There is no response from behind him and the man calls out again. “George? Can you come here a minute?”
“What?” a disembodied male voice calls back.
The man sighs. “Just… come.”
Jane hears a loud groan and then a second later a beautiful boy appears. Stupidly tall—why are young men all so tall these days?—with black eyes peering out from beneath a dark blond fringe.
“These people are asking about Daisy Black.”
Jane’s heart jumps in her chest and she resists the urge to share a triumphant smile with Dexter.
The boy’s face brightens, and he nods. “Oh. Yeah. Daisy! I know Daisy. She’s like”—the boy points to the left with one long finger—“down there. In the end house.”
“Is she there now, do you think?”
“I don’t know. I mean, I think so. But like, yeah, I also haven’t seen her for a while.”
“Did you used to see her?”
“Well, yeah, like every day. We went to the same primary school. She was in the year below me. And then we went to different schoolsafter that. Didn’t see her as much, but we still hung out sometimes. We played Fortnite together. But yeah, now you say it, it’s been a while. I haven’t really seen her since lockdown. I think she might even have moved out?”
“Oh,” says Dexter, feigning disappointment.
“You could ask the guy who lives there. He might know?”
“Yeah. Right. I’ll try that. What’s his name?”
“Stuart? I think? He’s kind of like her stepdad? Or something. I can’t remember for sure. Anyway, he was, like, her primary carer. The mum was…” He squints and pulls at the back of his neck, awkwardly. “I don’t know really. Not around?”
“Is she still alive? Her mother?”
The man and the boy exchange a look, and the man sighs. “Who knows? That family”—the man shifts his glasses a little up the bridge of his nose—“was always a little strange. There were… rumors.”
The boy shifts awkwardly from one huge, socked foot to the other.
Dexter says, “I do remember her saying that things at home were difficult.”
“Well, I don’t know the ins and outs of it,” the man continues. “You want to stay clear of things like that, in a community like this. So close-knit, everyone cheek by jowl. You can go mad knowing everyone’s business. But one thing I do know is that that house is not somewhere I’d want to spend any time, and those people are not people I’d want as friends.”
“The parents?” Jane asks.
The man nods. “Well, her mother, mainly. I don’t remember ever seeing her father.”
The boy called George interjects. “Daisy liked that guy though—Stuart. I think he was the only one who really took care of her? I think they were quite close.”
Jane absorbs this unexpected observation. She had assumed that Stuart was the bad guy in relation to Daisy, the reason for her running away from home. But maybe it wasn’t that simple?
George continues. “We saw the police there a few years ago. During the first lockdown. They were there for, like, a long time. And I don’t know what it was. Daisy wouldn’t say. But, like, it felt really bad. The whole atmosphere. You know? And Daisy was—yeah, when I think about it now—she was like really different after that. Not as friendly?” George turns to Dexter. “How do you know her?” he asks.
“Oh,” Dexter replies. “We went to school together too. Waterside Academy?”
“Oh yeah. I remember. She was there till… I dunno—year eight or nine?”
“Yes.” Dexter nods. “And then she…”
“Left. Just after lockdown ended.”
Dexter nods. “That’s right. I remember that. And that’s when we lost touch.”
