The Last Lost Girl Read online

  “Gayle?” said Jacqueline. “He gave Ned Early Gayle’s address? Why?”

  “He said that if Ned knew where Lilly was, and if she didn’t want to get in touch with him, maybe Ned would ask her to let your sister know she was alright, alive. Then your dad wouldn’t worry about her and promised he would leave her alone from then on – if that was what she wanted.”

  And somehow that pathetic request seemed to Jacqueline like the saddest thing she had heard so far. Perhaps the pain showed in her eyes because Magpie, glancing toward her, suddenly stopped walking.

  “This is hard on you,” he said. “Has to be.”

  “I wanted to hear the truth,” said Jacqueline, “and you’re telling me the truth. So this Ned Early …?”

  “Long dead – and, before you ask, as long as I’ve been in this town I’ve never set eyes on this Luca character.”

  “But there must be someone I could ask about all this,” said Jacqueline. “Someone who knew them?”

  Magpie appeared to hesitate, then he said, “Well, there was a sister – her name was Dawn. She was a fair bit younger than Luca. Ned was raising the two of them – I think the parents were dead.”

  “Did my dad know about her – did he speak to her?” said Jacqueline.

  “I don’t think so,” said Magpie. “He never mentioned her to me. As far as I can remember, she wasn’t around here that summer … but, you know, this was all a very long time ago.”

  “I realise that, and I appreciate the efforts you’ve gone to. It’s just that one little thing you remember might make all the difference.”

  Magpie did not reply.

  They were in the park now. Magpie kept on going until there was nowhere else to go. It was too close to the edge for Jacqueline’s comfort and she stood at a safe distance and watched as the wind lifted his coat. He’ll take off in a minute, she thought.

  “And there’s definitely nothing else you can remember?” she called to him.

  “Afraid not!” Magpie called back over his shoulder. Then he walked away from her, stalking along the cliff-edge, his coat-ends flying behind him like wings.

  Jacqueline walked slowly back along Cliff Walk and on down to the town. She wanted to eat her breakfast alone this morning, with no smell of frying fish and no Dot Candy chattering, so that she could think about what she had just heard. On a whim, she decided on Toby’s and ate scrambled eggs on toast while watching the comings and goings in the harbour through the smeary window. Afterwards she walked to the seafront and strolled along the promenade, stopping at the entrance to the fairground. The big wheel was still at this hour of the morning. Walking back, she looked at the sea and thought how nice it would be to swim, to move her muscles and clear her brain. Not now, and not here where the beach was already crowded, but later perhaps, and off the South Beach where it would be quieter. But she hadn’t brought a swimsuit. Still, she could always buy one – the seafront was lined with shops selling every form of seaside tat, from buckets and spades to giant inflatable dolphins.

  She found a shop that specialised in surfboards, wet suits, psychedelic shorts, very brief bikinis – and swimsuits. There were only two suits in her size and she dithered between a choice of blue with yellow flowers or purple with green stripes.

  “You like to try?” The sales assistant gestured to a corner of the shop where there was an alcove with a mirror on the wall and a drooping curtain hanging from a length of string. He was very young, with mahogany-coloured skin and dreadlocked hair, and he was watching Jacqueline with an unreadable smile on his beautiful face.

  She shook her head. “I’ll take this one,” she said. She handed over the blue-and-yellow suit. “And I’ll take that blue-and-white beach towel too.”

  Walking up the hill, with the bag in her hand, she second-guessed her decision – would the suit fit, would it look too young and make her look ridiculous? And in any case the weather would probably turn and she would never even get to wear it. What did it matter, what did any of it matter? Someone believed they had seen Lilly with Luca in France.

  At Sea Holly Villa, Dot was in the hall polishing the mirror. “Did Magpie catch you?”

  “Yes, he caught me. Thanks for that, Dot, and you were right. He did spend some time with my father, drinking mostly, by the sound of it.”

  “Well, I didn’t like to say, but Magpie was good to him, brought him home here a couple of nights a bit the worse for wear …”

  “Legless, you mean,” said Jacqueline.

  Dot smiled. “With one leg between them, let’s say. Was he able to help you at all?”

  “Yes, some – at least he tried. He’s a funny fish, Magpie.”

