Detectives Merry & Neal Books 1-3

by JANICE FROST

  Downstairs in the Pines’ kitchen, they stared at the drawing on the table.

  “It’s getting late. You’d better go,” Laura whispered.

  “The drawing?” Gabe asked.

  “I’ll keep it safe.” For a moment she thought he might grab it and run for the door. Instead, he nodded. At the door their hands reached for the handle at the same time. Gabe’s hand closed around hers, and she gasped. He pressed, gently.

  “I know this must be hard for you,” he said. Laura didn’t move. Her heart was beating fast. “I want you to know how grateful I am, and how grateful Tess will be when the truth comes out.”

  “This only proves he knew her, not that he killed her,” Laura managed. She understood but did not share his enthusiasm for the drawings. Artists sketched the human form all the time and for that they needed models. But did they draw the same woman over and over to the point of obsession as Ewan had done? Would the police see what she and Gabriel could see in Ewan’s drawings of Stephanie? How much they spoke of his love?

  Gabe nodded and removed his hand. “I’ll be in touch.” Suddenly he bent and kissed her on the cheek. Then he was gone.

  “Who was that man?”

  Laura froze. She turned to see Holly standing in the doorway, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

  “What’s the matter, sweetheart? Did something wake you up? Would you like a glass of milk?” She went into the kitchen, crossed to the fridge and opened the door. Holly padded, barefoot, across the kitchen floor.

  “Who was that man?” she asked again, in a small, insistent voice.

  “Just a friend,” Laura said, smiling.

  “Is he your boyfriend?”

  “No. Just a friend.”

  “He kissed you.”

  Laura wondered how much Holly had seen. How much had she heard? “Friends kiss sometimes,” she assured Holly. “Do you want to sit on my knee to drink your milk?”

  Holly nodded. “What’s that?” she asked, pointing to the kitchen table where the drawing of Stephanie lay on the polished surface.

  “Just a drawing. I did some drawing after you went to sleep.”

  “She’s pretty. Why isn’t she wearing any clothes?”

  “It was just easier to draw her that way.”

  This seemed to satisfy Holly’s curiosity. She nestled against Laura, drinking her milk, her eyelids beginning to droop. She yawned.

  “Are you sleepy? Do you want to go back to bed now?”

  Holly nodded. Laura took her in her arms and carried her upstairs. Rowan stirred as they entered the bedroom. Please don’t let her have another nightmare, thought Laura.

  She stroked Holly’s hair until the child drifted off to sleep, and then went back downstairs. The drawing was still on the table. She snatched it up and took it to her room where she hid it in her suitcase. Her nerves were ragged. She poured herself a scotch and sipped it slowly, feeling her anxiety ebb away. She poured another and began to feel relaxed and even sleepy. She kicked off her slippers and ruffled the shaggy cream fireside rug with her toes. Soon she was asleep.

  She woke to the sound of laughter from the kitchen. There she found Rhona and David embracing by the back door. She coughed, and Rhona and David disentangled themselves. Rhona blew her a drunken kiss. Laura hoped they were too drunk to notice that she too had been drinking. Then she remembered that David had been driving, and that he didn’t seem to drink these days. He was looking at her. “Right. I’ll just pour myself a glass of water and get off to bed. The kids are fine. No problems.”

  Rhona giggled. “We’re going to bed now too, aren’t we, David?” She gave him a lascivious smile and tickled him under the chin, swaying in his arms. They look like the perfect couple, Laura thought. Their affection for each other seemed genuine, but how could she be sure that it was love that bound them together and not some terrible secret from their past?

  Laura helped David guide Rhona upstairs. She was feeling giddy herself after the scotch, but Rhona was clearly drunk. Laura had just begun to undress when there was an urgent knocking on her door. She opened it to see David standing outside, Rhona hovering anxiously at his back, suddenly sober.

  “Where’s Shaun?” David asked. “Is he in there with you?”

  Laura stared at him, puzzled. “He’s in his cot. He’s been asleep for hours.”

  David strode across the landing to the girls’ room. He opened the door and went inside.

