‘Whoever it was – who killed Daisy – was it just luck they came here the day the waste was being collected? Or was there some way they could have known?’
Quinn looks back at Heston, who shrugs. ‘We leaflet the whole area every time there’s likely to be worse noise than usual. Doesn’t stop the complaints, but at least they can’t claim they weren’t informed.’
‘So that would cover the demolition work?’
‘Sure. That’s one of the noisiest jobs. The leaflets went out the end of the previous week. Everywhere within a mile radius of the site.’
‘Including Canal Manor?’
‘You kidding? We get more complaints from them than anywhere else.’
*
At 1.00 Quinn calls from the site to update me. ‘We had a closer look at the security barrier before we left. And I was right – on the far side, where they attached the panels to the car-park fence, it’s just held together with cable ties. And someone definitely got in that way – all the ties have been cut through. No one noticed because the whole area’s overgrown with brambles and whoever did it just pushed the panel back where it was before. And I’ll bet my mortgage that’s where those red stains we found on the gloves came from. I’ve got blackberry juice all over my sodding suit.’
I smile. I shouldn’t, but I do.
‘I’m going to drive to Swindon now,’ he says. ‘It doesn’t sound good, but I need to see for myself.’
‘You want forensics to meet you there?’
‘Not yet, boss. Let’s wait and see if there’s something for them to find first.’
‘OK, I’ll send Everett to cover for you at the crossing.’
I lose him then as a train goes past in a shriek of hot white noise. Then, ‘Any news from Gislingham?’
I sigh. ‘I left a message. But no, no news.’
‘Poor bastard. Let’s hope that’s a good sign.’
I hope so too, but my heart fears otherwise.
*
Interview with Barry Mason, conducted at St Aldate’s Police Station, Oxford
25 July 2016, 1.06 p.m.
In attendance, DI A. Fawley, DC A. Baxter, Miss E. Carwood (solicitor)
AF: For the purposes of the tape, Mr Mason has just been arrested on suspicion of the murder of his daughter, Daisy Elizabeth Mason. Mr Mason has been made aware of his rights. So, Mr Mason, am I correct in assuming that someone in your profession would own a wide variety of Personal Protective Equipment?
BM: Yeah, what of it?
AF: We discovered a jacket, hard hat and safety boots in the back of your pick-up, and there were several similar items in your house.
BM: And?
AF: Do you own gloves of that type as well?
BM: Couple of pairs.
AF: Could you describe them?
BM: What, are you an insurance assessor now?
AF: Humour me, Mr Mason.
BM: I had one black pair, and one that was orange and grey. Satisfied?
AF: I have to tell you that a pair of orange and grey gloves was found yesterday in a skip on the Loughton Road.
BM: So?
AF: Tests on those gloves prove conclusively that you had been wearing them. Do you know how they got there, Mr Mason?
BM: No bloody idea. I can’t even remember the last time I saw them.
AF: So you didn’t put them in that skip yourself, on the afternoon of Tuesday 19th July?
BM: Of course I didn’t. What is this?
AF: And did you seek to conceal your identity as you did so by wearing other items of protective clothing?
BM: This is crazy. That was the day of the party - I didn’t have time, never mind anything else. And why the hell go to all that bother for a pair of sodding gloves?
AF: Because you wore those gloves to dispose of your daughter’s body, and that’s how they ended up covered with her blood.
BM: Hang on a minute – what do you mean, her blood? Are you telling me you’ve found her? Why the bloody hell didn’t someone tell me –
EC: [interjecting]
Is this true, Inspector? Have you found Daisy?
AF: Not as yet. But we believe we know now where your client disposed of her body. Because the gloves he dumped in Loughton Road bear traces of a special type of aggregate. So special, in fact, that he knew they would lead us straight to where he’d buried her.
BM: [to Miss Carwood]
Is this for real?
EC: May I have a moment to confer with my client?
AF: Take all the time you need. Interview terminated at 13.14.
*
At the level crossing, the rain thickens suddenly from drizzle to downpour. Everett stops her car just outside the gate and leans over to the back seat for her waterproof. Even though the sky to the north is still a brilliant blue, the clouds are as dark as November overhead, and the wind is flaying the summer trees. It looks like the search teams have just started: one group is going through the stack of old wheelbarrows and garden junk, and the others are doing a fingertip search of the strip leading from the gate to the site of the waste heap. They definitely got the short straw: the rain is already turning the ground to orangey sludge.
She gets out and turns her collar up against the wet. A train is coming towards them from Oxford station, the passengers peering out of the misted windows at the police cars, the white-suited forensics team, the whole goddam circus. A teenager in one of the carriages is taking photos on his phone. Everett just hopes Fawley remembered to brief the press office.
There’s a shout then, above the din of the train. By the time Everett draws level a forensics officer is gently dislodging something from under the rusted wheels of one of the wheelbarrows. It’s so filthy it’s hard to tell what it is, but then he opens it out and they can all see. Two bedraggled sleeves, shiny buttons, some sort of bobble effect round the neck.
‘That’s a girl’s cardigan,’ says Everett slowly. ‘Daisy had one of those. It was round her shoulders that day, on the CCTV. The last time anyone saw her.’
*
BBC Midlands Today
Monday 25 July 2016 | Last updated at 15:28
BREAKING NEWS: Father arrested in Daisy Mason disappearance
A statement from Thames Valley CID has just confirmed that Barry Mason has been arrested in connection with his daughter’s disappearance. Daisy, 8, was last seen a week ago, and in the last few days there has been growing speculation that a member of her family may have been involved. Sources close to the investigation say that Mason, involved. Sources close to the investigation say that Mason, 46, will be charged with murder, and another unconnected offence, believed to be of a sexual nature. A further statement will be issued tomorrow morning, when details will be given of the charges. It is not clear as yet whether Daisy’s body has been found.
The Mason family are thought to be in hiding after an arson attack on their home last week. This has been connected with the hate campaign being waged against them on social media.
*
15.46
Richard Robertson @DrahcirNostrebor
So it was the father after all – must have been abusing her, poor little cow #DaisyMason
15.56
Anne Merrivale @Annie_Merrivale_
This whole #DaisyMason thing is just so horrible. I hope they lock up her father and throw away the key #Justice4Daisy
15.57
Caroline Tollis @ForWhomtheTollis
@Annie_Merrivale_ Have the police said if they’ve found a body? I can’t find anything online #DaisyMason
15.59
Anne Merrivale @Annie_Merrivale_
@ForWhomtheTollis I’ve not seen anything either. OH says they don’t necessarily need a body if they can meet the test for ‘presumption of death’
16.05
Caroline Tollis @ForWhomtheTollis
@Annie_Merrivale_ They must have some sort of evidence then. Something conclusive the father won’t be able to challenge #DaisyMason
16.06
Anne Merrivale @Annie_Merrivale_
@ForWhomtheTollis. I still keep wondering if someone cd have offered her a lift home? Someone she knew and only found out later she couldn’t trust?
16.07
Caroline Tollis @ForWhomtheTollis
@Annie_Merrivale_ But it’d have to have been someone Daisy would have gone away with and there just isn’t anyone like that in the frame . . .
16.08