‘Yes, and it appears that Jason is not the father,’ Eileen replied, with a fierce nod at Geraldine. ‘Jessica never mentioned this to us.’

She gazed around the room, as the team absorbed this new information. No one said anything for a minute, but they must all have been thinking it was curious that neither Jessica nor her parents had told the police Jason was not the baby’s biological father. In all probability David and Anne were not aware of the truth, although if they were it might perhaps explain why they were so hostile in their comments about him.

‘So who was the father?’ Ariadne asked.

‘The father’s DNA isn’t on our database, so unless he comes forward, or Jessica shares that information with us, we have no way of knowing,’ Eileen told them.

‘He might not even be aware that he has a baby,’ Geraldine said. ‘Jessica might have had a casual affair and lost touch with Daisy’s biological father before she told him, or even before she discovered she was pregnant.’

‘I wonder if Jason knows the baby’s not his,’ Ian muttered.

The expression in his blue eyes was troubled, and his square jaw jutted out more than usual as he clenched his teeth. Geraldine guessed he was thinking about his own wife, and the father of his wife’s baby. But Bev had left Ian and gone to live with the father of her child. She hadn’t stayed with her husband and tried to pass the child off as his. Jessica might not have been so honest with Jason.

‘We don’t yet know if Jessica is aware that the baby is not Jason’s,’ Ariadne pointed out.

They urgently needed to find out what had passed between Jessica and Jason before their daughter’s disappearance. Reluctantly, Geraldine set off on her next task, to question Jessica about the father of her missing baby. It was likely to be a tricky interview, but the baby’s life might depend on what Geraldine managed to find out, and time could be running out for Daisy.

Jessica’s father, David, came to the door and frowned imperiously at Geraldine. She returned his gaze levelly. Noting his heightened colour and aggressive stance, she thought he might be prone to losing his temper, but she was aware that appearances could be misleading. It was possible he was a mild-mannered man who happened to be particularly irritated by her arrival. This impression seemed to be borne out by his first words.

‘If you’re from the local press, we don’t want to talk to you,’ he growled.

His expression altered when Geraldine held up her identity card, and he relaxed his hold on the front door while his expression became eager, almost pleading.