Disordered Minds

recollection, the main sets were Grace Jefferies's and Howard's. In addition, policemen touched objects in the hallway and kitchen before the house was sealed. These prints were accounted for. Two or three unidentifiable sets were found on objects in the sitting room, which was considered unusual (most houses contain many more) until it became clear that Grace was a recluse. These sets were not considered suspicious. There were a number of partial prints about the house, which were thought to be Grace's, but they were too degraded for comparison.' ' He looked up. 'The rest is a diatribe about my suggestion that the defense team was negligent.'

'Oh dear!'

He consulted the letter again. ' 'We made every effort to substantiate our client's story, but I remain in no doubt that the verdict was a correct one.' ' He pushed the letter across the table. 'So unless they were even more negligent than I painted them,' he said lightly, 'which will be hotly disputed by my friend here, then Louise is lying and Cill was never there or-and this is Andrew's view-Grace cleaned the house of Cill's presence herself.'

'Why?'

'Because someone told her she'd be arrested if the police discovered she'd been harboring a runaway.'

'Who?'

Jonathan shrugged. 'Anyone you like,' he said again, 'but Andrew's guessing Mr. or Mrs. Burton.'

It was only when Rachel asked Billy to make a pot of tea that Sasha Spencer found out what he really believed, and she made a mental note never again to make assumptions about protective wives. Rachel waited until the door closed, then leaned forward and spoke urgently into the silence. 'He's not going to tell you this because he's trying to convince himself he's imagining it. He's been surfing the Net researching recovered-memory syndrome. Half the sites talk about it being a recognized psychological phenomenon, the other half say the memories are invented ... and he doesn't know which is the case. I keep telling him the false stuff comes out of dodgy therapy sessions, but he doesn't want to believe me. He's off his head because he can't sleep, and he's worried he's developed a thing about his dad because Robert keeps lecturing him about the firemen being on strike...'

George closed her eyes and lifted her face to the sun while Jonathan explained Andrew's theory. 'It's in bullet points again,' he said, extracting another sheet of paper. 'Cill took refuge at Grace's on the Friday night ... Louise saw her there on the Saturday morning ... she told her parents about it-probably on the Saturday afternoon-'

'I thought she told them on the Wednesday,' George broke in.

Jonathan put a finger on the line and looked up. 'Andrew says she never specified a day, only implied the Wednesday. Now, he thinks it's more likely she owned up after the police questioning because her mother had been so insistent the Burtons didn't know where Cill was.'

'OK. Next point.'

He returned to the page. 'One of the Burton parents went round to Grace's ... read Cill the riot act and told her to go home ... put the fear of God into Grace about harboring truants and runaways ... became anxious when Cill remained missing ... started to lose it when Louise reported the state of Grace's house on the Tuesday or Wednesday ... and lost it completely when Grace's body was found. Result: withdrawal of Louise from school in case she said anything, total clampdown on the story in the Burton household and enormous effort to distance themselves from Mullin Street and the Trevelyans.'

'So what does he think happened to Cill?'

'Pass.'

'Who killed Grace?'

'Pass.'

George shielded her eyes from the sun and squinted at him. 'They'd have known by the Monday morning that Cill hadn't returned home,' she pointed out, 'so why weren't they worried about Louise spilling the beans at school that day?'

'They told her not to.'

She eyed him with amusement. 'Did she always do what she was told? They couldn't stop her truanting, don't forget.'

'They threatened her with the police. Billy said she was frightened of them.'

George shook her head. 'I've never heard such a half-baked theory. There's only one explanation for why she wasn't confined to the house until the Wednesday: she didn't tell her parents she'd seen Cill in Grace's house until after she saw the blood on the window.'

Jonathan gave his head a thoughtful scratch. 'Maybe,' he mused.

'What other explanation is there?'

'The parents were worried someone would come asking questions if Louise didn't turn up on the Monday ... she was threatened with a thrashing if she didn't keep her mouth shut ... they told her she was to blame for not telling the police where Cill was ... she was a fluent liar and was used to keeping secrets, so they were confident she'd keep that one.'

'What sort of secrets?'

Jonathan shrugged. 'The rape? The reason for the fight?'

'Why didn't they make her go in on the Wednesday? All the same reasons apply.'

'The circumstances had changed. The blood on the window was a secret too far and she threw a fit.'

'Assuming she's telling the truth,' said George cynically. 'I'm not as easily seduced as Andrew.'

'She's an incredible flirt.'

'Oh dear!' George sighed. 'Please don't tell me Andrew fell for her.'

'Probably,' said Jonathan. 'He's a randy little beast-short arses always are-but I meant, she flirted with information. She told him it was Howard who did it, but what she was really doing was hooking him into her father and Roy Trent.'

Rachel pulled nervously at her hair. 'This isn't easy,' she said. 'I've known