Stone Cold Red Hot - страница 46

When Frances talked about Jennifer climbing over the wall and becoming distraught I thought perhaps she’d been imagining what waited for her at home and it had all been too much. I re-considered. Could she have seen something? There was a large garden shed at the bottom of the Pickering’s garden and it would be about the only thing you’d see from the Delaney’s wall. Had she seen something in the shed? I opened the door at the side of the kitchen and walked round to the back garden. It was uninspiring. Roger definitely hadn’t inherited his father’s green fingers. A couple of rhododendron bushes, some lavender and geraniums were all that stocked the borders, weeds were rampant in-between. The rest of the place was lawn, dotted with dandelions. I walked over to the shed and circled it, no windows. I went to the wall which was about four feet from the shed. I easily found foot holds in the stones and hoisted myself up until I was sitting on the top. A startled cat leapt down and shot away into the large trees at the bottom of the garden next-door. From my vantage point the shed obscured any view of the Pickering’s house. I shuffled along to the left and found I could see the upper floors of Mrs Clerkenwell’s. From the other end the house at the right, where the Shuttle’s had lived was screened by a Leylandii hedge which grew above the dividing fencing. There was precious little chance of Jennifer seeing any thing from there.

I made my way back to the kitchen. Frances may have been right, something she had said had got to Jennifer or it was the thought of going home. But why so sudden? Had she made up her mind to tell them that evening and then panicked? And run away? Where? With no money, no spare clothes. As far as I could tell that had been the last that any of her friends had seen of her. She’d missed Caroline’s birthday the following evening and no-one had seen hide nor hair of her since.

Suicide? I’d not thought of that. Her body never discovered? Or found but never identified? If she’d been anywhere in the Lancashire area it would have been all over the papers and the telly, her family or friends would have made a connection. But what if she’d gone to London or further afield, run out of hope there? Her parents had never reported her missing and it was doubtful whether Lisa’s attempt to do so would have received much attention so if an unidentified body had been found they wouldn’t have been able to compare dental records with those of missing persons.

It was all a mess, I thought, a hopeless, confusing mess. I rubbed my neck, trying to ease the tension lodged there. I heard Roger coming.

“Is she alright?”

“I think so. I’ve put her to bed. She’s absolutely livid with me.”

I nodded. “At least it’s out in the open, now. She knows that you’re serious. What do you think she’ll do?”

“There’s not much she can do. But she’ll be difficult to live with. She’s not used to me going against her.” He sighed and filled the kettle. “Did she tell you anything?”

“No.” Just lies. “Same old stuff about Jennifer going to Keele. Why do you think she’s so upset?”

“I don’t know, it’s like I told you – she won’t talk about it, like some ancient feud and I don’t know what’s behind it apart from Jennifer expecting the baby. But why she won’t tell you, tell me…” he broke off in exasperation then sighed. “Tea?”

“Coffee, if you’ve got it.”

Neither of us spoke until he’d made the drinks. He sat opposite me at the small table cradling the mug in his hands.

“Do you want me to carry on?”

“Yes.” He didn’t need to think about it.

“Roger,” I wondered how to phrase it, “I may not be able to find Jennifer, sometimes people just get lost, stay lost and with the time lapse…”

“I know,” he said. He cleared his throat. “I want you to keep looking. I want you to go tomorrow. You said you could check the records to see if she had the baby.”

“Yes. There’s something else to consider, too. You need to think about the possibility that Jennifer may no longer be alive.” The words sounded strained as I picked my way round the topic.