The Doll's House

17

He was taller than she expected. On the phone he had sounded hesitant and lacking in stature. But the reality was very different. Daniel Briers was tall and handsome, with a confident stride and an easy manner. Dark hair, flecked with grey at the temples, framed an open countenance.

‘DI Helen Grace. Thanks for coming down so quickly.’

‘I just want to get this thing sorted. There must have been a mix-up with the serial numbers. Pippa was tweeting again this morning, so it’s hardly likely that -’

‘May I have a look?’

They were heading out of Southampton train station towards Helen’s pool car. Daniel Briers handed her his phone. Helen read the tweet – a brief and anodyne comment about Sunday morning hangovers.

‘Have you actually spoken to her in the last two to three years?’ Helen asked, as she handed back the phone.

Daniel paused, frowned, then said:

‘No, I haven’t.’

He suddenly seemed less assured, the fatigue of a sleepless night catching up with him, eroding his optimism. ‘I tried many times, left countless messages, but… I don’t think she was ready to talk, so we had to rely on the occasional tweet and text. She seemed to be doing well in Southampton and… I was happy for her.’

As they drove to the mortuary, Daniel filled her in on the cause of their estrangement. Helen could have guessed before he said anything: a new wife.

Pippa’s mother had died of breast cancer when Pippa was six, sending the family into a spin for several years. But when Daniel had married again all seemed set fair. However, Pippa and his second wife did not get on. Kristy brought two children to the party from a previous marriage and to her mind, where they were constructive and polite, Pippa was hostile and unhelpful, unwilling to accept Kristy as her new mother. The situation had only worsened during Pippa’s teenage years and as soon as she was old enough to leave school and home, she did.

‘I tried to reason with her,’ Daniel explained, ‘but she just wanted away. So she dossed down with an old school friend who was at college in Portsmouth and eventually she moved to Southampton. Got a job, a flat, she was making a go of things. It broke my heart when she left, I missed her every day, but I hoped over time we could repair the damage. That I could encourage her to come home.’

They parked in the mortuary car park and headed inside to see Jim Grieves. As soon as they stepped into the building, Daniel’s manner changed. He had been chatting sixteen to the dozen previously, but now he seemed affected by the cold sterility of the place. He was silent, focused, his body rigid. Helen had seen this many times before – the anxiety that affects all civilians when they are about to come face to face with a dead body for the first time.

The pleasantries were kept to a minimum – there was no point delaying the inevitable. Slowly, Jim Grieves lowered the sheet, revealing the young woman’s face.

The effect on Daniel Briers was terrible and instant. A horrid, pained intake of breath. He looked like he had momentarily stopped breathing and Helen put her arm on his to check he was ok. He turned to her, his face now drained of colour, a man visibly ageing in front of her.

When he did finally speak it was in a whisper and through tears:

‘That’s Pips.’