Ben sat down heavily at the desk in the tiny room assigned to them as their office for the duration of their stay. He let out a big sigh and pulled the phone closer to him.

“Better be over with it,” he said when Kate suggested they could wait with the call. “I told them just an hour ago that their daughter is dead. Only her mum and brother were home at that time, and she lost it completely. I promised I will call back soon and go over some details.”

Kate nodded.

The phone seemed to be ringing forever. Finally someone picked up and they heard a male voice on the other end.

“Chris?” Ben asked.

“Yes. Who’s speaking?”

“It’s Detective Petersen. We spoke about an hour ago. I’m here with my colleague, Detective Robbins.”

There were some muffled noises, like someone covering the receiver and talking in the background.

“Just told my dad to come over,” Chris said. “My mum is … I… ahem… I don’t think you’ll be able to talk to her right now.”

“That’s all right,” Ben said. “I’m sorry for what happened to your sister. I know this will be hard, but we need to ask a few questions. Do you think you and your dad are ready?”

“We are,” a raspy voice said from the other end.

“What time did your daughter leave last night, Mr. Draper?” Ben asked.

“Around eight, I’d say… and please call me Richard. She wanted to go right after work. Just came home to pick up her bag. She was supposed to get to Daisy’s around eleven.” Richard Draper’s voice was steady, almost too steady, like he’s trying his best to sound collected. Ben could only imagine how hard that must be.

“Do you know if she was planning to meet anyone one the way?”

“No… I mean why would she?” Chris asked, and his voice trembled. “She was going to see Daisy.”

“Do you know anyone who could have wanted any harm to her?”

“Why would anyone…?” Richard Draper said, but his voice buckled.

Chris continued. “We don’t know anyone. Everyone loved Alice.”

“Did Alice have a boyfriend?” Kate asked.

“No, I don’t think so…” said Chris, his voice trailing off.

Kate jumped on it. “But you are not sure?”

“Well… she didn’t say she had anyone…”

“But?”

“I overheard her a few weeks ago. She was on the phone, talking to some guy called Tommy. She was talking in a hushed voice, so I could barely make out anything. It was so unlike her. She used to tell me about everything.”

“But you’ve never seen this guy?” Ben asked.

“Nope.”

The call went on for another fifteen minutes without getting anything useful out of Alice’s brother and father. The girl seemed to have a secret life, and Chris never managed to find out anything about the mysterious Tommy.

There was so much they didn’t know. So many possibilities. What Ben loved most about his job was getting through all the layers. Peeling them back to get to the core. This was rarely a straightforward process, but there were always the usual questions to ask. Who hated the victim? Who loved her? Who gained anything with her death? He spent the next few minutes scribbling away in his notebook before tossing it back with an exasperated sigh, just when Officer Briggs appeared at the door with a fresh pot of coffee. She gave them a curious look, but left without a word when Ben shook his head with a weak smile, closing the door with a soft click.

Kate gave Ben a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder before pouring another cup of coffee for the both of them. She settled back to the desk with her own, mostly empty notebook. “Do you think it was her boyfriend? This Tommy?”

Ben didn’t answer. By now he knew this was just Kate’s usual way to process the information: bouncing off questions and answering them with more questions. He liked how she looked at every angle, no matter how silly they might have seemed.

Kate ran her fingers through her hair, messing it up into a fluffy nest. “But why would he follow her here?”

Ben nodded, then tapped his pen against his notepad. “Well, since we don’t even know him, we can’t say he wasn’t from around here. Nobody from Alice’s family knew this guy. Maybe her best friend would have more to say.”

“Daisy?” Kate looked skeptical. “But she hasn’t said anything about a boyfriend.”

“We haven’t exactly asked, have we?”

*

Daisy sat at the kitchen table, peeking at them warily, just like a few hours earlier. Her eyes, red and puffy, were jumping between the two detectives, like she was watching a tennis match.

“Her boyfriend?” she asked, and sat up straight, leaning forward.

Ben nodded. “According to her brother she might have been seeing some guy…”

Daisy buried her face in her hands, shaking her head. “Alice and I used to talk about everything. But it all changed when she left town. We still talked over the phone most weeks, but something was different.”

“Had anything changed between you?”

Daisy didn’t look at them, just picked at her nails. “No, not really…”

“What do you mean, not really?” Kate asked, her voice sharp.

“I just felt that she’s more distant than she used to be. I couldn’t believe for a second that nothing was happening. Alice was always so popular, and surrounded by friends.”

“So why the change?”

Daisy shifted on the chair.

“Well…” she said, and dropped her eyes to the floor. “But please promise you won’t take this the wrong way…” She looked at Ben, her eyes pleading.

“Daisy, you have nothing to worry about. You are not in any kind of trouble,” Ben said, his voice kind.

The girl wiped at her nose. “My brother… He had a real crush on Alice back in the day. Just before the move she promised him that she will go to his prom as his date. But then bailed on him at the last minute. Anthony was devastated. I thought it was a bit weird. I mean he was eighteen, she was nearly twenty. My brother didn’t mind the difference. I told him not to ask her, it would be weird, because she’s my best friend. Alice seemed to be flattered first. But then she said she thought about it, and didn’t want to embarrass herself, and cancelled it last minute… My brother took it harder than he should have, I think. But what can you do? He never really had experience with girls before. I was a bit pissed with Alice. I told her I think what she’d done was horrible, and we have not spoken for almost a week. I… of course regretted it, and told her so. Then they moved, and things have never been the same since…”

“Your brother knew Alice was coming.” Kate said.

Daisy’s face turned red. “Yes, I already told you. He spoke to Alice last week and she told him.”

“We need to talk to your brother as well,” Kate said.

Daisy gave her a blank look. “You can’t. He’s out of town. With his girlfriend.”

“Since when?”

“He left yesterday afternoon.”

Kate took a deep breath before she spoke. “Daisy, this is important. Maybe your brother met Alice last night. He can have vital information without even realizing.”

“I…” Daisy said, then gasped. “You don’t think my brother had anything to do with this? Anthony loved Alice, just like me.”

“You just said your brother was hurt and disappointed after Alice hadn’t follow through their date.” Kate pointed out in a conversational tone.

Daisy shot a desperate look at Ben, then turned back to Kate. “Yes, but it’s all in the past. Anthony doesn’t care about it! He has a girlfriend now… A real one!”

“We just want to talk to him, that’s all. Just like my colleague said, he might know something important,” Ben said, as he put a soothing hand over Daisy’s wrist. When Daisy nodded and scribbled on Ben’s notepad, Kate continued.

“Is there anyone else you can think of?”

Daisy hung her head. “No,” she said. It was no more than a whisper.