Stone Cold Red Hot - [43]

I tried to clear my mind, to think logically but the scene that I had conjured up kept creeping back in focus. It seemed preposterous but if he had killed Jennifer, if she had never left home, then her troll would be left in the window, she would miss Caroline’s party, there’d be no goodbyes, no presents for her brother’s birthdays, no admission to Keele, no word to anyone. Ever.

I had a whole heap of stuff to tell Roger. Not just a skeleton in the cupboard, more like a whole chorus-line of them, clattering out one after the other. Starting with; Jennifer is your half-sister, you’ve got different fathers, your mother had Jennifer out of wedlock, Jennifer was already three years old when your parents got married. Moving onto the news that your father had an affair with Mrs Shuttle, next door. Do you remember her? And Jennifer found out. On top of all that there’s no record of Jennifer having a baby, no registered death, no marriage, no sign of her whatsoever. And to cap it all there’s a very simple, ludicrous, nightmarish explanation for your sister’s disappearance. It fits with all the facts but there isn’t a shred of proof. All speculation. But before I breathe a word of that to you there’s a couple of return visits I intend to make.

Chapter sixteen

I came into Manchester in the height of the rush-hour but I was heading in the right direction. The log jam on the other side of the central reservation stretched nose to tail for miles.

I drove straight to the Dobson’s to find Maddie and Tom having tea with the family. Eight of them in all crammed round the big table.

“Why did you forget?” Maddie scowled, “It was horrible.”

“I didn’t,” my anger at Ray re-kindled, “Ray was supposed to collect you, I was working late.”

“Would you like some?” Jackie asked me. “It’s only pizza and salad.”

I hesitated.

“Go on,” said her husband Grant. “I’ll get another chair.”

I was soon ensconced, listening to the chatter of the Dobson girls as they recounted incidents from school and updated Vicky on some of the scandals she’d missed during her trek round the festivals. I felt a tickle of worry about Ray. What if he’d been in an accident, unable to get to school through no fault of his own. Maybe I was judging him unfairly. I was keen to get home once we’d finished eating. As we were leaving I paid Vicky. “I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t been here, you’re a life-saver.”

She grinned.

The kids clambered into the hire car, suitably impressed and making all sorts of favourable noises.

Mummy,” asked Maddie, “can I have a nose stud?”

“Yeurgh, like a punk,” said Tom.

“No, you can’t, not till you’re grown up.”

“But that’s ages.”

“Well, you’ll just have to wait.”

“Please, can I?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Children don’t have nose studs.”

“They have earrings.”

“Some do.”

“Well, if they can have them in their ears why can’t I have one in my nose.”

I grappled for a reply. “It’s not allowed at school.” Cop out.

“You could write a note.”

“No.”

“I could take it out for school.”

I resorted to threats. “It hurts, Maddie, they have to punch a hole in your nose with a special gun and it really stings.”

“Oh,” a small voice. Maddie is feeble when it comes to pain.

I felt mean. “So it’d be best to wait until you’re grown up. Meanwhile we could see if we could find some stick on studs you could wear at the weekend.”

“Yes, Mummy, yes.”

The house was dark. No sign of Ray. We’d been in a few minutes when he arrived back. I was washing the breakfast pots. He sauntered in. My relief was quickly replaced with mounting irritation. I felt my back stiffen. He glanced at the hob, peered in the fridge. Looking for his tea.

“You eaten? Nothing left?”

“We ate at the Dobsons.”

“Oh, you didn’t say.”

“I didn’t know.”

He heard the edge to my voice, shifted his stance, chin up a little, defiant.

“You were supposed to collect Maddie and Tom. I was half-way across the country and I got a phone call from school. No-one had turned up.”

“Hang on a minute. Who says I was collecting them?”

“I asked you last night.”

“When?”

“Oh, for God’s sake, I didn’t make a note of the time. When I got in.”

He shook his head.

“Ray, I did. And you said yes.”

He carried on shaking his head, his curls bouncing as he did.

“I’m not making it up,” I insisted.

“Well, they’re here now,” he snapped, “it’s not the end of the world, is it?”

“I was worried. It was pure chance that I could get hold of someone to go and pick them up. What if I hadn’t been able to? What would have happened then?”

“The school would hardly turf them out on the street,” he retorted.

“It wasn’t much fun for Maddie and Tom, either. I think you should apologise to them.” If not to me, I added silently.

“God! It’s hardly a regular occurrence. And I don’t think you asked me. What exactly did you say?” His dark eyes were hard with defiance.

I couldn’t bear this wriggling round the truth. Why couldn’t he just accept the blame gracefully?

“I did,” I said.

“OK,” he shouted, “even if you did and if I forgot – which I didn’t – it’s hardly a hanging offence is it?”

“If you hadn’t been so wrapped up in Laura you might have paid a bit more attention to what was going on in the rest of the world.”