  “But not a bad one,” said Dot. “I can tell you more about him if you come to dinner tonight.”

  Jacqueline hesitated. Come to dinner sounded a lot more formal than the impromptu sharing of an omelette. She opened her mouth to decline but Dot was too quick for her.

  “I’d enjoy the company,” she said. “And you know you’d like to find out more about Magpie.” She gave Jacqueline a spiky grin. “Come on, you have a curious nature, why deny it? And besides, it can be my way of making up for abandoning you the next couple of mornings.”

  “Oh, but I don’t mind that,” said Jacqueline.

  “But I do,” said Dot, “and I’d really like you to have dinner with me.”

  It seemed to Jacqueline that the only way out was downright rudeness, so she said, “Well, yes, then, thank you. If you’re sure it won’t be a lot of hassle.”

  “Great. We’ll say seven o’clock, if that suits you.”

  Jacqueline, who was thinking that none of it really suited her, said that seven o’clock would be lovely.

  Chapter 31

  1976

  “Now, Goretti, I’m going to ask you to go over it again for me one more time.”

  “But I already told you, Mr Brennan!” Goretti’s eyes are red from crying.

  “I know you did,” says Daddy, “but I need to be sure I have all the facts straight. So if you don’t mind, Goretti.”

  Jacqueline thinks that Goretti Quinn looks like she does mind but Mrs Quinn says, “Of course she doesn’t mind, Mr Brennan. That’s what we’ve come here for.”

  Mrs Quinn is sitting on the sofa next to Goretti. On the table in front of them there is a little golden woman standing on top of a red-and-gold pillar.

  “Is it Lilly’s?” Jacqueline wanted to know when Goretti had brought it into the sitting room. “Is she the Festival Queen?”

  Daddy told her to shut up, and Jacqueline was so surprised she has not spoken since.

  “If you could start from when they called out Lilly’s name please, Goretti.”

  “Alright. Well, they called out Lilly’s name and a man put a sash on her that said, ‘Festival Queen 1976’. Then the man gave Lilly the trophy and an envelope with a hundred pounds in it and someone took Lilly’s photograph. Then she came down from the stage and everyone crowded around her. All the girls wanted to hold the trophy and some of them wanted to see the hundred pounds too.”

  “And then?”

  “And then Lilly said she wanted to show Luca what she’d won so we went outside –”

  “Hang on a minute, Goretti,” says Daddy. “You’re forgetting something. Didn’t you say that Lilly made a comment about how she didn’t think this Luca character would be too impressed that she’d won a beauty competition?”

  “Oh right,” Goretti nods her head, “I forgot about that. Yeah, Lilly said, ‘He’ll probably turn his nose up because he didn’t want me to enter the competition in the first place.’ She said she’d told him anyone else would be proud of their girlfriend, but that he thinks beauty competitions are just an excuse to have good-looking women parading around like cows. And then she said, ‘But wait until he sees my big hundred pounds!’ I can’t remember exactly, Mr Brennan, but it was something like that.”

  “Good girl,” says Daddy. “So you went outside and what happened the
n?”

  “We went outside and we saw Luca over at the swing boats. I don’t think he saw Lilly because he just kept on working. Lilly thought he was ignoring her on purpose so she called him and after a while he came over to her. Lilly took the money from the envelope and held it up and said, ‘What do you think of that?’ Then Luca took her to one side …”

  “Took her to one side or pulled her to one side? Can we be clear?” says Daddy. “Last time you said that Luca pulled Lilly to one side. Which was it, Goretti?”

  “I’m not sure. He put his hand on her arm. I think he didn’t want to argue in front of me.”

  “But he definitely put his hand on Lilly?”

  “Yes, he did, he definitely did.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “Well, like I said, I heard them arguing but they had moved away so I couldn’t really hear much, except when they started shouting and I already told you about that.”

  “Tell me again, please, Goretti.”

  “Tell Mr Brennan again, Goretti,” says Mrs Quinn.

