then. I thought it was your job to analyse the bastard who killed my daughter, not us.’
‘I’m Tony Hill, Mrs Maidment. I’m here so I can learn a bit more about Jennifer.’
‘You’re a bit late for that.’ She subsided into the nearest chair. Her face was a mask of perfectly applied make- up but her hair was tangled and unkempt. ‘A bit late to get to know my lovely girl.’ Her voice trembled a little under the careful articulation.
‘And I’m very sorry about that,’ Tony said. ‘Maybe you can help me. How would you describe her?’
Tania Maidment’s eyes grew moist. ‘Beautiful. Clever. Kind. That’s what everyone says about their dead child, isn’t it? But it was true about Jennifer. She was no trouble. I’m not stupid enough to say things like “we were each other’s best friend” or “we were like sisters”, because we weren’t. I was her parent, her mother. Mostly, we got on. Mostly she told me what she was doing and who she was doing it with. Nine days ago I’d have said she always told me. But obviously I was wrong. So I might have been wrong about all the other stuff too. Who knows any more?’
Maidment raised his head, tears sparkling on his cheeks. ‘She was all of those things. And more too. We dreamed of a child like Jennifer. Bright, talented, good fun. And that’s what we got. A dream daughter. And now the dream’s gone, and it’s worse than if it had never come true.’
There was a long silence. Tony could find nothing to say that didn’t seem banal. It was Ambrose who broke the moment. ‘There’s nothing we can do to bring Jennifer back, but we are determined to find the person who killed her. That’s why Dr Hill’s here.’
Grateful for the way in, Tony said, ‘I know you’ve already spoken to the police, but I wanted to ask you what Jennifer said about RigMarole. How she talked about it, what she said she used it for.’
‘She went on about it for ages,’ her mother said. ‘You know that thing they do, teenagers? “Mum, everybody’s got—” whatever it is. And you ask around and actually, nobody has whatever it is, they’re all just desperate to get it. She was like that with RigMarole, dying to have her own account. Claire was the same. I spoke to her mum and we talked it over with the girls. We said they could both have an account, provided that they installed all the privacy controls.’
‘Which they did,’ Maidment said bitterly. ‘And that lasted for a matter of days. Just long enough for us all to be convinced they were being responsible about it.’
‘They were being responsible as they saw it, Paul,’ Tania said. ‘They just didn’t understand the risks. You don’t at that age. You think you’re invulnerable.’ Her voice crashed and broke, catching in her throat like a crumb going down the wrong way.
‘Did she ever say anything that suggested there might be something going on that made her uncomfortable with Rig?’
The both shook their heads. ‘She loved it,’ Maidment said. ‘She said it was like it opened the world up for her and Claire. And of course, we all assumed that was in a good way.’
‘Had she ever met anyone previously that she’d got to know online?’
Maidment shook his head and Tania nodded. ‘You never said anything about that,’ he said, the accusation inescapable.
‘That’s because it was completely innocuous,’ Tania said. ‘Her and Claire met up with a couple of girls from Solihull. They went for an afternoon out at Selfridges in Birmingham. I spoke to the mother of one of the girls beforehand. They had a good laugh and said they’d do it again.’
‘When was this?’ Tony asked.
‘About three months ago.’
‘And it was just the four of them? You’re sure of that?’
‘Of course I am. I even asked Claire again. After you lot started going on about RigMarole. She swore there had been nobody else involved.’
But someone else could have electronically eavesdropped the arrangements. There could have been a fifth pair of eyes taking in everything they did. It would have taken a crueller man than Tony to voice those thoughts. ‘Jennifer sounds like a very sensible girl.’
‘She was,’ Tania said softly, her fingers stroking the arm of her chair as if it were her daughter’s hair. ‘Not in a boring, goody-two-shoes way. She had too much spirit for that. But she knew the world could be a dangerous place.’ Her face crumpled. ‘She was so precious to us. Our only child. I made sure she understood that there were times when it made sense to be cautious.’
‘I understand that,’ Tony said. ‘So what would entice her to meet someone in secret? What would make her ignore her good sense and meet a stranger? What would tempt her so much she had to lie to her best friend? I mean, we all lie to our parents from time to time, that’s the way the world works. But teenage girls don’t lie to their best mates without a very pressing reason. And I’m struggling to think what that might be. Was there anything - anything at all - that Jennifer wanted so badly she’d throw caution and good sense out of the window?’
The Maidments looked at each other, nonplussed. ‘I can’t think of anything,’ Tania said.
‘What about boys? Could there have been somebody she was infatuated with? Somebody who could have persuaded her to keep him secret?’
‘She’d have told Claire,’ Tania said. ‘I know they talked about the boys they fancied. Telling Claire wouldn’t have counted as breaking a promise.’
She was probably right, he thought. What she was describing was standard operating procedure for females, particularly teenagers. Tony got to his feet. There was nothing more for him there. The police had already searched Jennifer’s room. It would be too disturbed now to tell him anything useful. ‘If you think of anything, call me,’ he said, handing Paul Maidment a card with his mobile number. ‘Or if you just want to talk about Jennifer. I’m happy to listen.’ The Maidments both looked nonplussed at the abrupt ending to the conversation. Tony thought they probably expected an extended outpouring of compassion. But what would be the point of that? He couldn’t make them feel better, even if they wanted to. Still, Tania Maidment wasn’t taking anything lying down right now.
‘That’s it?’ she said. ‘Five minutes of your precious time and you’re out of here? How the hell can you have learned anything about my daughter in five minutes?’
