Silent Voices

He’s young enough to be your son. Do you really think he gives a tinker’s curse for you?
    She got to her feet and went to the window. The fog hid all the lights in the valley. It was as if she was marooned, alone in the world. Unsteadily she carried the bottle and her glass into the kitchen. If she had another drink now, she knew she’d be up all night, and she had to show the ghost of her father that she was good at her job. That she knew what she was doing.
    Kimmerston police station and the morning briefing. Ashworth had been ready when she’d arrived at his neat little house in the tidy estate of wannabe executive homes; he’d appeared through the front door before she’d even left the car. And she’d been gracious. Had apologized, which was almost unheard of for her. So now there was an uneasy truce between them.
    She looked around the room at her team. ‘We’ve cocked up big-style.’ Vera thought that was noble of her, the ‘we’. ‘How did we miss the Morgan/Willows connection?’
    ‘Because he isn’t really a staff member,’ Charlie said. ‘He uses the room in the health club, pays a nominal rent for it because they think he pulls in punters for the other stuff. But he’s self-employed, so he wasn’t on the staff list they sent, and he’s not officially a member.’
    He was nervous, which pleased Vera no end. So nervous that the hand holding the polystyrene coffee cup was shaking and there was a tremor in his voice. She thought Ashworth would have been on the phone to Charlie as soon as he got in the night before: Just
    make sure you get your story straight. The boss is on the warpath.
    ‘Do we know whether he was in the hotel the morning Jenny Lister was killed?’
    ‘No one can tell me.’ Charlie looked at her, cowed, waiting for her to lose her temper. ‘He doesn’t have to sign in like the employees.’
    ‘Well, we’d better find out then, hadn’t we?’ Vera looked round at them. ‘No, I’d better find out. I could do with going back to the hotel anyway. I’ve lost my feel for that place, but I know it better than the rest of you. Does Morgan have a pass to get him through to the pool area?’
    ‘Yes, he’s got a staff pass. He negotiated it when he set up business there. He swims and uses the gym most days he’s in.’
    Charlie was starting to relax. Vera was tempted to let rip at him to keep him on his toes, but she’d woken up feeling generous, proud of herself because she’d stopped drinking at a sensible point in the proceedings. ‘What do we know about Freya Adams?’
    He’d even made notes on Freya and read from them now, becoming more fluent as she allowed him to speak without interruption.
    ‘Freya Adams started working at the Willows about two years ago, just a Saturday job at first because she was still at school, then full-time over last summer holidays and at Christmas. By that time she’d started at Newcastle College. She even moved into the staff quarters over Christmas because her parents had gone abroad. They’d fixed up for her to stay with her grandmother, but it seems that didn’t quite work out. She found it too restrictive apparently. Her nan treated her like a kid. At least according to Ryan Taylor, the assistant manager.’
    ‘Does she still work in the hotel?’ Ashworth asked.
    There was a quick look at the notes. ‘Not since she moved in with Morgan. He wants her to concentrate on her studies.’
    ‘Not restrictive at all then!’ This was from Holly, who’d been trying to put in her two penn’orth since the briefing started.
    ‘Does the management at the Willows know Freya is pregnant?’ Vera asked.
    ‘Ryan had heard a rumour, but hadn’t discussed it with Morgan.’ Charlie paused. ‘I got the impression that our Michael keeps himself to himself. He doesn’t mix much with the hotel staff. Sees himself as a bit superior. And of course he doesn’t drink, and most of the socializing involves alcohol.’
    ‘Why did he go to the Christmas party then? You wouldn’t have thought it would really be his thing.’ Vera hated the works Christmas party herself. Everyone trying to be jolly. Crap food and crap booze. No way could she face it sober.
    ‘I don’t know.’ Charlie looked up uncertainly from the scrap of paper in his hand, lost. ‘It surprised them all. He wasn’t even invited, he just turned up.’
    ‘Maybe he had his eye on Freya even then?’ Holly said. ‘I have him down as a bit of a predator. The way he