Silent Voices

superiority – had got under her skin and made her lose the plot. He was into mind-games. That was how he made his living. He depended on the gullibility of his clients. This time she’d be calm. She’d take him through the facts, box him into a corner.
    She met Joe in the cafe in Tynemouth where they’d taken Freya. He was already waiting for her, jotting notes in his Filofax, frowning a bit like a schoolboy doing difficult homework. Vera ordered coffee and a slab of chocolate cake. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast in Barnard Bridge.
    ‘How did you get on at the Shaw house?’
    ‘Danny was in the Willows the morning Jenny Lister died.’
    ‘Was he now?’ Vera wasn’t sure if this was good news or if it just complicated matters. ‘So he might have seen what happened, even if he wasn’t implicated himself.’
    ‘I asked Shaw about Greenhough.’
    ‘And?’ Vera looked up sharply from her cake. Something about that place still haunted her.
    ‘Christopher Eliot came close to selling it for development, but the deal fell through in the end. I had the impression that Veronica vetoed it.’
    ‘I wonder why she’s so attached to it. An overgrown garden and a few statues. A boathouse. If Patrick had died there, instead of in Barnard Bridge, you could understand it.’ Vera realized she was talking to herself and turned her attention to Ashworth. ‘Still no news of Connie?’ She knew the woman’s disappearance was on his mind.
    ‘I’ve put out a search for the car. If she’s not home tonight, I think we should go public, get the press involved. If she just wanted some breathing space she’d have told us where she was going. She’s not a stupid woman.’
    ‘You do realize,’ Vera said, ‘that some folk will see her disappearance as evidence of her guilt. Go to the media, and she’ll be the awful witch that caused Elias Jones’s death and a multiple murderer. Her photos all over the paper and the television. Just what she’d want before the lass starts school. Not.’
    ‘Do you think she’s a killer?’
    ‘Nah.’ Vera had just poked the last bit of cake into her mouth and the crumbs went everywhere when she spoke. ‘I think she’s scared. And not just of the press. Someone’s told her to make herself scarce.’
    ‘It could be more sinister than that.’
    ‘You think someone’s killed her to keep her quiet?’ Vera licked her fingers to pick up the crumbs from her plate and the surrounding table. ‘It’s possible. But if she’s dead, we can’t help her and going to the press will be bugger-all use.’ She paused. ‘What does she know that makes it so important that she shouldn’t talk to us?’
    ‘She could recognize the bloke that turned up at her house the afternoon of Jenny Lister’s death. We were going to show her photos of all the male suspects this morning.’
    ‘Aye,’ Vera said. ‘Maybe. But if he wanted to be discreet about visiting the Eliots, he’d hardly have asked directions from a stranger. And if he was the person who dumped Jenny’s bag, the same applies.’ She thought the guy was probably some door-to-door salesman. Surely Connie would have recognized Morgan if he’d turned up at her cottage. No way would she have invited him in for tea. But then with his new haircut Vera herself hadn’t recognized him.
    ‘Something about the Elias Jones case frightened her off then?’ It was clear Joe wasn’t going to let this go.
    ‘That takes us back to Michael Morgan again, doesn’t it? If we discount Connie, he’s the only person implicated in Elias Jones’s death who could be the killer. Mattie Jones was in hospital. So for now let’s concentrate on him. After that we’ll go back to Barnard Bridge. It’ll be the little girl’s bedtime. If they’re not back by then, it’s time to worry.’
    She looked up at Ashworth, realizing that she might have sounded callous. He could be sentimental, especially when women and children were involved. But he nodded to show he agreed.
    ‘So,’ she said. ‘Morgan. I wondered if we should bring him in to the station.’
    ‘Have we got enough on him to do that?’
    ‘I’m not talking about an arrest,’ she grinned. ‘An invitation, that’s all. He’s an upstanding member of the community. I’m sure he’ll be delighted to help. He’d be less comfortable on our territory. What do you think?’ Usually that sort of question was rhetorical, but this time Vera really wanted Ashworth’s opinion.
    ‘I’m not