The House Sitter

this?”

He took his time over the question. That day on the beach had been obscured by more vivid recent experiences. “She was there most of the day. Arrived not long after we did, around eleven thirty, I suppose.”

“Alone?”

“Sure. There was no one with her.”

“Do you remember what she was carrying?” Hen asked.

“She had a windbreak with her, blue, I think. The first thing she did was put it up.”

“Any kind of bag?”

“I guess she must have had one, but I don’t remember any when we moved her. My wife is better at remembering stuff like that. Well, when she’s OK she is.”

“Sunglasses?”

“For sure. And a towel. She had this towel that she spread on the sand to lie on.”

None of this added much to their knowledge, except that Emma Tysoe had arrived alone. The rest was familiar, its function mainly to assist Smith to visualise the scene. Now that the focus had moved away from Crawley, and he was less tense, he might contribute something of use.

Diamond took up the questions again. “So she spread her towel quite near you?”

“Just in front. But we couldn’t see her without standing up.”

“That was because the windbreak was in the way? But you’d have noticed if anyone joined her at any stage?”

“I guess I would have done. No, I don’t remember anyone arriving. People going by, like they do on a beach, but no one actually joining her.” He shrugged, and he seemed to be genuinely trying to think of an explanation. “Wait a bit. Olga said something about a guy who tried to chat the woman up, and she wasn’t having any of it.”

“She did?” Diamond leaned forward eagerly. “When was this?”

“Not long before lunch.”

“Did you see him?”

“No, I had my eyes closed. Well, I was probably sleeping, because I’ve got no memory of this.”

“How can you be sure of the time?”

“I’m going by what Olga said.”

“Did she describe this man?”

“Something about a black T-shirt. That’s all I recall.”

“Come on. She must have noticed more than that.”

“I didn’t ask. He didn’t interest me.”

“He could be really important,” Hen said.

Smith obviously didn’t think so. “I wouldn’t make too much of it if I were you. The woman was OK when he came by. And after.” He hesitated, dredging up another memory. “Actually, Olga told me the woman spoke to her.”

Diamond’s eyebrows shot up. “They spoke?”

“Only something about Haley, friendly like. You know how people talk to you about your kids.”

Neither Diamond nor Hen had any such experience to draw on, but they could imagine.

“It would help if you could remember what was said.”

“It was Olga who spoke to her. I wasn’t listening. She told me later. It was only some friendly piece of chat.”

“This was when-in the morning?”

“Before we had lunch. I’m just making the point that she was all right at that stage. It was some hours after that she was killed.”

“How do you know when she was killed?”

He reddened. “It must have been the afternoon, mustn’t it? A dead body wouldn’t be lying there for hours with nobody noticing.”

“So when do you think the murder happened?”

“I’ve no idea, unless it was when Olga and I went for a swim.”

“What time was that?”

“Some while after the tide had turned, and was coming in.

Towards four o’clock.”

“Do you remember looking at her when you got up for your swim?”

“Not particularly.”

“Not at all?”

“To be honest, there were some attractive women not far away on our left, showing off their assets.”

“Topless, you mean?”

“If you’d been there, you wouldn’t have looked anywhere else, believe me.”

Hen rolled her eyes, and said nothing.

Diamond asked, “How long were you away? Any idea?”

“For the swim? Half an hour to forty minutes. It was warmer than we expected, so we stayed in for some time. When we got out, the tide had covered a lot of the beach. It comes in fast. And that was when my wife panicked a bit-well, quite a lot-because we couldn’t see where Haley, our little girl, had gone. We’d left her playing with some other kids, chucking a Frisbee about. There was no sign of Haley or the other girls.”

“This was after four thirty?”

“Don’t know for sure. I wasn’t wearing a watch. I said I’d check with the lifeguards while my wife went back to our place on the beach. Someone had to be there in case Haley came back. So that’s what we did. I went up to the platform where the lifeguards keep watch, not far away from where we’d been sitting all day. I told them my kid was missing and gave them a description and they promised to make a search. They suggested I looked for her by the ice-cream queue outside the cafe, because lost kids often find their way there. I tried there first and couldn’t see her, so I went to look in the sections of beach either side of us. The groynes dividing it up are quite high in places.”

“You keep saying ‘they’, as if there was more than one lifeguard,” Hen broke into his narrative.

“Right.”

“How many were there?”

“Two, when I spoke to them.”

“Because when the police arrived there was only one present.

And I’ve only ever interviewed one, an Australian called Emerson.”

“There were definitely two when I first told them Haley was missing. A shaven-headed one in red shorts and a tall, blond guy with a pony-tail.”

“Were they both Australian?”

“I wouldn’t know. I don’t recall one blond guy saying anything.

But you’re right. He wasn’t around later, when I reported finding the woman. I expect he’d gone off duty.”

“There should be two lifeguards on duty,” Diamond said. “It’s not a one-man job on a beach that size. Someone needs to be at the post all the time.”

“I’m going to follow this up,” Hen said. “Tall, blond pony-tail… anything else?”

“An earring, I think.”

“Just the one?”

“Yes. He was well tanned, as you’d expect, and built like an ox-well, an athlete, anyway. That’s about all I remember. I was thinking about Haley at the time.”

“So it was Emerson who found her?” said Diamond, putting the story back on track.

“Must have been. You see, I was still flogging up and down the beach looking for her when she was brought back. Olga was there. It seems one of the other children got a nose bleed from a Frisbee, or something, and all of them went up to the first aid hut-which of course confused Haley when she was left alone up there.”

“You heard this from your wife?”

“Yes, when I got back.”