‘They are not so old, but they do not work any longer. They had a business, a company that made skylight windows, but they sold it a few years ago. They have another home in Portugal and they spend a lot of time there, so they do not see as much of Zena as I do.’
‘Thanks. They may have been contacted already, in the same way that you were. If they’re away we’ll try to get in touch with them in Portugal. I’ll check once we’re finished here. Where do you live, Mrs Rainey?’ he continued.
‘A little closer to Grete, in Haddington; in the Nungate, by the river.’ Her chin trembled, the first sign of loss of control. ‘Little Zena spent a lot of time with me and she loved to play there. We had to watch her, to stop her falling in. You know how adventurous little ones can be.’ Then her face froze again and her eyes hardened.
‘Grete looked after her so well,’ she said. ‘We both did. And now this terrible senseless thing has happened.’ She stared at Pye. ‘This man, this creature. Why would he want to hurt Grete so badly and to take our precious child?’
‘At this moment we can only form theories about that,’ he replied, ‘but the main line of our thinking is that he didn’t act alone, that he had an accomplice, and that he was paid to abduct Zena. When we find him, we’ll know more.’
‘Be sure you do.’
‘We will, however long it takes us.’ He shifted in his chair. ‘Is Grete a full-time mum,’ he asked, ‘or does she have a job?’
‘She is a graphic designer. She is self-employed and has a little studio beside the cottage. She is quite successful; also it gives her something to do, with David being away at sea for so long.’
‘Is she on good terms with all her customers, or has she had any business difficulties that you know of?’
Mrs Rainey frowned. ‘There is one client she is having trouble with,’ she replied. ‘It was a business in Edinburgh; she did a lot of corporate identity work for them. She redesigned their logo and all their stationery. They approved her proposal and she spent a lot of time on it. She produced a manual for them and commissioned the print work on their behalf. She paid for it herself, assuming that she would be reimbursed. But when she submitted her final account . . . it was a lot of money . . . they were slow to pay.’
‘What did she do?’
‘Grete is not a confrontational person, Chief Inspector; also she has no commercial sense. Effectively I manage her company. After a couple of months I called the people. They promised payment but nothing happened. After another few weeks I wrote to them, and had a letter back saying that the matter was in hand. Those very words.’
‘What happened next?’
‘Next it all got really nasty. Still there was no money, so I sent a second letter, this time from a solicitor. This time the reply came from someone else, accountants. It said that the client’s company had been bought by another business, after it had been closed, wound up, liquidated. There was no money to pay Grete.
‘Naturally I went back to the lawyer. He advised that I had to pursue her customer personally for the debt, and so I did. I went to court on Grete’s behalf and I won. The money was still not paid. Now, the lawyer has taken charge and is seeking another order to recover the debt, by selling the customer’s assets if necessary.’
‘How much are we talking about?’ Pye asked. ‘Do you know?’
‘I believe it is just over fifty thousand pounds,’ Mrs Rainey said. ‘Grete will not get it all, I was told, for there is not enough money there, but there will be some once the assets are realised. I am unhappy about it. And so is Grete, for another reason.’
‘I’m not surprised.’
‘Ah, but I do not think you understand. It is not losing money that makes Grete sad. There will be enough to pay for the printing costs that she incurred on the client’s behalf. It will only be her own time that she loses. No, she is upset because the people involved will lose their home, their car, everything.’
‘It’s a hard old world,’ the DCI remarked. ‘I know because I work in it. If people have broken the criminal law they have to