Silent Voices

told him. That must have really freaked him out. What if they’d been best mates and Jenny had confided in her about the relationship? The anxiety ate away at him. First he threatened Connie by phone, then he persuaded his mother to take them to the boathouse.’ Vera looked up at them. ‘But deep down he was just jealous of the care Connie gave to her daughter. This case was always about kids and their parents. Simon Eliot was like a little lad in a tantrum, smashing what he knew he could never have.’
    ‘Eliot almost killed a four-year-old child because he was jealous of her?’ Ashworth was incredulous.
    Vera shrugged. ‘We’ll probably never know exactly why he threw her in the water. His brother had drowned, and so had his sister’s son. Maybe there on the boathouse deck he saw it as payback time.’
    ‘Is that what you think this was all about?’ Charlie raised his head far enough from the table to speak.
    ‘Doesn’t matter what I believe, does it? The CPS has got him for two murders that he’s admitted. They probably won’t push him on the child. And Connie won’t want to go through another court case, so I imagine she’ll be happy to let it drop.’
    ‘Another child that’ll be terrified of water all her life,’ Holly said.
    ‘Aye, maybe.’ But Vera wasn’t sure about all this cause and effect. Life was less predictable and more messy than that. Best leave the theories to the shrinks and social workers. ‘Or she could turn out to be an Olympic swimmer.’

 
    Also by Ann Cleeves
    A Bird in the Hand Come Death and High Water
    Murder in Paradise A Prey to Murder
     
    A Lesson in Dying Murder in My Back Yard
    A Day in the Death of Dorothea Cassidy
     
    Another Man’s Poison Killjoy
    The Mill on the Shore Sea Fever
     
    The Healers High Island Blues
    The Baby-Snatcher The Sleeping and the Dead
     
    Burial of Ghosts
    The Vera Stanhope series
    The Crow Trap Telling Tales Hidden Depths
    The Shetland series
    Raven Black White Nights Red Bones Blue Lightning
     

 
    Acknowledgements
     
    I’m grateful as always to the old team – Julie, Catherine, Helen, Roger, Jean, Rebecca, Sara and her associates worldwide. Thanks also to the new team – Elaine, Paul, Brenda and David – who have helped me look at my characters in a different way.

 

    First published 2011 by Macmillan
    This electronic edition published 2011 by Macmillan
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    ISBN 978-0-230-75811-7 PDF
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    Copyright © Ann Cleeves 2011
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