‘Why not? Has she moved?’

‘Well, I wouldn’t know about that, because I haven’t seen her.’

‘But why not?’

Mary gazed at her solemnly. ‘I haven’t seen her since her baby died. It was a terrible tragedy. A cot death. There was nothing anyone could have done. These things happen – rarely, thank goodness. Of course, the poor woman was in a state. I tried to arrange some support for her, but she didn’t want to know. She sent us away with very firm instructions not to bother her again. I tried a couple of times, but she always turned me away. I had to accept there was nothing more I could do for her, and I haven’t seen her since.’

‘Are you sure she lost her baby?’

Mary gave her a strange look. ‘Of course I’m sure. It’s not the kind of thing you can forget. The poor woman was distraught. But, like I said, she didn’t want any help, at least not from me or any bereavement counsellor. I did try. Such a tragedy.’

‘A cot death?’ Geraldine repeated.

‘Yes, although Ella wasn’t exactly what you might call a fit mother,’ Mary replied. ‘She refused home visits and she smoked, although she emphatically denied it, and I’m sure she drank, and the baby was small for her age, and always sickly looking without actually being ill.’

Geraldine didn’t wait to hear any more. There was only a slim chance Ella might know where Daisy was, but it was still a chance. With Ella’s address stored on her phone, she logged a report and went to find Jessica’s friend. She waited for a few minutes on the doorstep but there was no answer so eventually she gave up and left, intending to return in the evening. If she still didn’t find Ella at home, she would return very early the following morning and keep trying until she tracked her down. Calling at the police station on her way, she went home to wait for Ian.

He was slightly less excited about Geraldine’s lead than she was.

‘Well done for managing to trace a friend of Jessica’s, but, really, so what? I’m not quite sure what you expect this woman to be able to tell us,’ he said. ‘It’s not as if we’re still looking for Jessica. We know where she is and we’ve heard everything she has to tell us. Is Ella likely to add anything that might help us find the missing baby, or work out who killed Jason? I’m sorry, but I can’t see where you’re going with this.’

Geraldine did her best to hide her disappointment at Ian’s lukewarm response to her painstaking detective work.