The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) - Ann Cleeves Page 0,63

your dad.’

Lucy thought for a while and then she nodded. ‘We did cooking in the morning.’

‘Christine’s missing, Lucy,’ Matthew said. ‘We don’t know where she is. She seems to have disappeared from the Woodyard yesterday afternoon when everyone was on their way out. Did you see her?’

‘Couldn’t they keep her safe?’ Maurice’s voice high-pitched with anxiety. ‘We send our kids there and expect them to keep them safe. You’re not going back, maid. Not until all this is sorted out.’

‘Lucy?’ Matthew understood Maurice’s anger, but now he needed information. ‘Did you see Christine when you were coming out of the Woodyard yesterday?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘I saw my dad. He was waiting for me, just like today, and we came home in the car.’

‘Christine left the centre with you, though? She walked with you through the glass corridor to the big entry hall where your dad was waiting?’

‘I don’t know.’ Lucy seemed to be losing concentration now. Her eyes drifted back to the blank screen of the television. It seemed she just wanted Matthew to go so she could watch her programme in peace.

He persisted all the same. ‘How was she yesterday? If you remember, I came to the Woodyard and I talked to you about the man on the bus. You and Chrissie were cooking together. Did she tell you she’d been staying with her aunty and uncle here in Lovacott the night before?’

Lucy shook her head. Matthew sensed he’d get little more from her and turned to Maurice. ‘Could we have a chat?’

They sat in the kitchen and without asking Maurice switched on the kettle, made tea in a pot.

‘It’s not right. That woman’s parents will be going out of their minds with worry.’

‘She’s only got a mother. Susan Shapland. Do you know her?’

‘I met her a few times. While they were in the old day centre. And at the Christmas party at the Woodyard. All the relatives were invited to that.’ He’d calmed down a little, but Matthew could still sense the outrage. Because this could have happened to his daughter, he was shaken, horrified. But there was relief too because it was someone else’s child who was missing. Lucy was safe, watching television, drinking tea. ‘My wife knew her better.’

‘And Christine?’ Matthew asked. ‘Had you met her?’

‘Yes, her and Lucy have known each other for a while. Not when they were kiddies. Christine went to a special school. Her parents thought she’d be better off there. And Susan didn’t have the fight in her that my Maggie had when she battled to get Luce into mainstream education.’

‘You were there yesterday afternoon, waiting for Lucy, to bring her home. Did you see Christine? Or anyone waiting for her?’

Maurice Braddick thought for a moment. Matthew could tell that he was desperate to help. ‘I don’t know,’ he said at last. ‘I was just looking out for Luce, you know. I wanted her to know I was there for her. Because of all that had gone on earlier in the day. Her being so upset because the man she’d met on the bus was dead. Then speaking to you. Her day was turned upside down.’ Another pause and then a kind of confession. ‘I know it’s daft, but I’d been worried about her. Imagining all sorts. It was wonderful when I saw her, coming out of the room, her bag over her shoulder.’ He looked up at Matthew. ‘I don’t know what I’d do if anything happened to her. Since Maggie died, she’s all I’ve got left.’

Matthew nodded and realized that, with those words, Maurice was making him responsible for Lucy. You just make sure she’s safe, boy. I’m relying on you.

He stood up. By now Jen Rafferty and Ross May should have returned from Bristol. They should have more information. But he couldn’t lose the image of Christine Shapland as a thirteen-year-old girl, clutching her doll, looking lost.

‘Can you talk to Lucy again, see if she remembers anything?’ Because he thought now that Lucy hadn’t seemed sufficiently concerned about Christine’s disappearance. They were friends after all. But surely the idea of Lucy Braddick being part of a conspiracy to hide Christine Shapland was ridiculous.

‘I’ll try,’ Maurice said. They walked together to the door. ‘I’m not letting her go to the Woodyard tomorrow. Not until this is all over and I know it’s safe there. Will you tell Jonathan for me?’

Matthew nodded. Outside it was very dark and mild, and a gentle rain had started to fall. He walked back