Nicky was unable to help any further and said that she didn’t ask Amy about the watch and neither did Amy say any more about it.
Seeing them out, Harriet offered further guilty apologies and added that she was unaware of Amy mentioning the watch.
By this time the detectives were anxious to travel to the school and interview Serena. They headed into Fulham Road, trying to work out the route that Amy would have taken to get to her father’s flat in Green Street, Mayfair. The most likely would have been to catch a number 414 bus towards Marble Arch, get off in Park Lane and walk down to Green Street.
Now armed with at least some description of what their missing girl was wearing, they reported back to the station, and said they would also ring DI Reid.
Reid was at Marcus Fulford’s flat when his mobile rang. He glanced at it, excused himself to Marcus and went into the hallway to take the call. He listened without interrupting as DS Lane updated him about the clothing and the watch, and agreed they should visit the school and interview Serena that evening. Returning to the living room, Reid decided that before broaching this new information with Marcus he’d ask him more about his relationship with Amy.
‘I adore her. We get on exceptionally well and she is very loving towards me.’
‘Was she ever upset or jealous about any of your girlfriends?’
‘No, never, and I make sure my relationships never encroach on mine and Amy’s weekends together.’
‘What about Amy, does she have any relationships that you know of?’
‘No,’ Marcus replied, upset with Reid’s line of questioning.
‘Do you suspect that she may have a boyfriend?’
‘It’s possible, but I’m pretty sure she would have told me or her mother if there was one.’
‘Even if it was a sexual relationship?’ Reid persisted.
Marcus fidgeted in his chair.
‘Although Amy can sometimes appear older than her fifteen years, she is a very innocent and naïve young girl and I don’t believe she is sexually aware. I am certain that she has no boyfriend or any fixation on a teacher or anyone I know of.’
‘But you can’t be sure?’
‘She’s my daughter, Inspector Reid, and I am certain I knew her better than you. The time we spend together is always very relaxed and she likes to cook for me some evenings and sometimes we go out to dine together. We also both like the cinema and theatre, and sometimes Amy even manages to drag me to the shops and boutiques. Her mother is very generous with her monthly allowance but Amy also likes to ask my opinion about the clothes she buys and wears.’
‘I know you may think I’m being intrusive, Mr Fulford, but the more I know and understand about Amy, the better our chances of finding her.’
‘You have to understand that this is totally out of character, she has never ever done anything like this before, and it just doesn’t make any sense to think she might have run off with someone,’ Marcus said and took some deep breaths before continuing.
His eyes were brimming with tears as he touched Reid’s arm. ‘The phone call a minute ago – it’s bad, isn’t it? You think something has happened, don’t you?’
Reid refused to be put on the spot. ‘It was positive news, Mr Fulford and, we now know what your daughter was wearing when she left the Newmans’. Their nanny also heard Amy say she was going to go and see you on Saturday afternoon and she mentioned something about getting her watch.’
‘Her watch?’
‘Yes, maybe she left it here sometime before.’
‘Well she hasn’t been here in over a week and if she left it I’d have thought she’d have rung me at least,’ Marcus insisted.
‘Nevertheless, I’d like to see Amy’s bedroom for myself please, Mr Fulford. There’s also the possibility she came back here and changed, so her overnight bag may be in her room as it was not at the Newmans’.’
Reid was totally thrown by the untidy mess of a bedroom Marcus led him into. Turning to him, he asked if he had caused the state of it, perhaps looking for clues. Marcus shook his head, and explained that this was how it was usually. He excused the disarray and said that as Lena was so anally retentive, he allowed Amy to just do what she wanted, and unlike his wife he could not afford a housekeeper. Reid said nothing; the room was a total tip: dirty underwear, nightdresses, tights, panties, bras were strewn around, or left in small piles, the sheets looked grey and food-stained. The carpet was dirty with crumbs and half-eaten pieces of toast left on mildewed plates; even her pillow had makeup stains.
‘Christ, it is a mess,’ Marcus said, standing in the middle of it, looking around. He was embarrassed when he saw a used sanitary towel tossed in a waste bin with soiled tissues and torn-out pieces of magazines. The wardrobe doors were open, clothes on and off hangers, some crumpled underneath the dirty shoes. Reid was loath to touch anything because he wanted a forensic team to be brought in as it was not to his mind the normal mess of a well-brought-up teenager. Unlike her bedroom at her mother’s, this room was covered in posters of pop groups and the vampire movies, stacks of cheap magazines littered the floor and were strewn under the bed. Marcus gestured towards them and said he had flicked through them in case there was a letter or anything Amy might have left between the pages. The dressing table was a mess of spilt powder and creams and asking about a wristwatch was laughable as the surface was piled high with junk jewellery and beads all mixed up.
‘If she did come home on Saturday afternoon, it would be hard to tell. But is there somebody who might know – a porter maybe?’
‘There’s a sort of general dogsbody, but no one on duty. Listen, I did shift some stuff around looking for anything that might give us Amy’s contacts, anyone she could have gone to meet. I was very hung over and none of the drawers I looked through had an address book. She was always on her iPad, and I didn’t find anything like letters…’ His voice trailed off as he still continued to look around.
Reid used a pen from his pocket to sift through items on the dressing table, and again mentioned that Amy had said she was coming to the flat as she wanted her wristwatch.
‘As I said before, I don’t know if her wristwatch was left here from her last visit,’ Marcus said, rubbing at his hair. ‘Yes, she usually wore one but I just can’t remember when I last saw it. Lena’ll know.’
Reid decided it was time he got back to the station. He asked Marcus not to remove any items or search the bedroom again as he wanted one of his team to check through the clothes. Privately he made a note to get the underwear checked by forensics and if there were any traces of semen get a DNA profile raised.
Driving back to Richmond, he was confused by the totally opposite states of the missing girl’s bedrooms. The Amy as described by her mother and her staff was such a meticulous and caring girl, but the bedroom she occupied at her father’s showed a very different side. It was filthy. Reid couldn’t help wondering if the dirty underwear indicated she wasn’t as naïve as everyone would have him believe.
After Marcus had gone, Lena had continued reading the journal, trying to quell her rising fears. The book contained more than just recipes; the first half was filled with personal thoughts about their family and the people in Amy’s life. There was nothing that could help them discover her whereabouts but plenty of disturbing and shocking entries about Amy’s disdain for everyone. Lena had used small Post-it stickers to indicate what she felt were relevant pages, and she was also using a highlighter pen on some sections. She was still deeply stunned by some of her daughter’s copious notes, and confused by the revelations about not only herself but also everyone Amy came into contact with. She had just begun to read a section headed and underlined ‘Daddy’ when the telephone rang. It made her jump and she quickly answered it to avoid its jarring noise.