Page 87 of Making a Killing

‘So as at now we know that Daisy travelled here alone from Dublin on June 14th. We’re now checking whether Kate followed her, but we haven’t yet found any record of that. If Katedidcome here, there’s a possibility that she could be our unidentified victim at Hescombe. I suspect the dental implant is our best chance of establishing that one way or another.’

Bradley frowns. ‘You’d have thought this would be the last place either Daisy or Kate would come willingly. Even accounting for the fact that most teenagers think they’re invincible.’

‘I agree, so there must have been a good reason. We just have to find out what it was. We’re also investigating whether she and Kate have actually been north of the border in Ulster thiswhole time, which would explain why the Gardaí can’t find any trace of them. If that hunch proves right, we could make some decent progress reasonably quickly.’

He takes a breath. ‘The second new development is, of course, the aforementioned dental implant. Given what the pathologist sent through, I just wanted to check if anyone here has turned up any sort of American connection I’m not aware of? Maybe on the house-to-house?’

‘Nothing on the ones I attended, sir,’ says Bradley, ‘but I didn’t do all the calls. DC Holloway did some of them with DC Bell.’

Holloway looks up and frowns. ‘American?No way. Don’t remember anything like that.’

Fawley is still staring at him, and Holloway realizes, not quite quickly enough, that the DCI is expecting rather more than that. He scrabbles for his notebook, more to buy time than anything else, since he knows damn well he hardly bothered writing anything one could reasonably call a ‘note’. Where the hell is bloody Bell when you need him?

‘Here you go,’ he says after a moment. ‘We knocked at Goring House twice but there was no one in. We then spoke to Alison Hamilton at The Woodlands, Alistair Stirling at Tichborne Farm and a couple of members of staff at Hescombe Lodge. No Yanks.’

‘What about tourists – local hotels?’

‘Nah, nothing doing. No mysterious check-outs or moonlight flits, no one the right age.’ He snaps the book shut. ‘Nada.’

Bradley sees a flicker across Fawley’s face at that. But it could just be the crappy choice of phrase. That’s one thing you can always rely on with Holloway.

‘OK,’ says Fawley, ‘looks like we’ll just have to wait for the pathologist. But let me know if anything turns up.’

***

Adam Fawley

27 July 2024

12.57

I’m in the car when Quinn calls. In fact, I seem to be in the bloody car more than I’m out of it right now. And I don’t even like driving.

‘What is it?’

‘You said to call as soon as I’d spoken to the PSNI.’

‘And?’

‘It took a while to find the right person but I eventually got through to an Inspector O’Grady at the Tennent Street nick in Belfast – that’s the area where Madigan’s been living. I did a quick google and it looks like the area’s had its fair share of trouble –’

‘I suspect that’s also plural with a capital T.’

It takes him a moment, and then I feel like a smartarse. He’s probably mouthing ‘wanker’ at the phone right now.

‘She’s not on the public electoral roll,’ he continues, ‘which is presumably by choice, but there is a record of her paying rates. Seems they still have those over there – who knew. Anyway, she’s been renting a house in Ardoyne for the last five years, and judging by the council band it must be pretty damn small.’

The first thought that comes to mind now is ‘Daisy swapped North Oxford for that?’ There might have been a lot of things that were deprived about her life back then but the neighbourhood wasn’t one of them. And this was a child who clearly thought she deserved a great deal better, not a whole lot worse. How long was it before she realized her mistake?

‘Could they tell you anything else?’

‘Not really. The family aren’t on the police radar –’

‘Well, that figures. They wouldn’t want to be on anyone’s radar. What about Madigan?’

‘Working at a local primary school until a couple of years ago, but there’s no record of where she is now, andDaisy/Sabrina isn’t registered as a pupil anywhere and never has been, so it looks like Stillwell was right and she’s been homeschooled. I can’t see Madigan affording to go private.’

But then again, people will sacrifice almost anything for their kids. Especially a kid you’ve bet your whole life on.

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