Read Ramsay 06 - The Baby-Snatcher for Free Online Page B

right.’
    She moved away from the step to let him in and took him straight to the back living room. There was a fire banked up in the grate and the sulphurous smell of smokeless fuel which reminded him again of his mother’s house. In one corner a clothes horse was draped with towels and the windows ran with condensation. The dining table was spread with textbooks.
    ‘I was trying to do some homework,’ Marilyn said. ‘ I thought it would take my mind off Mummy but I couldn’t really concentrate.’
    He sat in the rocking chair where Kathleen Howe had been when he had surprised her on his previous visit to the house. In the hot, steamy room it would have been easy to doze off.
    ‘Why don’t you tell me what happened?’
    ‘We don’t know what happened!’ the girl cried. ‘She just disappeared.’
    ‘Well, when did you last see her?’
    ‘At breakfast yesterday. Then I went out.’
    ‘Where did you go?’
    ‘To school.’
    ‘On a Saturday?’
    ‘There was a special choir rehearsal. We’re taking part in a music festival at the Cathedral.’
    ‘What time did you get home?’
    ‘Two o’clock.’ She paused then continued like an ordinary schoolgirl, chatty, enthusiastic. ‘ We’d taken packed lunches because Miss Winter thought the practice would drag on into the afternoon but it went really well and we finished early.’
    ‘Your mother wasn’t expecting you back then?’
    ‘Not until later. That’s why I didn’t worry at first.’
    ‘How did you get home from school?’
    ‘I got a lift.’ There had been a slight hesitation. A flush of embarrassment. Or was it pleasure?
    ‘Who from? A parent? One of the sixth-formers?’ He had seen them, the kids coming out of the High School. They all seemed to have cars these days, and not just old bangers either.
    ‘No.’ She hesitated again. ‘ One of the teachers sings with us. Mr Taverner. He was coming this way.’
    An adolescent crush, Ramsay thought.
    ‘Was anyone in when you got home?’
    ‘My father. He went out at about four. He works as a children’s entertainer. He had a booking at a kids’ party.’
    ‘Didn’t he tell you where your mother had gone?’
    ‘He thought she might have walked into Heppleburn, to the Co-op.’
    ‘Wasn’t he sure?’
    ‘Not really.’ She had been standing with her back to the table. Now she leant forward. ‘ When you meet my Dad properly you’ll understand. It’s not that he’s stupid. He’s absent-minded. When you talk to him he doesn’t always listen. Especially to Mummy, who tends to nag. I think it’s because his head’s full of tricks and illusions.’ Again she saw the need to explain. ‘He’s a magician. Brilliant. Anyone round here will tell you. He’s only part-time, of course. His real job’s with the DSS at Longbenton. The insolvency section.’
    ‘I see.’
    Ramsay was glad he had visited Marilyn Howe in his own time and alone. He wondered what his sergeant, Hunter, would have made of the family. Hunter’s prejudices were widespread and various. He distrusted anything outside his own experience. A household without a car or a television would have struck him as sufficiently odd to raise his suspicions. But a part-time magician …
    ‘When did you start to worry about your mother?’
    ‘Soon after Dad left to go to the party. Even if she’d left just before I’d got home she should have been back from Heppleburn by then. She’s a fast walker.’
    Ramsay gave a brief smile. ‘I know.’
    ‘I didn’t want to panic or make a fool of myself like last time. I told myself she’d soon be home. I looked to see what she’d taken with her, to try to work out where she might be. Then I knew something was wrong. Her coat was still here and her shopping bag and her purse. She wouldn’t have gone to Heppleburn without them.’
    Her face crumpled and Ramsay was afraid she would cry. He felt a stab of anger because she was being put through this anxiety. Parents should be the ones to