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‘If you’re asking about Trauma Bonding – or so-called “Stockholm Syndrome” – then it’s a possibility, yes, especially if there was a pre-existing relationship. But as for two collaborating perpetrators,’ he glances at Quinn then shakes his head as if confronted by a keen but hopelessly slow-witted pupil, ‘the likelihood of two people with such different proclivities coming together in a joint criminal enterpriseandmanaging to avoid detection for the best part of a decade, as you suggest, strikes me as the stuff of TV drama.’ He smiles drily. ‘I’ll do some research but, frankly, I can’t think of a single example.’
No one’s looking at Quinn, and it’s just as well Quinn can’t see himself. It’s not pretty.
‘So what would be your best guess, Bryan, based on where we are now?’
Gow settles his glasses on his nose. ‘I haven’t had time to review all my case notes, but I do remember the Mason family extremely well. Clearly, I was never able to observe Daisy herself, but the picture that emerged from other people’s accounts was of a child who was both highly manipulative and extremely intelligent – far more intelligent than either of her parents, and absolutely aware of that fact, even at the age of eight. At one point she had, indeed, been convinced that the only way to explain this lamentable disparity was that she had been adopted or even “stolen” from her real parents as an infant.’
He takes off his glasses now and starts to clean them. ‘And even though she’d been disabused of that misapprehension sometime before her disappearance, the idea that she “deserved” another, better life may have remained a powerful psychological urge.’
‘So she wanted a better life,’ says Baxter, ‘and thought this mysterious “family friend” could give it to her?’
Gow smiles again. ‘Exactly. If she did indeed go with someone she knew, she wouldn’t have seen it as an abduction. She’d have seen it as escape.’
‘You’re saying she could have gone along with it?’ says Sargent.
Gow raises an eyebrow. ‘I don’t know, of course, but I think it’s eminently feasible. Psychologically speaking, it’s entirely consistent with what we know of Daisy. A way to trade in her old unsatisfactory life for richer and greener pastures elsewhere. With the emphasis on richer.’
‘It would also explain why no one in the neighbourhood saw anything,’ says Gis. ‘That never made sense to me. It was one reason why we were so convinced it was Sharon – there was no way some stranger could have got a struggling child out of the house and into their car in broad daylight and no one even batted an eyelid.’
‘Even if she was drugged?’ asks Morris. ‘Something fast-acting like chloroform?’
Gis shakes his head. ‘He’d still have had to carry her.’ He turns to Gow. ‘I agree with you – far more likely that Daisy just left quietly of her own accord and closed the door behind her. In every sense.’
‘And bear in mind,’ says Gow, ‘that depending on what Daisy told them, the adult in question might not have been a sexual predator at all, but someone who genuinely saw themselves as saving her from abuse or neglect. Classic White Knight Syndrome.’
‘But do you really think she could have left her whole family, just like that?’ Another new DC, a woman this time. ‘Without a single glance back, not even now, when she’s old enough tounderstand the consequences? Not least the fact that her own mother is serving a life sentence for something she clearly didn’t do?’
‘Actually,’ I say, ‘knowing what I know of her, I think it’s eminently possible. If any child that age could have colluded with her own disappearance, it was her.’
‘So someone who knew the family,’ says Ev, ‘and with access to a vehicle.’
‘I hope she held out for the chauffeur-driven Rolls,’ says Baxter drily. ‘S-Classes are so downmarket.’
Which is, of course, funny, but not funny at all, and I’m not laughing, even though one or two of them are.
‘And not just that,’ I say. ‘It had to be someone capable of putting this whole complicated plan together. Someone we never identified, who managed to stay completely under the radar, not just then but in the eight years since. That takes some doing.’
‘Not to mention balls,’ says Baxter under his breath.
‘Indeed,’ says Gow. ‘And for the record, in my view, Predator is far more likely than Protector.’
A small mischievous part of my brain is wondering if the alliteration was pre-prepared. TV just loves that stuff.
He looks round the room, holding their attention. ‘Daisy might havethoughtshe was being “rescued” – even congratulated herself for being so clever – but her abductor could have had quite another outcome in mind. Deception is such people’s stock-in-trade.’
Gis’s face is grim. ‘You’re saying she was groomed.’
Gow nods. ‘Yes. That’s exactly what I’m saying.’
***
Phone interview with Amy Sterne, Professor of Folklore Studies, University of Macclesfield
25/07/2024, 3.17 p.m.
On the call, DS T. Bradley, South Mercia Police
AS:Hello – Amy Sterne.