Read Presumed Dead for Free Online Page B

Ken, was always chatting up Mum. Sorry, but I can’t think of anything else.”
    “Right. Okay. If I learn anything, I’ll be in touch.” He had to ask. “Are you still sure you want to go ahead with this?”
    “Of course.”
    “Right.”
    “Do you have a clean shirt for your dinner date?” she asked, and, forced to smile, he looked down at a small stain on the pocket.
    “I’ll buy a couple tomorrow…”
    Dylan left his room and went downstairs to the bar. It was much warmer there, thanks to heavy velvet curtains that shut out the night and a pile of logs blazing in a cavernous fireplace. A few leather armchairs were arranged around the fire, but Dylan sat at the opposite end of the room on a stool by the bar.
    Half an hour later, his pint of beer almost finished, he saw a brunette walk in, look at those present and wander toward him.
    “Mr. Scott?” she asked.
    “Dylan.” He offered his hand. “And you’ll be Yvonne. Thanks so much for coming. Now, what can I get you to drink?”
    “A vodka, please. Vodka and tonic.” She sat on the stool next to his and put a small black handbag on the bar. “I feel as if I’m here under false pretences. There’s nothing I can tell you about Anita. She just vanished, you see.”
    “So I gather.” The barman put their drinks in front of them. “The thing is, I really need to find her, and I’m hoping you might remember something—anything—that could help.” He chinked his glass against hers. “Cheers.”
    Slim but shapely, Yvonne Yates was an attractive woman. She would have been even more appealing if she hadn’t looked so stressed.
    “In any case—” he remembered his manners as well as his need for information, “—it’s a rare treat for me to have such an attractive dinner companion.”
    While he offered a silent apology to Bev, Yvonne’s eyes, dark and green, sparkled at the compliment.
    “Are you married?”
    “Separated.” Thanks to Bev’s latest strop, that was technically accurate. “You?”
    “Divorced.” She couldn’t quite meet his gaze. “It was finalised last month.”
    “Ouch. I’m sorry about that.”
    “It isn’t the end of the world, is it?”
    Gaunt, weary-eyed and tense, she looked exactly like her world had ended.
    “Of course not. His loss is another man’s gain. But let’s not talk of marital problems. Are you hungry or would you like another drink first?”
    She downed her vodka and put the glass on the bar. “Let’s have one more, shall we?”
    Dylan needed to watch her. Unless he was mistaken, that hadn’t been her first drink of the day and, with her senses blurred by alcohol, her memory would be worse than useless. Anyone would struggle to remember the events of thirteen years ago. Drunk, it would be almost impossible.
    She grabbed her drink from the barman and Dylan decided it was time for business.
    “Let me tell you why I’m here. As I said, it’s a little embarrassing. About fourteen years ago, I was a salesman covering this part of the country. I used to call at your friend Sandra’s, to get my hair cut. Anita Champion used to do it and we fell into conversation. I was away from home and—” He shrugged in a man-of-the-world way. “One thing led to another and we had a brief fling. I was twenty-four and she was almost thirty. I thought it was serious.” Another near-perfect man-of-the-world shrug. “Fool that I was, I gave her a ring that had belonged to my mother. An antique emerald. My father wants it back and—well, the truth is, I’m in deep shit. I need to find Anita Champion or her daughter.”
    She’d listened without commenting or showing any surprise whatsoever. Dylan assumed Sandra Butler had already spoken to her.
    “I wish I could help,” she said, “but I can’t. I’ve no idea where she went.”
    “That evening, the night she went missing. Could you tell me about that?”
    She nodded. “Me, Maggie and Brenda met her in the Commercial, the pub round the corner from her