  Laura frowned. “I didn’t hear a sound from the baby monitor.”

  “Wake up!” David’s voice hissed from their bedroom. Laura went to the door in time to see him shake Rowan awake. Holly stirred in her bed and sat up, rubbing her eyes. Shaun was not with them.

  By now Rhona’s anxiety was approaching hysteria. “Where is he?” she cried, as first Holly, then Rowan began to cry.

  David barged out of their room and stood in front of Laura. “What’s going on? What have you done with our son?” he demanded.

  Laura’s heart lurched. She stared from David to Rhona, her head still fuzzy with alcohol. “I . . . I don’t know what to say. He was asleep in your room . . . I . . .”

  Holly tugged at her father’s trouser leg. “It must have been the man who kissed Laura,” she said.

  “What man? What is she talking about, Laura?” said Rhona.

  Laura’s head spun. “I . . . don’t know.” She looked down at her tiny betrayer.

  Rhona took a step towards her.

  “Gabe North was here earlier,” Laura blurted out finally.

  “North? What the hell was he doing here?” David said.

  Rhona tugged at his sleeve. “David! We’re wasting time. We have to call the police.”

  David kept his eyes on Laura. She took a step back but he reached forward, grabbed her wrists and dragged her roughly into the hallway. Holly began to sob again. Rowan wrapped her arms around her little sister and drew her close. Their pale, frightened faces made Laura feel ashamed. She was responsible for this.

  “Get dressed,” David commanded. “You’re coming to North’s house with me. You know where he lives, right?”

  Laura nodded, tearful. “Rhona’s right,” she said. “You should call the police.”

  David ignored her. He turned to Rhona. “No police, all right? I’ll get our son back. Trust me, Rhona.”

  Rhona nodded, and her eyes met David’s. Then she said in a thin voice, “Our son’s life is more important than any secret. You have until morning. Then I’m calling the police.”

  * * *

  David half-dragged, half-pushed Laura across the drive and into his Land Rover. “Where to?” he asked as the vehicle bumped down the lane.

  Laura croaked out Gabe’s address. Her thoughts were racing furiously and she wondered what she should say to David. There were few other cars on the road at this hour and the Land Rover sped along the Stromford Road at a reckless speed. All at once Laura became aware that she was crying. She touched her cheeks in wonder. She had shed no tears at the news of Ewan’s death. Poor Shaun, she thought. How sad that an innocent child had to be caught up in all of this.

  The Land Rover screeched to a halt outside Gabe’s house. David leapt out and began battering on the door. Laura shrank back in her seat, wishing she could slide across to the wheel and drive all the way to Edinburgh without stopping. Instead she ran to David, begging him to calm down. David shook her off and resumed pounding on the door with his fists.

  Gabe’s silhouette appeared in the opaque glass panel and then he was standing in the doorway. “Laura?” he asked, sounding sleepy and puzzled. He peered at her over David’s shoulder, but David grabbed hold of him. Laura stood by, watching helplessly.

  “Where’s my son?” David yelled at Gabe.

  It was immediately evident to Laura that Gabe had no idea what David was talking about, but David repeated his question with his hand balled into a fist, close to Gabe’s face.

  “Stop it! Please stop it! Can’t you see he doesn’t have a clue what yo
u’re on about?” she pleaded.

  David took a step back.

  “Laura? What’s going on?” said Gabe.

  “Someone’s taken Shaun.”

  For a moment Gabe stared at her, then at David. “Your baby?”

  “Yes, yes.” Laura answered. “David knows you were at the house. He thinks you took Shaun.”

  “No. I swear. I wouldn’t do that.” Gabe looked at David. “I would never harm a child.” He said to Laura, “You believe me, don’t you?”

  Laura nodded.

  “Then who did, dammit?” David rounded on Laura.

  “I think it might have been Stephanie Woodson’s daughter,” she said quietly. “Tess.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” asked David.

  Before Laura could answer, a voice called out, “Everything alright here?” She spun round to see that a small group of people had gathered nearby. The speaker, a man in his thirties, was making his way up the path towards them.

