“Thank you, Mr Tyler. You’ve all been so kind to us. It’s helped enormously to know that somebody cares,” she said, her eyes never leaving his.
Jack bent down until his face was at the same level as April’s. He slowly held out his right hand, smiling as he spoke. “You must be April. My name’s Jack. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
As he spoke the girl drew back, seeking refuge behind her grandmother’s legs. Jack gazed up at Rita, seeking guidance.
“April’s not too comfortable around men,” Rita explained with great sadness. “I’m afraid she hasn’t had much reason to trust them so far.” She didn’t add that Tracey had gone through a phase of bringing clients back to the flat whenever Rita was out; or that she used to lock April, often crying, always frightened, in her bedroom while she entertained them. Rita had found out about this practice by pure chance when her next-door neighbours called round one evening to complain. They had threatened to call in the police and social services unless it stopped.
Tracey had been out at the time, and Rita had waited up half the night for her to return, confronting her with the accusation the moment she stepped through the door. Tracey denied it, of course, but little April had, by that stage, told her nanny the shocking truth about the ‘bad days’, as the girl referred to them; days when she was repeatedly locked in the tiny room for hours at a time.
It was the very last straw for Rita. Tracey could ruin her own life if she wanted, Rita couldn’t stop that, but she wasn’t going to let her drag a poor defenceless child down into the gutter with her.
Rita had laid into her daughter over her cruel and reprehensible behaviour; she had threatened to throw her out, there and then. Shocked by the unexpected ferocity of her mother’s wrath, the like of which she had never seen before, Tracey tearfully swore that she was sorry and that it would never happen again. Irrespective of how genuine her remorse seemed at the time, Rita had learned the hard way that she couldn’t rely on the word of an addict, and so she had never left the child alone with her mother again.
Jack stood up slowly, still smiling tenderly down at the little girl who continued to cling to the one person she knew she could trust. “April, honey, not all men are bad. I hope that one day we can be friends.” He wanted to reach out and touch her, to show her that he, at least, was sincere, but it didn’t seem appropriate. The girl studied him closely for a moment, weighing him up, perhaps, before ducking back behind Mrs Phillips legs.
“And this is Tim Barton, one of my finest officers. He runs the office for me. If you ever need to speak to anyone urgently, and you can’t get hold of Kelly or me, then you can trust Tim implicitly,” Jack said.
“Hello, Mrs Phillips,” Barton said, offering his hand. Barton excused himself as soon as the introductions were completed. He needed to get into the court to set up a table with his papers, in readiness for the hearing.
“Can we talk?” Jack asked as tactfully as he could. He glanced down at April as he spoke.
Rita Phillips nodded, understanding that he meant alone, without the child.
“Of course.” Her voice sounded brittle, betraying the stress she was trying to conceal from her granddaughter.
He watched as she turned to the child. “April, darling, I’m just going to have a quiet chat with Mr Tyler. Will you be okay sitting here with Kelly? Will you look after her for me until I get back in a few minutes?”
April glanced up at Jack, a deep frown of uncertainty creasing her young brow. Then she looked across at Kelly, who immediately smiled at her. She finally returned her gaze to Rita, staring at the old woman with those big trusting eyes for a long moment before nodding. She sat down next to Kelly, releasing Rita’s hand with great reluctance.
Jack guided Rita a few paces away before speaking. He continued to glance back at the child, noting that she seemed happy enough with Kelly Flowers. “Rita, I know that this is a very trying time for the two of you, and I want you to know that you can call us at any time if you need to. Do you understand what is going to happen today?”
“Yes, I think so. Kelly explained it to me on the way over; at least she tried to. It can be difficult to talk freely about such things with a child around.”
“Well, there’s not too much to it, really. The law requires that the inquest is opened as soon as possible, but this will be a straightforward decision for the Coroner, who will rule that Tracey was unlawfully killed by a person, or persons, unknown.” Jack paused, considering his next words carefully. “Look, Rita, the medical details are not very nice. I need to warn you about that before we go inside. I –”
She raised a hand to cut him off. “I know, I know.” She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Those dreadful murders in Whitechapel were plastered all over the TV yesterday. I’m not senile, so I can guess exactly what happened to my poor baby. And don’t forget that I saw her in the morgue when I … when I had to identify her.” Her voice quivered and the colour completely drained from her face. A solitary tear ran down her cheek, and she turned away from him.
Tyler placed a
