I know from the way he looked at me there was more to it so I shake my head and maintain eye contact with her. Maybe I need to blag this a bit more. Let her think that I know more than I do. ‘He’s been messaging me, about my sister, Jess.’
‘Why would he do that? He knows about your sister, but he only knows what we all know; nothing more. It’s no secret what happened to your sister. She drowned like the article said. Poor mite wasn’t missing for that long. Such a shame. When we saw you, we couldn’t quite believe you’d come back. Was it the article? I suppose it was a bit below the belt. Your poor dad made a mistake but the way they wrote about him. That was harsh.’
‘Like I said, it was the messages from Cody, who’s pretending to be Will. That’s what brought me back.’
‘Most of us have been on your page at some point. We’ve followed your story, your pleas for information. It’s proper heartbreaking.’ Her head tilts in sympathy.
I swallow. ‘What do you all think you know?’
‘You really want me to repeat the same story that has been said all these years?’
‘Please tell me your version of what you know.’
She begins to unpack glass angels from a box. ‘Look, I’ve got a busy day ahead.’ She places them on the counter, one by one.
‘It looks like it. Do you have children or siblings?’
‘A daughter. She’s in her mid-twenties called Bethany. No siblings.’
‘Imagine your baby daughter all those years ago. One minute she’s there, cooing away. Think of the bond and love you already have. She might drive you insane with her crying,’ – I think of how annoyed I was that Jessica took so much of my mum’s attention – ‘but when you look at her closely, you see a little helpless human that you love deeply, that you’d do anything to protect. Imagine her little hands as she reaches to grip your hair. Jess used to do that to me. Always the hair. Do you remember your baby daughter’s smell? I remember the way Jess used to smell. She was a little milky. Her bottle used to drip under her chin a little. Her gummy little smile, her warmth. Now imagine all that is there one minute and gone the next.’
The woman is grimacing and she doesn’t quite know where to look. There is a creeping redness that has almost reached her chin. ‘I can’t imagine, really I can’t.’
‘That’s what happened to us. I lost my sister. My mother lost her baby and only now she’s dead does someone message me to say they know what happened that day. Someone actually saw everything.’
Laura pulled her wild hair into a ponytail at the nape of her neck and her voice crackled as she said, ‘I remember that day. My daughter was a baby then and it sent my blood cold. The search parties went into all the shops and businesses. Everyone who had CCTV passed it to the police but there was none on the harbour at the time. Or maybe there was but it wasn’t working. There wasn’t so much of it back then. Then, when the tide was going back out, there was no sign of her. It took what seemed like forever for the police dive team to come. The lifeboat went out, just in case, but we all knew by then that it was hopeless. Your sister had been swept out to sea. I had heard that your dad was drunk. I’m so, so, sorry for your loss, my love, but your mother left your paralytic father with a baby.’
The way she said that last sentence was more detached than the rest of her speech. I don’t buy what she’s saying. ‘Yes, my father was drunk but my sister was in a portable car seat on the path next to him. She was asleep too.’
Laura shrugged. ‘Babies wake up. They roll and crawl. She was close to the edge and could easily have toppled in.’
I thought I’d get more out of her but all I’m getting is that my parents are to blame and Jess’s disappearance was an accident. ‘Her body has never been found. Isn’t that odd?’
Biting her bottom lip, Laura gives me that look of sympathy that I’m used to getting. ‘No, my love. A small baby dragged out to sea. I don’t like to say it—’
‘Just say it, please.’
‘I think she’d have been eaten. The sea is a big place and is full of danger as you well know.’ Her eyes are glassing up with tears. ‘Why did you make me say that?’ A little sob comes out of her mouth.
I go to speak but she dismisses me with a hand. Right now, I can tell she’s imagining her own daughter as a baby while we speak of Jess. Finally she is feeling a little bit of what I’ve felt for years. ‘I’m sorry.’ I place a hand over my mouth and shake my sadness away. ‘I thought the same as you but I’ve been getting these messages from someone calling himself Will Wilcox and I’m confused.’
‘Willy Wilcox is a pirate. There’s a cave in Polperro where he supposedly left his stash. You should visit it while you’re here. Polperro is amazing.’
‘What?’
‘Google him later. You’ll find out lots of things. Whoever messaged you is joking around. Sick I know, but people can be like that. I’m sorry you came all this way because of a prankster.’
Sighing, I take a step back and stare out of the window. Will is using a pirate’s name. Cody is pretending to be Will, he has to be, but why?
‘When I saw that man, Cody, he ran out of that pub just after I mouthed the word Will to him. He says that he knows what happened to Jessica and that I had to come here as he’d only tell me in person.’
‘No, that’s not right. He said his father had taken a funny turn. That’s why he needed to leave all of a sudden.’
I can tell I’m on my own here, even though I’ve disclosed what I know. She doesn’t want to believe that Cody is hiding something. ‘What does Cody do?’
‘He has a trip boat. At the moment, he takes people out for mackerel fishing and pleasure trips.’
‘He owns a boat?’