  Gabe waved at him. “Everything’s cool, Greg. Just a misunderstanding.”

  Greg looked dubious. Then he said, “Alright, mate,” and retreated to the gate. “Give us a shout if you need help.”

  “Please, come inside,” Gabe said.

  Laura and David followed him into the small sitting room where Laura had met Tess. Gabe disappeared for a moment, and then returned with a bottle of scotch and three shot glasses. Laura shook her head, but he insisted on pouring her a drink, saying, “I think we all need something to calm our nerves.

  “Would someone care to explain what’s going on?” David asked.

  “Tess Woodson contacted Gabe recently and asked for his help in finding out about her mother’s disappearance,” Laura told him.

  “So that’s what you were talking about at Ham’s party?”

  “Actually, no. That was a couple of days afterwards when we met again,” Laura informed him coolly. “Tess got in touch with Gabe a few weeks ago. She remembered him because he was looking after her the night her mother disappeared. Gabe wasn’t sure how to help her. Then Ewan was murdered, Tess saw it on the news and she had the idea that Gabe could approach me and ask me to—”

  “Spy on us?”

  “Find out what you knew about Stephanie’s disappearance.”

  “You spoke to Rhona about this?” David sounded wary.

  “Yes.”

  “And I assume she told you what we told the police at the time. We were together, the three of us, all evening. We were up until three in the morning playing poker and drinking, then we went to bed.” He glared at Laura. “Were you aware that North here was questioned by the police about Stephanie’s disappearance? That he was arrested and released because of lack of evidence?”

  Laura stared at Gabe. “You never said you’d been arrested.”

  “It wasn’t an issue. I was released almost immediately because I was babysitting Tess that night.”

  Laura felt a surge of anger. “But you weren’t, were you? At least not all night.” She turned to David. “And you weren’t all at your flat, were you? When are you all going to stop lying?” Suddenly she realised she was shouting.

  David shouted above her. “What do you mean he wasn’t babysitting? That was his bloody alibi! And how the hell would you know whether we were at home that night or not?”

  “Because Gabe went round to your flat and there was no one there.”

  “He told you that? And you believe him, do you? A stranger, someone you’ve hardly known for five minutes? You believe him instead of the people you’ve known for years? I thought you knew us better than that, Laura. Rhona was your best friend.”

  “Was she? A best friend doesn’t shut you out for ten years because her husband falls out with your husband. I’m beginning to wonder if I ever really knew any of you at all. Especially the man I was married to for ten years! Why didn’t I hear about any of this at the time? And please don’t say it’s because you didn’t want to distract me from my studies.”

  David shrugged. “But that was the reason. And, besides, we didn’t consider it that big a deal. None of us knew Stephanie Woodson.”

  “Oh come off it, David. Rhona’s already admitted to me that Ewan was — in her words — ‘besotted with Steph.’ And we,” she looked at Gabe, “have proof that he knew her.” David went pale. “Your wall of silence is crumbling, David.”

  “What proof?” David asked.

  “Drawings by Ewan. Of Stephanie.”

  David stared at the floor. “It’s possible she did some modelling for the art college. That would explain any drawings Ewan might have made of her. A bit of a jump to assume he knew her personally.”

  Laura put her hand to her forehead and groaned.

  “Look,” Gabe intervened, “This isn’t helping us find out what happened to Shaun.” He looked at Laura and sighed. “I think you could be right that it was Tess who took Shaun. She told me she’d kidnap the Pines’ baby if she didn’t get to the truth soon.”

  Laura gazed at him in disbelief. David looked ready to explode.

  “I’m sorry. I really didn’t think she meant it. I certainly didn’t think she’d actually do something so stupid.”

  “You’re all pathetic. Why can’t you just be truthful about things?” Laura said, shaking her head in disgust. She turned to David. “If you want your son back safely, you need to speak to the police. And you need to start telling the truth as well.”

