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asking questions about Michael, instead of being out there looking for the people who had taken him. She told them all she knew, but throughout the day different policemen kept coming back with more questions. This time it was a detective from Leeds, DS John Bannister.
    ‘I’m sorry to trouble you at a time like this but the first twenty-four hours is usually the most important in the case of a missing child and we seem to have lost a couple of days already.’
    ‘I didn’t realisehe was missing until …’ Her voice trailed off. She’d momentarily lost track of time. Bannister nodded understandingly.
    ‘These Oldroyd people,’ he said, ‘the ones who are supposed to have taken your son – could you tell us what you know about them?’
    ‘What do you mean
supposed
to have taken him? There’s no
supposed
about it. They came to my house in Leeds and took my boy away to a house in Grassington.’
    ‘What were they doing in your house, Mrs Robinson?’
    ‘They read about my husband being killed and came to offer their condolences – and their help. They offered to take Michael off for the weekend to give me a break.’
    ‘And how well did you say you knew these people?’
    Lily was frowning with disapproval of her own stupidity. This was all her fault. Larry had often said she acted without thinking, but he also said it was one of the things he loved about her. He wouldn’t love her for this.
    ‘I only met them the once – a few weeks ago. They put me and Michael up overnight in their house. We’d gone on a coach trip out to Grassington and met them in a tea shop.’
    ‘I see – and this house would be Lark House, would it?’
    ‘Yes.’
    Lily began to cry. She turned to an attending nurse and asked, ‘Could you bring me my baby please. I want to hold him.’
    ‘Would you leave that a few minutes, Nurse?’ said the detective. ‘I’ve just got a few more questions to ask Mrs Robinson.’
    ‘Mrs Robinson’s very weakand very distressed,’ said the nurse, quite sharply. ‘I’ll give you five minutes but I’ll be staying here to keep an eye on her.’
    ‘Thank you, Nurse, that’ll be fine.’ He returned his attention to Lily, who was still weeping.
    ‘You say you gave these Oldroyd people permission to take Michael. In fact you actually asked him and his wife to look after the boy for a couple of days?’
    ‘It wasn’t quite like that. They offered, I accepted – after they told me about the bombing.’
    ‘What bombing’s that?’
    ‘Oh, they told me the Germans were going to attack the Leeds munitions factories. The last time they did that they hit our streets.’
    ‘And you believed that?’
    ‘At the time, I suppose I did. I don’t any more. I talked to one of my neighbours who more or less told me it was rubbish so I rang the Oldroyds to tell them I wanted Michael to come home. I missed him so much.’
    ‘So you actually rang them?’
    ‘I tried but the number they gave me wasn’t a proper number, which is why I came out on the bus.’
    ‘And this house is number seventy-four High Bank Lane in Grassington – Lark House?’
    ‘Yes, but the lady living up the road from there said she’s never heard of them and that it’s been empty for four years. That can’t be right. I mean, we stayed there. How can that be ri …?’ Her voice tailed off and her eyes flooded with tears once again.
    ‘I think that’s enoughfor now,’ said the nurse.
    ‘I understand, Nurse, but I do need to ask her more questions as soon as possible. A small child is missing and Mrs Robinson is our only source of information. Time is of the essence.’
    ‘So is Mrs Robinson’s health.’
    The detective rang his boss, Inspector Foster, at Millgarth Police Station in Leeds. ‘To be honest I’m not at all sure what’s happened, sir. The story she tells sounds strange. It appears she allowed a couple she hardly knew to take the boy away and look after him for two days.’
    ‘I understand she claims that