Finding Jennifer Jones (6 page)

Kate looked at Julia. Had she volunteered the information? Or had the police gone to her?

“Did you see or speak to this young girl on Friday evening?”

Kate shook her head, angry now. “You’re asking me this because of something I did when I was ten years old?”

“Partly. But there is more.”

Kate frowned, puzzled.

“The police were told that the victim, Jodie Mills, had gone swimming. The initial search for her took place around the water and along the shore. It was only on Saturday morning, more than twelve hours after she went missing, that we began to search the general area of Sandy Bay. Her body was discovered later that day. She was fully dressed. When her clothes were examined we found something very interesting. In the pocket of her jeans was a badge shaped like a teddy bear. It was a tourist office badge and it had your name on it, Kate.”

“What?”

“How did your badge get into the pocket of the dead girl, Kate?”

Kate had no answer.

Eight

Kate was sitting in the passenger seat of Julia’s car, which was parked behind the police station. In her hand she had a tissue which she was shredding. She stared out of the window. Julia was standing by the exit doors making a phone call, no doubt checking that her sons, Justin and Peter, were OK. A police car was idling nearby, blocking the lane as a uniformed officer emerged from the building and jumped into the car, hardly closing the door before it shot off.

If Kate had been a smoker she would have had a cigarette.

Instead she bunched up the shreds of tissue and shoved them into her pocket.

DI Heart had been called from the interview on a pressing matter so they had been told to go home and wait to be called back into the station for more questions. Kate had walked from the room in a daze. In her head had been an image of the teddy bear badge that had been found in Jodie Mills’ jeans pocket. Kate remembered it. Aimee had wanted them to wear these badges so that the shop seemed more child friendly; teddy bears, monkeys, dogs, tigers. Her name had been printed under it in a child-friendly font,
Kate
.

Julia got back into the car and started the engine.

“Let’s get going,” she said, brusquely.

As the car pulled out of the car park Kate wondered where DC Simon Kelsey was. Was he regaling other officers with his story about picking up Jennifer Jones?
I told her what I thought of all this new identity rubbish!
She looked back at the windows of the station. There were only a couple and they were opaque. At least he hadn’t been grinning down at her. What would he say when he heard that Kate’s badge had been in the pocket of the dead girl? Perhaps he already knew. Maybe that was why he had been so nasty to her.

How had the badge got there? The question made Kate feel panicky. How could it be explained?

Her phone vibrated and she took it out of her pocket. It was a text from Sally.

What am I supposed to do with this bread?

It was gone six. Sally was home from work. No doubt Ruth and Robbie were there too. They would be wondering why she hadn’t finished baking the bread as she’d said she would. She tapped out a message.

Bake the bread at 220C for 30 mins then let it rest on a tray x

She left it at that. Sally would just think she’d gone to a pub somewhere.

The drive back was slow, the evening traffic stopping and starting as it headed out of Exeter.

“It’ll be all right,” Julia said. “There’ll be some explanation for the badge.”

“It’s not just about the badge though, is it? It’s because of what I did when I was ten years old.”

“This is just normal procedure for the police. Talking to you is just a box-ticking exercise for them.”

“Except for the badge,” she said.

The badge; since working at the tourist information centre she had had a couple of new badges every week. They were made of card but they weren’t robust. They creased and flopped and eventually looked grotty.

“I am telling the truth.”

“Of course you are, Kate. I never doubted it.”

“Was it you who told the police about me?”

“They have their own databases of known criminals,” Julia said, clearing her throat.

Known criminal.
That’s what Kate was.

“They contacted me. I thought you might need a friendly face there, that’s why I went along.”

Now she felt guilty for misjudging Julia.

She’d
been judged though. For something she hadn’t done. She’d been subjected to an interrogation. She felt a deep sense of injustice and yet she, Kate Rickman, had no right to remonstrate. She had a record involving violence against another child. She’d been in the area at the time Jodie Mills was killed. Something of hers was found on the child. The police would have been failing in their duty if they hadn’t picked her up.

It didn’t make her feel any better.

