she says briskly, addressing the room again. ‘And while they’re doing their job, we carry on doing ours. We don’t just check Scott’s alibi for Faith, we also check his phone records to see if he really was at home the night Sasha disappeared. And we carry on running down Ashley Brotherton’s known associates, because right now, we haven’t ruled that out either. None of this is rocket science, people, so let’s just get on with it, shall we?’
* * *
The reconstruction is going ahead as soon as it gets dark; by the time Somer and Everett get to Cherwell Drive there’s already a considerable crowd along the pavement. The TV lights and cameras are set up and the bus company vehicle is parked up in a lay-by a hundred yards away. The driver is talking to a couple of uniformed officers.
Everett makes her way towards the BBC crew, but Somer stays where she is, scanning the faces of the bystanders, hoping Fiona Blake took her advice and hasn’t come. If Sasha had still been missing there’d be a point; but not now. Now, the only thing here for her is pain. And not just because she’s lost her daughter: Somer can see Jonathan Blake being interviewed on camera, and just behind him, the woman he must be living with now, rocking a small baby against her shoulder. Blake is speaking intently, a crease of earnest anxiety between his brows. And further away, behind the cameras, Sasha’s friends. Somer didn’t know if they were going to come – their parents were reluctant to agree, and the girls have been in such a state it was almost a cruelty to push it. But there’s no denying it could make all the difference: Isabel’s dip-dye, Patsie’s red leather jacket – either might prompt a memory. But as Somer knows full well, what makes sense for a police investigation is a whole lot different for the people who have to go through with it, especially if you’re fifteen and your best friend has just been horribly killed. Even from this distance Somer can see that Patsie is crying, and Isabel and Leah have their arms round each other. The girl who’s playing Sasha can’t be helping either. What with the clothes and the satchel and what they’ve done to her hair, the resemblance is unnerving. Thank God, thinks Somer again, that Fiona Blake didn’t come.
‘Erica?’
The voice is familiar, and Somer turns to find herself face to face with Faith Appleford. She’s pale and even thinner than she was the last time they met, but she looks calm, which in the circumstances is little short of a miracle.
‘I didn’t know you’d be here.’
‘We thought we should come. It just seemed the right thing to do.’ She shrugs. ‘It’s hard to explain.’
‘No, I understand,’ says Somer. ‘How are you? I’m so sorry we didn’t have the chance to talk more when I called you a couple of days ago –’
‘No, it’s OK,’ she says quickly. ‘I know you’re busy. And I’m doing much better. I know that sounds terrible after, you know, this.’ She flushes a little. ‘I guess I’m just realizing how lucky I was. How lucky I am.’
Somer gives her a sad smile. ‘You’re right – you are. Never forget that. You have such a great future ahead of you.’
She can see Diane Appleford too now, standing with Nadine just beyond the BBC van.
‘And even though all this is just horrible,’ says Faith softly, ‘at least it means that what happened to me – it can’t have been someone I know.’
Somer wants to agree, but she’s not sure she can. Right now, it feels like they’re back to square one.
The bus engine chugs suddenly into life, saving Somer from the need to reply. The bus door opens with a hiss and the two girls get in, first ‘Sasha’ then Isabel. Leah and Patsie are standing watching from the kerb, their eyes bright in the glare. A woman who must be Patsie’s mother reaches out and puts an arm round her daughter’s shoulders, but Patsie shakes her roughly away.
Somer turns back to Faith. ‘Do you mind if I ask you something?’
Faith shrugs. ‘Sure.’
‘I know you said it was possible it wasn’t a van you were taken in. Do you think it could have been some sort of car? Quite a small car, even?’
Faith’s eyes widen. ‘You think you know who it was?’
‘There is someone we’re talking to, but that’s all I can say right