they believed me. But I do wonder whether her husband is the father. Could it be she’s run off with the real father?”
“She would have told her sister. Sisters confide.”
“Do they? I haven’t got a sister so I wouldn’t know about that.” “You have a brother?”
“No, but I don’t suppose brothers confide either.”
“So for the moment this was where she was last seen. In here? I’m surprised the TV cameras didn’t come in here.”
“Goodness me. That would have been something. I might have been on the TV. That would have excited Paul even more. Probably a good thing it didn’t happen.”
“There’s still time.”
“I have a feeling there isn’t. But anyway, someone must have seen her leave. It’s early days yet. One of these cameras they’ve put up to spy on us and keep us safe will have caught her. She’ll turn up, a few pounds lighter, perhaps, but I’m sure she’ll turn up.”
“I don’t know. With all that’s going on today, women being attacked in the street, the other missing women, Helen included, it’s all a bit of a coincidence.”
“Maybe.”
“The painting of Helen?”
“Mrs Harrison?”
“Yes, Mrs Helen Harrison. Did she just come right out with it? I’m pregnant, I want you to paint me? Did she throw off her clothes and say ‘like this’? That doesn’t seem like Helen at all.”
“I seem to recall covering this ground with you before. It wasn’t like that at all.”
“What then? Tell me? If there’s going to be a reconstruction I’ll have to know?”
“But, my goodness, you don’t look a bit like Mrs Harrison. You’re the wrong colour for a start. She was a blonde and very pale.” “I’m sure you could manage. You have every colour in the universe in those tubes.”
“You’ve seen the picture yourself. She was sitting more or less where you are. And she was thrilled with the idea, I have no doubt about that. I’m convinced it was a performance and she was loving every minute. I’ll go further. I think she’d rehearsed it. It seems ludicrous I know, but there you are. I remember it well, the dress around her waist baring her breasts. That’s how I would have chosen to paint her. Just like that.”
“So she was braless when she arrived?”
“That’s right, she was.” He wagged a paintbrush. “But don’t read anything into that. I had noticed before, when she came in to make the booking, that she often left off her…”
“Bra?”
“Right.”
“Can you tell that I’m not wearing a bra?”
“I hadn’t noticed. But today I’ve been concentrating on your face. But now you mention it I would have a problem because you are rather…slim, that’s the word.”
“Small is better. I have small breasts.”
“Yes, that’s it. Mrs Harrison was rather generous in that area.” “What then?”
“Then? Then she hitched up her dress and we got on with it.” “If I wanted you to paint me that way…?”
“I would think you were joking.”
“And if I wasn’t?”
“Then we would start again.”
“What is it about the nude?”
“The experts will tell you it has to do with the timeless universal quality of art. To wrap a figure in clothes immediately dates the painting. You’re restless, getting uncomfortable. Shall we take a break? I’m nearly through in any case. I’ll pour us some more wine.
That one is wearing off. I like the way it brings the colour to your face.”
“I’m fine. More than one glass will go to my head. I’m not used to it at all. Do you think Paul could have something to do with Sandra’s disappearance?”
“Could he be the father? I doubt it. I think he only saw her the once.”
“And no one’s seen her since?”
Mr Lawrence shrugged. “Someone must have done.”
“Is it possible that Paul met Helen?”
“Mrs Harrison? It’s possible. This is his hunting ground, after all, and she came here. Tell me what you’re getting at?”
“OK,” she said. “Let me play detective.” A smile fluttered about her lips. She continued, “We have a number of missing women. None of them took their personal possessions.”
“Didn’t they? I didn’t know that.”
“It was in the paper, I think. Anyway, that means that they didn’t run off. Some of the women were involved with you, one through your art class, another through the painting. They were married, one of them happily – ”
“Who knows whether they were happy?”
“Granted.”
“What else?”
“They were expecting. Did you use Sandra as a model?”
“For the class?”
“Personally.”
“No, not for the class or personally.”
“It’s a fascinating idea.”
“Yes, I can see that. And certainly I’ll agree with you that I am a common factor.”
“And their pregnancies, and the fact that they are local.”
“Right, they have all that in common.”
“Did Helen ever visit The British?”
“I never saw Mrs Harrison there. It’s not really her kind of place.”
“What about local restaurants? We know that Paul met Sandra.
Maybe he met Helen too. Maybe, after finishing a session with you, Helen went for a drink or a meal in one of the local restaurants, and there she bumped into Paul.”
“Let me stop you there. Mrs Harrison sharing a drink with young Paul Knight could not happen in a thousand years. Mrs Harrison would die sooner than acknowledge the existence of a youngster like Paul
Knight. I’m not for one moment suggesting that she is choosy with her company, simply that, for her, the Paul Knights of the world don’t exist. In any case, at the time of Mrs Harrison’s disappearance, Paul was being entertained at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Hold it just there!”
“Well, he is a bit odd.”
“I mean keep still. I’m dealing with your eyes. They seem to have narrowed slightly.”
“Sorry. I was getting carried away. I can’t get Helen’s disappearance out of my head. Perhaps it’s an unhealthy interest. She was my friend.”
“I hope she still is.”
“Of course.”
“I’ve noticed during this session that the hem of your dress has moved up a little. It is undoing my composition.”
She moved one long leg against the other and said, “It must be the wine. I feel quite giddy. It’s just that… I was just wondering about that reconstruction you mentioned. Whether it would jog a memory, something that you missed, something important.”
“My goodness, I was wondering about that too.”
Chapter 32
He had things to do, errands for Mr Lawrence. He had to stay in the shadows for in the light the filth were