Julia dropped her off near the esplanade.

“I can walk from here,” she said.

“Call me if you hear from the police again. If I’m free I’ll come with you.”

Kate nodded and watched the car drive off, Julia reaching across to turn on the radio as she went, clearly already forgetting about Kate and her troubles.

She didn’t know what to do. If she went home, Ruth and Sally would be there, chatty and relaxed, and she couldn’t imagine herself sitting down to a meal, laughing about the uncooked bread, keeping the details of her afternoon to herself. Neither did she want to go up to her room and sit by herself. She needed to be out, in the air, near the sea, and yet she couldn’t face the beach.

She walked off towards the docks. When she got there it was busy, the bars and restaurants packed with customers, most sitting at tables outside. Some people were lounging on decks of boats, some idling along the dock, looking at maps and talking to boat owners.

The docks were not her favourite place. The seawater looked black and the boats seemed to crowd the marina, like a shopping centre car park. Everything was concrete and sharp edges and the people there were dressed up to the nines. They talked loudly and looked like they were shopping for things; drinks, partners, boats, status. The beach was such a contrast. People seemed relaxed there, watching the water edge up to the land and slip away again. Even adults played in the sea and the sand, regardless of how foolish they made themselves look. The beach was a soft place. She looked round at the crowds, faces caked with make-up and hard young men posing at the edges of the tables, and she was reminded of DI Simon Kelsey. She pictured him standing there, a bottle of beer in his hand, talking loudly to anyone who would listen.
So this ex-con is taking her degree and ‘Putting her life back together’ and we’re paying for it!

She decided to go home.

“Hi, Kate!” a voice said.

She turned round.

It was the boy whose bed she’d slept in on Saturday, Jimmy Fuller. He was wearing jeans and a sleeveless T-shirt and carrying a bag over his shoulder.

“What you doing here?” he said.

“I was just… I was just walking. You?”

“I was just passing through. I came off the ferry. I’ve got a mate who lives over there.”

He hooked his thumb in the direction of the Starcross ferry terminal.

“I’m glad I’ve seen you,” he went on. “I was going to give you a call later.”

For a second he seemed to falter. Then he put his hand in his pocket and pulled something out. His held his palm out to her. In it was a gold chain with a flat heart pendant.

“You left this behind. I found it in my bed.”

He whispered the words
in my bed
.

She took it from him. It had been given to her in a previous life by Frankie. She’d recently started to wear it again. She hadn’t noticed that it was gone.

“The chain is broken. You can have it fixed though. The odd thing is that it’s got a name engraved on it,
Alice
. I wasn’t sure if it was yours.”

Kate looked at the letters. They were in italics, soft on the eye.

“So, is it yours?” Jimmy said.

“Why?” she said, smiling. “Might you have had a girl called
Alice
sleeping in your bed during the last week?”

She took the chain and tucked it into her jeans pocket.

“I only allow one strange girl a week in my bed.”

“Good rule of thumb that. Thanks for the pendant. I must go though. I’ve got some bread proving at home.”

“You make bread?” he said, looking at her with surprise.

“I do. I’m a good cook.”

“So am I!” he said. “Why don’t you come back to mine. I was planning to make some food.”

“Any homemade bread?”

“No, but I’ve got other things that will make up for that.”

“Well, in that case,” she said.

“So what do I call you?” Jimmy said, as they walked away from the docks. “Kate or Alice?”

“Kate. Definitely.”

Nine

The kitchen had improved. There were no dirty dishes anywhere and most of the work surface had been tidied. Jimmy gave her a cold beer from the fridge and unpacked the bag he’d had with him. He placed a pile of DVD box sets on the kitchen table.

“This guy I know in Starcross? He’s a big crime fan as well and we swap.”

Kate let her eye run over the box sets. One crime series after another. A couple she recognised from television but most she’d never heard of.

“Classic US crime drama. Some of these are hard to get hold of,” he said.

“Is this what you’re doing your MA in?”

“No! Early twentieth-century literature.”