  “Alright, alright, I’m telling him, aren’t I? I couldn’t hear what they were arguing about but I presumed it was about Lilly parading around like a cow, because Luca seemed very annoyed. Then Lilly walked off in a huff and I went after her – and Luca went back to the swing boats. We hung around for a while. Lilly kept looking over at Luca – I think she was waiting for him to come over to her, but he didn’t – he just stayed at the swing boats. Some girls came out of the marquee and they were all over him …” Goretti looks at Mrs Quinn then back at Daddy. “I mean like, flirting and stuff, you know, and Luca was laughing and joking with them. That was when Lilly shoved the trophy at me and told me I might as well have it. And then she ran off. I started to go after her, but she shouted at me to leave her alone – she was in a temper. I wish I had gone after her, Mr Brennan, I really do …” Goretti starts to cry again.

  Daddy waits until she has stopped and blown her nose. “Are you sure this Luca didn’t follow Lilly?”

  Goretti looks up from her hanky. “He didn’t – he was collecting money and talking to the girls – I don’t think he even looked round. And anyway, after Lilly left me there on my own, I went over to some of the girls on the swing boats and Luca was there – I saw him.”

  “You’re sure about that, Goretti?”

  “Yes, I’m sure.”

  “And you say that Lilly was wearing her blue dress and her new cream sandals,” says Jacqueline’s mother.

  “Yes, Mrs Brennan – she looked lovely, she really did.” Goretti begins to cry again.

  Jacqueline’s mother does not seem to notice. She nods her head. “Yes, those are the only things missing from her wardrobe, as far as I can see.”

  “Just a few more questions, Goretti,” says Daddy. “We know now that Lilly did not go baby-sitting for the Kellys as she said she was doing. She lied about that.”

  Goretti Quinn nods her head and looks down at her feet.

  “But you say she didn’t go to the dance with Edmund Sexton either, that she met you at the entrance to Beechlawns and you walked down together. Is that right?”

  “Yes, we walked down together.”

  “And she didn’t meet Edmund at the dance later on?”

  “No, I don’t think he even went to the dance. I didn’t see him there at all.”

  “That’s what he told me too,” says Daddy. “That he had no plans to take Lilly to the dance. So she never meant to go to the dance with Edmund and she never meant to go baby-sitting. What the hell was she playing at?”

  “I don’t know, Mr Brennan,” says Goretti Quinn. “Can I go home now, please? I don’t want to answer any more questions.”

  “Now, Goretti,” says Mrs Quinn, “don’t take that tone with Mr Brennan.”

  “That’s alright, Agnes,” says Jacqueline’s mother. “We’re all just worried and upset but I’m sure Goretti has told us all she knows.”

  It is the first time Jacqueline has ever heard her mother calling Mrs Quinn “Agnes” and, when she gets up to go, Mrs Quinn takes Jacqueline’s mother’s hand in her own.

  “If there’s anything I can do to help, Stella, anything at all …”

  Perhaps, Jacqueline thinks, she could try turning around three times saying, “Please, Saint Anthony, look around. Something’s lost that can’t be found” and see if Lilly will walk in the door.

  Daddy and Jacqueline’s mother are talking about Lilly.

  “They filled out a form, that’s what they did,” says Daddy. “They asked me a lot of questions and filled out a flippin’ form. What was Lilly wearing when she left home, the colour of her hair, her eyes, her height, her weight? I don’t know what she weighs – I told them she was a skinny little thing. They think she’s most likely gone to stay with a friend and that she’ll come back of her own accord.”

  “But then they’re not even looking for her,” says Jacqueline’s mother. “They’re not taking it seriously enough. Did you tell them we’ve already checked with all her friends? Did you tell them that, Frank?”

  “Of course I told them that – they said she’s probably with someone we don’t know about. They seem to think there are lots of places a fifteen-year-old girl might go that her parents wouldn’t think of. They wanted to know if she had a boyfriend.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “I told them she saw a bit of young Edmund Sexton but that I’d already been around to Edmund’s house and he didn’t see Lilly last night, that he told me he had no plans to see her. What the hell was she up to, Stella? Oh, and I told them about that – that gypsy from the carnival too. They’re going to send over a couple of detectives to talk to us here in the house later on.”