  Chapter 17

  Tess stared down at the child. He was finally asleep in the carrycot she’d picked up at a charity shop earlier in the day. If the dreadful crying had gone on much longer she might have become completely unhinged. Prior to snatching him she had thought she’d made all the necessary preparations. She’d taken care of all his likely physical needs by stocking up on nappies and formula milk and an assortment of other items that the baby book she’d looked at told her were essential. But she hadn’t prepared for the child’s distress. He’d cried non-stop from the moment he woke up in her car until about half an hour ago, when he’d fallen into an exhausted sleep. And now she was exhausted too. She needed to put her head down and get some rest before he woke up again, but first she had to send a couple of texts.

  The first message was to her Aunt Eloise to let her know she was sleeping over at a friend’s house. Eloise had been pleased. She was always encouraging Tess to go out more.

  The second message was to Rhona Pine. An ultimatum. Tell the police what she knew about her mother’s disappearance or she would never see her son again. Even as she sent the message off, Tess wasn’t certain she could carry out her threat.

  She’d arrived at the Pines’ place a little after Gabe and parked in the lane before the turn-off for the track leading to their property. That way her car could not be seen from the house. From there, she had sneaked into the house using the back door, which had been left on the latch. If they found her, she was going to say that she had been unable to wait to hear the result of their search and had followed Gabe. She had watched Laura disappear into the loft after Gabe. All she had had to do was creep into the bedrooms and look for the baby. By another stroke of luck, she had chosen the right bedroom straightaway, and Shaun had stayed asleep until she placed him in the carrycot in the back of her car.

  Tess zipped herself into the sleeping bag on the floor of the unfurnished room. It was cold and she wondered if it was too cold for the child. She reached over and touched his flushed cheek with a finger. He was warm. No need to risk waking him by lifting him from the basket and bringing him into the sleeping bag with her. She curled into a ball, bringing her knees up against her chest and, despite the cold, was asleep in seconds.

  * * *

  Ava woke to the sound of her phone playing yet another unfamiliar ringtone. Her brother Ollie liked to surprise her by changing them without warning, usually to something he was into at the time. At least this morning it was something she recognised — the theme tune to a nineteen sixties TV series, The Champions.
Thanks to their dad’s nostalgia for the TV of his childhood, she and Ollie had been introduced to many of the classics of that era. Her own particular favourite was Randall and Hopkirk Deceased.

  “Ava?” Neal said.

  She muttered a sleepy hello.

  “The Pines’ baby has been abducted.”

  “Come again, sir?”

  Neal’s tone was impatient. “You heard. Get yourself down here immediately.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She padded into Ollie’s room and shook him awake. “Get up, bro’. I gotta go.”

  “Duh?”

  Ava had got up to go to the bathroom at two in the morning and seen a light still shining under Ollie’s bedroom door.

  “You heard,” she said, echoing Jim Neal. “Downstairs in fifteen if you want a lift to school.”

  “I’ll take the bus,” Ollie muttered, pulling the covers over his head.

  “Suit yourself.”

  Ava took a two-minute shower and was soon downstairs and pulling her down-filled parka off its peg in the hallway. Another minute and she was starting up her car. She glanced at the clock on the dashboard. Only fifteen minutes since Neal’s call. She pulled out of the lane leading from her cottage and turned onto the main road into Stromford. It was still dark this early in the morning, but Ava could see frost glistening on the grass verges. Instinctively, she slowed her speed, conscious of the lurking danger of black ice.

  Neal was waiting for her when she got to the station. Ava hoped there would be time for coffee but Neal was in a hurry.

  “Come on, I’ll fill you in on the way,” he said. They used Neal’s car. “Rhona Pine called 999 at five this morning. She said that Shaun had gone missing.”

  “Missing? As in kidnapped, d’you mean?”

  “Something’s not right,” Neal answered grimly. “They discovered Shaun was missing last night. The Pines had been out and Laura Cameron was babysitting. The Pines returned and went upstairs to bed only to find Shaun’s cot empty. Laura Cameron apparently thought he was safely asleep.”

  “Huh? They discovered he was missing last night and didn’t contact us until this morning?” Ava was incredulous.