He greeted her civilly and asked if Miss Musgrave was about. When speaking to Mrs. Straw, everyone on the staff referred to everyone else as Miss, Mrs. or Mr.
'She's busy.'
'In her study?'
'Busy, I said.'
'Yes, but where can I find her?'
'She doesn't want disturbing.'
'I understand that. I'm asking where she is.'
'On the phone.'
Some of Mrs. Straw's statements, if taken literally, had a surreal quality. Diamond had a mental picture of Julia doing a balancing act on top of the phone. 'I didn't actually ask you what she was doing.'
Silence.
'The one in her office?' he asked. There were three phones that he knew about.
Still no word.
'I'll go in and see for myself, then. Where's young Naomi this morning?'
If anything, Mrs. Straw pressed her lips more tightly shut. This morning she was even more unobliging than usual. She continued to knit with tight, tense movements.
'Aren't you in charge?' Diamond asked, nettled by the dumb show. 'Shouldn't she be out here with the others?'
'She's gone.'
He tensed. 'What do you mean-gone?'
'It's plain English, isn't it?'
'Gone away?'
She gave a nod.
'Left altogether, do you mean?'
'Collected this morning.'
Mrs. Straw hadn't even looked up from her knitting. She gave the information casually, as if it were common knowledge, and now she had started the next row.
Diamond was so astounded that he could only say an inane, 'What?'
'Are you deaf?'
He turned away and went to look for Julia Musgrave.
Just as Mrs. Straw had said, Julia was on the phone. Seeing him in the doorway of her office, she said into the phone, 'It's all right. He's just walked in. I can tell him myself.' She put down the phone and said, 'I was talking to your wife.'
'My
'Trying to contact you. I didn't know you were coming in. I have some news that might upset you.'
'Mrs. Straw just told me about Naomi.'
Her face tightened. 'That woman! She handed the child over without informing me or the social services or anyone else.'
'Weren't you here?'
'It all happened before I arrived. About eight this morning, when the children were having breakfast. The only staff here were Mrs. Straw and the Malaysian girl who cooks. I gather that this Japanese woman knocked at the door and announced that she was the mother and had come to collect her child. As proof of identity, she produced a passport and a photo of Naomi and Naomi definitely recognized her, according to Mrs. Straw.'
He was trying to assimilate the information. 'A passport and a photo, or a passport containing a photo?'
Julia shook her head. 'The photo was separate. The passport belonged to the woman, but the child was mentioned in it.'
'Naomi?'
'Some other name. Naomi was the name we gave her, if you remember.'
'What was this woman like?'
She shook her head. 'You know what it's like trying to drag information out of Mrs. Straw. I was so incensed when she told me that she'd handed Naomi over without reference to anyone that I lost my chance of a normal conversation with her.'
'We'd better have her in here immediately,' said Diamond. 'She's got to give a proper account of what happened.'
'All right. You'll stay?'
'You bet I will. I'll fetch her now.'
In the garden he got a glare fit to petrify, but Mrs. Straw folded her knitting and went with him.
They sat stiffly among the children's toys and pictures in Julia's office, Diamond on the wooden trunk, Mrs. Straw on a chair just inside the door, as if poised for a quick exit.
Julia explained that she wanted to go over the details of what had happened that morning.
Pointedly ignoring what was said to her, and thrusting out her chin defiantly, Mrs. Straw demanded, 'What's he doing here?'
Diamond drew breath to lambaste her, but Julia got in first, and her rebuke was the more effective for being spoken in a soft, measured voice. 'Mr. Diamond, as you very well know, takes a special interest in Naomi. He has worked for the police.'
'It's nothing to do with the police.'
'I didn't say it was, but I have to be sure about this woman who claims to be Naomi's mother. She could be an impostor.'
'Impossible,' said Mrs. Straw.
'Not at all. It's quite possible that some childless woman could have seen Naomi on television and decided that she could pose as the mother.'
Mrs. Straw was unimpressed. 'The woman had the photo of Naomi.'
Diamond intervened. 'Before we go into that, can we have it from the beginning, when the woman arrived?'
Without a glance in his direction, Mrs. Straw said, 'I already told Miss Musgrave.'
'You gave me the essential facts,' said Julia. 'Now we need to know more.'
Mrs. Straw sat back, exhaled noisily and folded her arms. 'There isn't any more.'
'Then tell me again, so that Mr. Diamond can hear exactly what you recall.'
She rolled her eyes upward in protest. 'It's simple enough. I answered the door when the children were having breakfast.'
'What time?' Diamond asked.
'Round about eight. I don't have a watch. It was this Japanese woman. She asked if the little girl who was on the television yesterday was here. She said, 'I am the mother.''
'What was she like? Can you describe her?'
'She was Japanese.'
This, apparently, said it all, so far as Mrs. Straw was concerned.
'And…?' Diamond prompted her.
'They all look the same to me.'
'What age would she have been?'
'I can't say. You can't tell.'
'Young enough to be the mother of Naomi?'
'I suppose so.'
'What was she wearing?'
'I'd have to think about that.'
'Please do. Now.'
After a pause, she said, 'A gray jacket of some kind and trousers to match.'
'Shoes?'
'Black, I think.'
