Page 76

26 July 2024
12.15
Quinn and I are in the car, on speaker, and I’ve dialled the rest in. But what I have to say isn’t news, at least not to all of them. In the space of a single morning, we’ve got there. We’ve finally seen what was right there in front of us, in plain sight, the whole damn time.
‘It was the teacher,’ I say. ‘Kate Madigan. I can’t prove it, but from what Sharon just told us –’
‘No, you’re right,’ says Gis. ‘That little tyke Jamie had it all worked out, even back then. We just never thought to bloody ask him.’
‘I doubt he’d have told you,’ says Ev. ‘He loathed Barry and probably hated Sharon even more: she treated him like complete shit, from what I can remember. Can’t see him caring if she gotput away for something she didn’t do. He’d probably have positively enjoyed it.’
‘Erica – you spoke to the girls, what do you think? Madigan taught all three of them that term, not just Daisy. They knew her better than we ever did.’
I was about to call her Somer, out of sheer habit, but had to remind myself: she’s a civilian now.
‘Based on what I heard just now, sir –’
‘Adam’s fine – I’m not your boss any more.’
But evidently that’s a step too far, at least for now.
A tiny hesitation, then, ‘The girls made it clear to us there was a pretty intense connection between Daisy and Madigan. Not so much as to draw attention, clearly, or other teachers would have noticed –’
‘The kids did, all the same,’ says Ev thoughtfully. ‘Just a pity none of them thought to say anything at the time.’
‘Children that age can be very observant,’ I say, remembering things Jake would tell me, things he’d noticed that had completely passed me by. ‘Even if they don’t know that’s what they’re doing, and adults don’t take what they say seriously enough.’
‘I don’t think the girls said anything back then because they simply didn’t think it was odd,’ says Gis. ‘It was just a teacher’s pet thing – they’d seen it a hundred times before. It’s only now, looking back, that they can see it was all a bit too full-on. And let’s face it, Madigan would have workedseriouslyhard to keep the whole thing under the radar.’
‘And it worked, didn’t it?’ says Quinn drily. ‘She got away with it.’
‘So we’re talking Protector, not Predator?’ says Stillwell. ‘Dr Gow was wrong?’
‘Well, I get it that Daisy could have told Madigan she was miserable at home,’ says Ev. ‘Maybe even “confided” that Barry was abusing her. Madigan was a caring person, they’d developed a relationship, I can see she might have felt compelled to dosomething. Butthat? Actuallyabducther? When there were so many other things she could have done? Standard, non-illegal things.’
I know where she’s coming from; that’s been bugging me too.
‘I think there’s something we’re missing,’ I say. ‘But what that might be, I have no idea.’
‘So what now, sir?’ Sargent again.
‘I need to brief DSU Renshaw when I get back and then I’m going up to Hescombe, but in the meantime I’ve asked DI Quinn to look again at the physical and forensic evidence in the light of what we’ve discovered this morning. See if we’re right and Kate Madigan really could have framed Sharon. Baxter, I’d like you to follow up on Madigan herself: we know she left Kit’s at the end of that term, and if my memory’s serving me right, she was going back home to Ireland.’
‘That’s how I remember it too,’ says Ev.
‘Right, well, we need to check that. Speak to the school and find out if they know where she was going, and then check with the airlines to see if we can establish if and when she left.’
‘And whether she had anyone with her,’ says Stillwell quietly.
‘And while we’re at it, can we dig out a contact at the Gardaí– we may need their cooperation on extradition. Because whatever her motive may have been, if Kate Madigan took an eight-year-old out of this country without her parents’ consent, that’s child abduction, regardless of whether that eight-year-old wanted to go.’
***
They didn’t bother to see the police out, so when the front door banged shut they were all still there, in the kitchen. It was Linda who moved first, getting up and going to the sink, and startingto rinse random crockery that must have been piling up for days.
Jamie takes a deep draw and exhales slowly, his eyes on Dunlop. ‘You didn’t tell them, then.’
She doesn’t turn round. ‘Why the hell should I – it’s none of their sodding business.’