The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) - Ann Cleeves Page 0,105

close to despair in his voice. ‘Maurice is in bits.’

‘Where do you need me?’ Not joking now.

‘I’m with Maurice in Lovacott. I thought it was best to bring him back here. Ross has got a recent photo. Can you join him in the town centre? Someone must have seen her. She’d stand out, be noticed. Talk to shopkeepers and passers-by.’

The kids had already disappeared back to their respective bedrooms. She shouted up that she had to go in to work. They called back but seemed unbothered.

* * *

It was lunchtime in the town. Jen ended up walking from home, because she thought it would be quicker and she could look out for Lucy on the way. According to Matthew, Lucy and Maurice had planned to go to the park for ice cream when they’d finished shopping, and if she’d lost sight of her dad, the woman might have continued on her way there alone.

The breeze blew the river into little waves and the smell of mud and saltmarsh came to her across the grass and the freshly dug flower beds. A fusion of the wild and the tamed. Jen thought that summed up this part of Devon. She stood for a moment, looking into the playground where parents were pushing children on swings, or staring at their phones while their offspring amused themselves. That would have been her, she thought. The bad parent. Today it was mostly dads. Maybe they were single fathers, spending time with their kids. Or just thoughtful men, giving the mothers a couple of hours to catch their breath. There must be some thoughtful men in the world.

No Lucy.

Jen walked on faster, taking the path that ran alongside the river. Past the museum and across the road to the high street. She phoned Ross.

‘Any news?’

‘Nothing. Where are you?’

‘Just coming into the high street. I checked out Rock Park on the way, but there was no sign of Lucy there.’ She was walking so fast that she had to catch her breath.

‘I’ll meet you.’

She saw him before he noticed her. He was handing out photos, but as if he was in a rush, not taking time to chat to the shoppers. He’d be a better detective if he learned some patience, but she’d probably been the same when she was younger. Needing action. Desperate for progress.

‘I’ve done the high street,’ he said. ‘A few people recognized her. They’d seen her with her dad, but nobody saw her on her own. And there was no sign of a scuffle.’

‘So, what do we think happened?’ Jen was remembering a time when Ella was three, just refusing the pushchair. They’d been in a busy shop in Liverpool, and the girl had disappeared, vanished as if she’d been part of a magician’s trick. Jen had been frantic, imagining her daughter snatched and terrified, imagining too her husband’s reaction to the lack of care. Because it would have been her fault and she’d have to pay. A shop assistant had found the girl in one of the changing rooms, wearing a hat she’d taken from one of the shelves. It was so big that it almost hid her face, she was standing on a chair and staring into the mirror. There’d been a rush of relief, and Jen had been crying and laughing at the same. She’d never told Robbie. It would just have been another excuse for his fury.

Nobody had seen Ella go, although she’d been wearing a bright green dress and she had a mass of red curls. People’s attention had been focussed on shopping or on talking to their friends. Now, Jen thought, an elephant could wander down the middle of Barnstaple high street and not everyone would notice.

‘I don’t know,’ Ross said. ‘Maybe it was someone she knew, someone she trusted…’

‘Maybe.’ Jen wasn’t so sure. She didn’t know enough about people with Down’s syndrome, but from what Matthew had said, Lucy had been sparky, confident, kind. If someone had asked for her help, maybe she’d have gone with them, even if it had been a stranger. ‘Can you check out CCTV for the street? I’ll give it one more canvass. I might pick up some people you missed.’

And I’ll give them time to think, not make them hurry or panic.

He nodded. She saw him disappear into a bakery, and thought he’d be getting his lunch before going back to the police station. That made her think about Lucy; she was a big woman, who clearly liked her food.