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‘You didn’t say you were coming back.’
‘I’m sorry, Jean, something came up. Is Gary home?’
She hesitates, evidently in two minds whether to let them in, but decency wins out; she isn’t going to lie. And in any case, they can hear the sounds of crowd chanting even from here.
‘He’s watching TV with Phil. It’s only a friendly but it’s Chelsea. His team.’
She turns and they follow her into the sitting room, where Gary’s spawled on the sofa, the dog’s head on his lap, eating crisps. Phil’s sat forward in the armchair, remonstrating loudly with the referee and shaking his fist at the screen. Ev feels like a complete cow.
‘Phil, the police are here.’ Her tone is enough. Both look up at once. Phil gets to his feet and Gary straightens up, shooting a look of alarm at Jean.
‘I’m sorry to barge in,’ says Ev. ‘This is a pain, I know, but we just need a quick word with Gary.’
‘What’s it about?’ Phil now.
‘Like I was saying to Jean, something’s come up and we just need to check it out. Make sure we haven’t got the wrong end of the stick.’
Phil picks up the remote and mutes the TV. ‘Go on, then.’
‘Maybe we could sit down?’
‘I thought you said it was a “quick” word?’
It’s not exactly hostile, but it’s definitely uncomfortable.
Sargent elects to take the initiative and takes a seat on the far end of the sofa. Ev squeezes next to the dog, and one way or another they’re all sitting down.
‘So what’s this about?’ asks Jean. Gary, Ev notices, is avoiding eye contact.
‘Gary, last time we were here, you gave us the impression that you hadn’t even thought about Daisy for a long time. But that wasn’t quite right, was it?’
Silence. Gary is bent over, rubbing Basil’s ears.
‘Gary?’ says Jean. ‘What does she mean?’
Ev turns to her. ‘Something’s come up in the investigation. It turns out that someone had started looking into Daisy’s case. Her name was Robin Tierney and she was working for a production company in America. They were thinking of making a TV series about it.’
Jean is looking increasingly uneasy and Ev’s heart is aching for her. She doesn’t deserve this.
Phil clears his throat. ‘Even if they were, what has that got to do with Gary?’
Ev tries to catch his eye but he’s still looking down. ‘Gary? Do you want to tell your dad?’
But he’s still petting the dog. It is, as Ev now realizes, his ‘tell’.
‘OK,’ says Ev with a heavy heart. ‘Then I will. Robin was in this country in June. She was planning to see everyone involved in the case. Including Gary.’
Jean lifts her chin. ‘Well, she never came here. I’ve never heard of her.’
‘The production company have given us her research material. It includes both emails and audio recordings.’
Phil frowns. ‘When was this?’
Sargent checks her notes. ‘June 9th. The afternoon of Sunday 9th.’
Phil turns to Jean. ‘Wasn’t that the day we –’ but Jean flashes a look at him and the sentence peters out.
‘So what does it say?’ she says, her hand flapping agitatedly. ‘Thismaterial–’