Pulled down low.
ES: Was he white, black?
CC: Definitely white but that was about all. It all happened really quickly.
ES: What about the van – what do you remember about that?
* * *
‘And that’s it – that’s all?’
Somer shrugs. ‘Sorry.’
‘OK,’ says Baxter with a heavy sigh, ‘tell me again?’
‘It was a white van, with a logo on the side shaped like a shell.’
‘But no company name?’
Somer shakes her head. ‘Not that she saw. It all happened too quickly – I reckon we’re lucky she saw that much.’
‘And it was shell as in the petrol station?’
‘No, more like shell as in snail, she said.’
Baxter frowns. ‘There’s nothing like that on the CCTV from the garage, but I guess that doesn’t prove anything.’ He sighs again. ‘All right, leave it with me. I’m still drawing a blank on the password for Sasha’s laptop, so what the hell – why not alleviate the tedium with yet another hopeless and Herculean task.’
Somer smiles. ‘I’ll get you a tea.’
‘Three sugars,’ he calls to her retreating back. ‘And a Twix.’
* * *
Fiona is spooning cereal into bowls when she looks up to see Patsie at the kitchen door. She’s still in her pyjamas and has her phone in her hand. But that’s nothing unusual. She always has her phone in her hand. Like Sasha did –
Not ‘did’, she tells herself, ‘does’. Like Sasha does.
‘You want milk or yogurt on this, Pats?’
The girl shrugs. There are dark circles under her eyes and Fiona suppresses the urge to ask if she’s getting enough sleep. She’s not Patsie’s mum. Though sometimes, these last few months, she might as well be, the amount of time Patsie spends over here. Sasha hinted more than once that there might be a problem with Denise’s new boyfriend, and Fiona was in two minds about asking Patsie if that was true, but she didn’t want Denise to think she was interfering. And now – well, now she has more than enough troubles of her own.
She takes the bowls to the table and sits down. She isn’t hungry – hasn’t been hungry since it happened – but she’ll be no good to Sasha if she doesn’t eat. Something else she keeps telling herself. Along with how she’s going to cut down on the red wine as soon as Sash is back. It’ll be easy then, but today, this minute, it’s the only thing that takes the edge off. Patsie comes slowly to the table and slides on to a chair, then reaches for the carton of milk in the centre of the table. Fiona’s stillness must have communicated itself to her because she looks up and smiles, a weak, brave, sad little smile. Fiona feels the tears burn her eyes and reaches out and grips the girl’s hand. Thank God for you, she thinks. Thank God you’re here. Because if you weren’t, there’d be no one to stop me going over to the cupboard right this minute and opening another bloody bottle.
* * *
Everett is the only person in the ladies’ loo on the first floor, staring at her reflection in the mirror. There’s an odd distortion in the middle of her left eye that’s been getting worse ever since she left the flat. Not blurring or double vision – it’s more elusive than that. Almost as if there’s nothing there at all; even though that makes no sense and she couldn’t begin to describe what it looks like to someone else. But it’s like that, all the same. She’s never had a migraine before, but she’s guessing that’s what this must be. She doesn’t have a headache as such – not the Nurofen-grabbing kind anyway. No flashing lights either, just a vague but heavy sense of unease. There’s a noise at the door and Somer comes in. She smiles when she sees Ev, but something in her friend’s face brings her up short.
‘Are you all right?’
Everett does her best to smile. ‘Yeah, just feeling a bit off. Must have been that curry last night.’
Somer frowns a little; she can’t remember Everett ever eating curry. ‘You sure?’
Ev nods. ‘Absolutely. What about you, everything OK?’
Somer gives a wry smile. ‘Just dumped another crap job on poor old Baxter. He’s exacting intravenous confectionery by way of recompense.’
Everett manages a smile. ‘What is it this time?’
‘We just got a new witness who saw a white van on the Marston Ferry Road the morning Faith was abducted. She remembered it had some sort of logo but it isn’t giving Baxter