  There are two detectives. One is Gerry O’Sullivan and the other is Donal Devine. Donal Devine is small and thin and quiet – Jacqueline thinks of him as the Other One. Gerry O’Sullivan is the one who asks all the questions. He has red hair and blue eyes and he is the closest thing to a giant that Jacqueline has ever seen and he smiles at her and tells her she can call him Detective Gerry. He wants to know everything about Lilly. He has a little notebook with a black cover, and when he asks a question he writes the answers down. Jacqueline likes to think about her name being in Detective Gerry’s little black book.

  “Does Lilly have a bank account?” he asks.

  Jacqueline’s mother says no, only a Post Office savings book. Detective Gerry asks if he can see it and Jacqueline’s mother goes upstairs and comes back with the book in her hand.

  “The money is all still there,” she says, as she hands the book to Detective Gerry. “Lilly isn’t much of a saver.” She sits back down next to Daddy on the sofa and starts to cry. “Look, I want to know what you’re doing to try to find her!”

  Detective Gerry says, “Mrs Brennan, I want you to believe that no stone will be left unturned. Lilly is under sixteen and we’re putting out a full alert.”

  “But what do you think has happened to her?”

  “The simplest and most likely answer is that she’s with a friend, someone you haven’t thought of yet, or someone you don’t even know about. There is another possibility – Lilly may be injured …”

  Jacqueline’s mother opens her mouth to say something but Daddy is too quick for her. “Now, Stella, the man is only saying it’s a possibility.”

  Detective Gerry nods his head. “And, believe me, Mrs Brennan, we’ll do everything we can to find your daughter and bring her home. Now, I’ve just a few more questions I need to ask you.”

  “Alright.” Jacqueline’s mother sits back down on the sofa next to Daddy.

  “Would Lilly be in the habit of walking home on her own?”

  “Well, not at night,” says Jacqueline’s mother, “not on her own. During the day, she would, they all do. They’re up and down to Beechlawns all the time. Isn’t that right, Frank?”

  “That’s right. Lilly and Jacqueline are friends with the Quinn girls. Goretti and Reg
ina are always up here.”

  Jacqueline watches Detective Gerry writing. The hairs on the back of his hands are a shade lighter than the hair on his head. Jacqueline really hopes that he won’t put Goretti Quinn in his black notebook.

  “And if they’re going into the town, they take their bikes,” says Jacqueline’s mother. “Well, Gayle and Jacqueline do. Lilly used to cycle a lot but not so much anymore …”

  Because, Jacqueline thinks, you can’t cycle properly in platform shoes.

  “And they walk down to the town to get the bus to school. Lilly and Gayle go to St. Teresa’s Convent School.”

  “I’ll need a list of all her school friends,” says Detective Gerry.

  “And in the winter Frank drops them down in the car, if he’s not working, don’t you, Frank?”

  “Would Lilly ever take a shortcut home?” says Detective Gerry. “Say through the fields and across the river?”

  “Not at night, she wouldn’t – she has too much sense.” Daddy looks at Jacqueline’s mother. “She wouldn’t, would she, Stella?”

  “I don’t think so,” says Jacqueline’s mother. “At least not on her own, she wouldn’t.”

  “I’ll see you out,” says Daddy when the two detectives get up to go.

  Jacqueline follows them out into the hall.

  She hears Detective Gerry saying, “We do have to face the possibility that Lilly may have been taken against her will, Mr Brennan.”

  Chapter 32

  Afterwards

  In the afternoon, Jacqueline returned to the South Beach. She brought the blue-and-yellow swimsuit rolled up in the new towel under her arm. She had not made up her mind to swim but it was easily the hottest day of the summer so far and there was no excuse. She just wished she had put the suit on under her clothes. She had not yet tried it on, and in the sunlight it looked yellower than she remembered. She struggled into it under cover of the new beach towel, conscious that, to anyone looking, she must look like a ridiculous prude. Except that nobody was looking, and if nobody was looking why was she bothering to cover up? The suit seemed to fit her well enough and once she was in the water she forgot about how she looked and enjoyed herself immensely. Afterwards she lay on the towel and let the sun dry her skin but when she tried to doze she remembered what Magpie had told her and the questions started all over again. To stop the loop, she forced herself to read and when her thoughts began to stray she went back into the sea again and swam as hard and fast as she physically could.