Ev is shaking her head. `Never mind why `“ why on earth she would even `“'
`And Nadine's only fifteen,' says Quinn. `No way she was driving any sort of vehicle `“ van, car, SUV, Chieftain tank `“'
`She could have been with someone, though, couldn't she?' says Baxter, turning to him. `Not her mum `“ someone else `“ someone older who did the driving. And she could easily have taken a carrier bag from home.'
Ev's eyes widen. `You really think she could have done that? Jesus.'
Baxter shrugs. `How else do we explain it?'
`I could speak to the school?' offers Gis. `Make sure Nadine was definitely there that morning, like she said?'
`Yes, do that,' says Gallagher. `But discreetly, please. If this gets out, the whole bloody sky is going to fall in.'
* * *
Adam Fawley
8 April 2018
13.10
I'm trying to do emails, but there's something about hospitals that numbs my brain. It's like muscle memory `“ an involuntary spasm of frozen recollection. All those times we had to take Jake to places like this. When he was self-harming, when we hadn't been able to stop him. The guarded looks, the careful questions. Has he done this before? Can we speak to your GP? Round and round and round again. All of us paralysed in the face of something we couldn't explain, couldn't hope to understand.
I give up even trying to work now and toss the phone on to the chair next to me. On the bed, Alex stirs a little, but doesn't wake. She looks peaceful `“ more than she has for weeks. I wonder if that doctor has sedated her. There's a TV mounted on the wall in front of me, and I reach for the remote and turn it on, cutting the volume right down. It's the local news. They're running the reconstruction again, the last sighting of Sasha Blake. Her friends, her father, his new family. I've seen it before but I was cooking and distracted. Now, for the first time, I really watch.
* * *
Gislingham puts down the phone and looks up at Gallagher. `That was the head of Summertown High. Nadine Appleford was there the morning Faith was attacked.'
`Thank God for that `“'
But Gis hasn't finished. `Trouble is, they can't be sure what time she arrived. She missed registration, but she was there by 11.15 `“ that was the first class she had that day. They initially assumed she was off sick `“ you know, that norovirus thing that's been doing the rounds.'
`What time is registration?'
`Eight fifty. And when we first spoke to her, Diane Appleford said she dropped Nadine off at the school just after 8.00, on her way to work.'
`So she was there with over half an hour to spare, and yet she still never made it to registration,' says Gallagher thoughtfully.
She glances round and finds Everett. `Remind me, what time was Faith abducted?'
Everett looks up. `She left the house at 9.00, so probably about ten or fifteen minutes after that.'
`And when did that minicab driver pick her up?'
`Eleven twenty,' says Gislingham. `Give or take. But whoever attacked her was long gone by then. So if Nadine was involved she could easily have got back in time for that class. Whoever was driving the van could have dropped her off.'
Gallagher turns to the map and looks again at the drawing pins marking where Faith lives, where she was abducted, where she was found.
`So her mother drops her off at school at just after 8.00, where she meets this mystery accomplice and they go back to Rydal Way together to intercept Faith?'
Gis gets up and joins her. He hesitates a moment then points to the sprawling site of Summertown High. `Or she could have just gone straight to the allotments from the school. That's no more than half a mile.'
Gallagher is still staring at the board. `But whichever way you play it, there must have been someone else involved. We just need to find out who it was.'
* * *
Neither of them says much on the drive over. Whichever way they thought this case would go, they never dreamed it would bring them back here, to where it all started.
Somer pulls up outside and they sit there a moment, looking at the house. There's no sign of life, and she's half hoping there's no one in. But she knows that the most that will do is postpone the inevitable.
`What on earth are we going to say to Faith?' she says, turning to Everett now. `Hasn't she had enough to cope with, without this? It could break that family apart.'
Ev reaches out and touches her on the shoulder. `You're catastrophizing. And even if the worst does happen, it's not your fault. And remember, we don't know Nadine did anything yet. There could be a completely innocent explanation.'
`Oh, come on, Ev, you don't really think that.'
Everett shrugs. `Until we ask, how do we know? All I do know is we have to do this, and if anyone can help Faith understand that, it's you.'
They get out of the car and make their way slowly down the path. At the step, Everett turns and glances at Somer, then raises her hand to the bell.
Diane Appleford is clearly surprised to see them. `Oh, hello,' she says. `We weren't expecting you, were we? I'm afraid Faith isn't here. She's at that new friend of hers. Jess something.'
Everett can almost hear Somer's relief. She manages a thin smile. `Is Nadine in, Mrs Appleford?'
`Nadine? Yes, she's upstairs in her room. Why `“ do you want to speak to her?'
`Something's come up, Mrs Appleford. Could you ask Nadine to come down for a minute?'
A frown flickers across her brows. `OK.'
She goes to the foot of the stairs and calls up. `Nadine? Are you there?'
They wait, but there's no sound of movement.
`Nadine!' calls Diane, louder. `Can you come down, sweetheart?'
Signs of life now; the creak of a bed, a door opening. A moment later Nadine appears at the top of the stairs. She sees them and retreats slightly. And Somer's heart sinks.
`What are they doing here?'
`They just want a word with you, darling. Can you come down?'
She starts down the stairs, slowly, pausing at each step.
`What's this about?' she says as she reaches the bottom.
`We've had some new information in from the forensic lab,' says Everett. `So we need to check a few things, and talk to some people again.'
Nadine seems to relax a little at this. `OK, what do you want to know?'
`It'd be better if you came with us. You and your mum.'
`I don't want her to come,' says Nadine quickly. `I'll do it on my own.'
`What is all this?' says Diane, staring at her daughter and then at Everett. `You're worrying me now.'
`We just need a quick chat with Nadine, Mrs Appleford. It shouldn't take long.'
What else can she say? Your daughter could be there all night? This is looking really serious?
`I can go on my own,' says Nadine, stubborn now. `I don't want Mum there. I'm not a baby.'
`Look, go and get your coat and we'll talk about it,' says Diane. Nadine hesitates, then turns and makes her way back up the stairs.
* * *
Interview with Nadine Appleford, conducted at St Aldate's Police Station, Oxford
8 April 2018, 6.15 p.m.
In attendance, DI R. Gallagher, DC V. Everett, Ms S. Rogers (designated Appropriate Adult)