Read Threats at Three for Free Online

the village school like a pair of ducklings to water. No complaints from them. In a small class with a cheerful young woman teacher, they had blossomed from their first day. They were identical twins, and Rebecca Stockbridge confessed they were a challenge in her class, but one she intended to enjoy.
    Paula sighed. She hoped that Jack Jr. had slept sensibly in his friend’s house in Tresham, and she would see him arrive home on the afternoon bus. She had little confidence in this scenario, and thought it much more likely that her firstborn would be wandering round the streets of Tresham, hood concealing his face, until he managed to thumb a lift back to the village.
    She stood at the gate, waiting until the twins were safely on their way, and her eye was caught by the sight of Douglas’s vehicle moving slowly down the village street. As it passed her, she could see it was full of happy smiling faces, and one or two waved to her. She recognized Josie Meade from the shop, who had been really helpful to her since she arrived. Must be her family, Paula supposed, and felt a stab of envy at their obvious togetherness. Then she shifted the baby to be more comfortable on her hip, and turned to go indoors. “No good feeling sorry for yourself, Paula Hickson,” she said aloud, and the baby smiled at her. Things could be a lot worse.
     
     
    BY THE TIME DOUGLAS HAD TAKEN A COUPLE OF WRONG TURNS in the outskirts of Leicester, and had shut his ears to all the varying instructions from his passengers, little Harry was asleep and Derek was desperate for a pee. Finally they pulled into the big car park, and as they looked out of the windows an awed silence fell. A bulging silver balloonlike structure stretched up into the sky, dwarfing the crowds of families making for the entrance.
    “Look at that!” Douglas said. “Hey, Susie, wake up Harry so’s he can see it.”
    “Not a good idea,” Lois said quickly. “You know how fractious he is when he’s woken up. Let’s all get out first, and then we can unload him straight into his pushchair and get going. That’ll take his attention and we won’t get the usual screams.”
    Susie frowned. Sometimes she wished her mother-in-law wasn’t quite so ready with the voice of experience. Harry was hers and Douglas’s, and they were best at managing him. But she bit back a sharp rejoinder and heaved the pushchair out of the boot space. She saw Matthew Vickers approaching, and said, “Nice to see you. Always useful to have a policeman in the party.”
    “Off duty, I’m afraid,” he said, and grinned at Josie. They all set off across the almost full car park towards the main entrance, and as they got closer, Lois began to feel oddly apprehensive. Inside the reception area children and parents and grannies and granddads milled about. She stood still to get her bearings and saw a snack café off to the side. Suggesting that they have a snack lunch before everyone else converged there, she led the way.
    With only one cashier, it took a while to get settled, and Lois had a chance to look around. The low lighting in the wide reception area heightened the feeling she already had on glimpsing vast models of distant planets of being in an alien environment, and she was glad when they sat down with their trays in the sunlit café, though another near-panic hit her when she caught sight of what looked like large upturned buckets hanging down from high above the chattering families.
    “Derek! Isn’t that where the great fire that launches the rockets comes from?” she said nervously. She realised they were now inside the silver balloon, and she could see that this housed two huge rockets stretching up above them. A sudden memory of the Challenger that crashed back to earth killing all inside, including a lovely young woman, jolted her.
    “Yep, that’s what gets ’em up into space. Want me to put a match to them?” He laughed at her, and patted her shoulder. “We’re quite safe, gel,” he