“Oh. Sounds heavy.” It wasn’t what she’d expected him to say.

“Not really. It’s all about shaking off the shackles of the Victorians and coping with the new century. Social and cultural changes. And then there’s the coming war.”

Kate felt a moment’s envy. During her first year at university she’d become immersed in early twentieth-century history and had decided that she would do an MA on
The Growth of Feminism in the Pre-War Years.
She’d thought about it for months and even spoke to her tutor about it but somewhere, during the last year, the interest seemed to slip away.

A half-dressed young man suddenly appeared. He mumbled something and walked through heading for the bathroom, a giant towel over his shoulder. Just then loud music came from above as well as the sound of doors banging.

“That’s Tony,” Jimmy said, pointing up to the ceiling. “And that was Col going into the bathroom.”

“Just three of you live here?”

“There was a fourth. Becky, my ex-girlfriend. She moved out a couple of months ago. It’s OK. I was upset at the time but I’m fine now.”

“Right.”

“She’s involved in a six-month archaeology project on some island north of Scotland. We’ve sublet her room to Karen, a girl who’s down here for the summer. She has a job in one of the gift shops. But Becky will be coming back at Christmas. I’m looking after some of her stuff.”

“But it’s over between you.”

“Definitely. Over. Just good friends. Now I’m going to make stir fry,” he said. “This is a five-star recipe.”

“Really?”

“I know what you’re thinking,” Jimmy said. “Because I’m male I can’t cook.”

“No, not at all.”

“Cooking is important to me. I never buy ready meals. I make everything from scratch. No additives but proper ingredients.”

Kate smiled at him. He was so earnest. He looked as though he was waiting for her approval.

“Is something wrong? Are you laughing at me?”

“No.”

“I’m not that good with girls. I haven’t had much experience.”

“You seemed pretty determined on Saturday night.”

“But we didn’t do anything. I told you…”

“I know. I didn’t mean
that
. I meant in the pub. You stuck with me for a long time.”

“Well… I…. I liked you… Actually, you don’t remember but we did meet before. At a party in Exeter. I chatted to you for a while but you were a little drunk. Then you disappeared so…”

“I’m sorry, I don’t remember  … ”

“But you know me now!”

He busied himself cleaning the inside of the wok with paper towel and then started to chop vegetables. She thought about what he’d said about his ex-girlfriend. She’d gone to
some island
north of Scotland. Kate was certain that he knew the name of the island and maybe even her address off by heart. He was still hurting, she was sure. She felt a surge of sympathy for him.

“What about you? Where do you come from? Not round here, I can tell by your accent,” he said.

“I’m from Norwich. My parents split and my mum remarried. I don’t get on with my stepdad so I tend to stay round here in the holidays.”

Kate said it off pat. She’d told many people versions of this history over the last two years.

“Do you still see your dad?”

Kate shook her head. It was the truth. She had never seen her biological father.

“So you’re on your own. Brothers? Sisters?”

“Just me. I’m happy that way. I have friends here. I’ll probably stay here after I finish my degree.”

He nodded and threw two handfuls of vegetables into the wok. It made a loud sizzling sound. It smelled good. She realised she was very hungry. She ran her fingers through her hair and felt the knots in it.

“I just need to brush my hair,” she said, grabbing her bag, standing up.

“Col’s in the bathroom. Use my room. It’s pretty tidy.”

She walked into Jimmy’s bedroom. The blinds were up and the room was full of light. It looked much bigger than it had on Sunday morning. It was tidier but not tidy. The duvet had been straightened but there were still bumps in it, probably covering T-shirts or underwear that had been discarded. Boys
never
made their beds neatly. She sat down on the corner of the bed and angled her face so that she could see into a mirror that was on the wall. She pulled the brush through her hair, pausing when she got to the knots, teasing them out.

She realised she hadn’t thought about the police for a while. It was all there in her head, the interrogation, the teddy bear badge, but it wasn’t at the
front
of her mind. She felt
relaxed
and remembered Julia’s words,
There’ll be some explanation for the badge.
Maybe she was right.