He smiled and said that the SOCOs were assisting in the search and would need to be shown Amy’s bedroom, as he would like them to begin there. Hesitating, Lena apologized for the confusion with the contents of the garage. ‘I honestly can’t remember giving Harry permission, but I must have done – I was in such a state yesterday. I went over to the garage to find an old video player as I wanted to watch some family films and…’ She lifted her arms in a shrug.
‘Were there any of Amy’s belongings in the garage?’
‘No, I don’t think so. It was mostly crockery and linen. I meant to give it to the Princess Alice Trust months and months ago, but just never got around to it. I’m sorry…’
Harry Dunn tapped on the open door and anxiously eased his way into the room.
‘You did give me permission, Mrs Fulford, you said I could take whatever I wanted as they’d been stacked and left in the garage for so long. You had to move them aside to find the video recorder.’
Barbara Burrows stood behind Harry and signalled that the SOCOs were ready to go into Amy’s bedroom.
The house phone began to ring and Lena turned to Reid. ‘Is it all right if I show them upstairs and DC Burrows answers the phone?’
Reid nodded and Barbara went to take the phone. Harry remained standing just inside the door, and not until Reid signalled for him to come in and sit down did he nervously do as requested, closing the door.
‘Agnes told me there was some problems with the removal of stuff from the garage, but I swear I got permission, I would not have taken anything without knowing it was okay to do so. Mrs Fulford said for me to clear the boxes and that’s what I did – I mean I can bring it all back.’
‘That won’t be necessary, Mr Dunn,’ Reid assured him, ‘unless there were items that belonged to Amy, or anything that could give an indication as to where she might have gone.’
‘No, it was household stuff and Agnes took a lot of it, for her daughter. She got a local taxi firm to move it out.’
Reid rubbed at his chin; the simple explanation Harry and Agnes had given made him doubt there was an ulterior motive behind the removal of the boxes.
Harry edged to the end of his seat. ‘I’ve still got the stuff in the boxes at home.’
‘There was nothing unusual in any of these boxes?’
Harry looked puzzled, and Reid watched him closely. ‘Bad smells, stains, anything suspicious?’
‘No, sir. Also, the boxes had been done up with parcel tape and none of them had been recently opened. I tore it off to check what was inside – you know, choosing what I was going to take – and then Agnes came into the garage and she picked and mixed if you know what I mean?’
‘Thank you, that’ll be all, and you’ll be on hand, will you, if Mrs Fulford needs you?’
‘Yes, sir, I’ll be here.’
Harry made small quick steps to the door, and froze when Reid suddenly spoke again. ‘One more thing. Who gave you the order to clean Mr Fulford’s car?’
‘Agnes, she give me the keys and I gave it a wash and interior valet as it was filthy inside and out.’
‘You did a good job.’
Harry scuttled out, his heart thudding because for a minute he thought he was going to be asked about the watch he’d found between the front seats. He’d stashed it in a drawer at his flat, and now it worried him deeply and he realized he’d better get rid of it fast.
Lena stood in Amy’s bedroom doorway, watching the two forensics officers begin their work. After a few moments she went back down the stairs just as Reid walked into the hallway.
He asked Lena about the video films she had been watching and she told him that she would give the tapes to him if he wanted.
‘Some of them are from when she was a child, but there are more recent tapes – well, not for the last couple of years but…’ She hesitated enough for him to enquire if she felt they were important.
‘Can I show you what made me very agitated? It might mean nothing, but it’s something I never noticed before. If you’d like to come with me to the TV room the videotapes are all there.’
He suggested that Lena set up what she wanted him to look at as he needed to have a word with DC Burrows in the kitchen, where his colleague was now fending off the calls, which were coming in thick and fast. Burrows nimbly put off the numerous press requests for interviews and to anyone making a personal enquiry she was very polite, saying there was no news at present. She made careful notes on all the callers and was thankful for a tray of coffee and biscuits Agnes brought her.
Agnes was still hovering and Reid asked her to leave them for a moment. DC Burrows gestured to her notepad and said that the majority of calls were press enquiries but Mrs Fulford’s business answer phone was full and suggested that perhaps those messages should be checked out.
‘I’ll discuss it with Mrs Fulford. I want you to call the dog section and get a cadaver dog brought in to go over the garage.’
Barbara looked aghast and Reid was quick to explain himself.
‘We need to do everything by the book and I’m just being cautious.’
As Reid entered the TV room Lena turned from where she was standing by the television with videotapes in her hand.
‘I want you to see this one first. She’d be eleven – it was a birthday party in Spain when we were on holiday.’
Reid sat on the sofa and watched as five children tucked into large bowls of ice cream. The focus was on the birthday girl who suddenly took off her sun hat and swirled it over her head, laughing. She was golden brown, her hair bleached white from the sun, and she was standing up on her chair as a birthday cake was brought to the table by her equally suntanned father. She was an extraordinarily pretty child, very slender, and her excited shrieks and laughter were infectious as she clapped her hands and blew out the candles. Lena switched off the tape.
‘She was always laughing.’ She patted a stack of videos, all dated with handwritten labels. ‘All of these are showing how much fun she was, a real delight to be around, and now I want you to look at this tape; it’s from a couple of years ago, so she would be thirteen.’
Lena busied herself ejecting one tape and inserting the other, then came and sat close to him. ‘I have to be honest – you know, we used to takes reels and reels of videos, and I don’t even recall sitting watching these latest ones, and Amy never asked to watch them. I am not making excuses, but this one was taken when Marcus and I were not getting along, although at no time did we ever make it obvious to Amy.’ She pointed the remote at the television and pressed play.
Reid found it slightly uncomfortable to be sitting so close to her, not that she appeared to notice. Leaning forward with her attention on the screen, she fast-forwarded, stopped and gestured towards the TV set. Reid watched the footage of Amy, who was wearing another floppy straw sunhat, big round dark glasses, and a white bikini. She was tall and lithe, bordering on skinny, but somewhat surprisingly for a thirteen-year-old, there was a definite sexual quality to her as she walked towards a sun lounger. She was carrying a bottle of water and a book.
‘This was when we were in Antigua; we had a cabana opening onto the private beach,’ Lena said quietly. Amy bent to a small side table by the lounger and put down her bottle of water and book. She then picked up a folded yellow beach towel and carefully shook it out to fold over the cushions. She removed her sunglasses, holding them laconically in her left hand and with her right she snatched off her sunhat and threw it angrily towards the camera.
‘Turn that fucking thing off!’
It was quite shocking to hear her swearing. Her thick blonde hair fell loose to her shoulders and she was stunningly pretty, but her face was contorted with anger. The camera angle moved to the side and then it shut off. There were a few seconds of close-up on sand as the film started again and Lena could be seen using the sun lounger next to Amy’s; she was deeply tanned, her body oiled, and she was wearing the same sunhat. The sea was only ten feet or so away; palm trees swayed gently beside their cabana and now Amy was filmed coming out of the water, her wet hair plastered back from her perfect face as she moved closer towards the sun loungers. She bent to pick up her towel and then realized she was being filmed. This time she twisted the towel and began to flick it towards the camera, shouting for it to be turned off.