. He glanced at Anne. ‘I need to speak to my client.’

‘You can’t be serious about needing a break already. We’ve hardly begun,’ Ian protested.

With the lawyer insisting on speaking to his client, Ian turned off the tape and he and Geraldine waited impatiently to resume their interrogation. Ian suggested they go along to the canteen during the break. As soon as they left the interview room, a constable brought them a message that they were to go to the briefing room where Eileen was about to address the team.

‘That’s all we need, a pep talk,’ Geraldine muttered as they entered the room.

She struggled to focus on what Eileen was saying, especially as it quickly became apparent that there was nothing new to hear. Impatiently, she waited to return to the interview with Anne.