‘I’m not sure…’
‘Auntie.’ Elsie had insisted on sitting so close to Roberta she was practically in her lap. Her sharp little elbows jabbed my sister every time she spooned more chocolate-chip ice-cream into her smeared and eager mouth.
‘Yes, Elsie.’
‘Guess what I’m going to be when I grow up?’
This was the kind of conversation Bobbie could deal with. She turned away from the three adult faces ranged opposite her.
‘Let’s see. A doctor like mummy?’
‘Nowayhosay!’
‘Um, a nurse?’
‘No.’
‘A ballerina?’
‘No. Give up? A
‘Are you, dear, that’s lovely.’
Danny smirked and spooned more ice-cream on to his plate, slurped it loudly into his mouth. I glared across at him.
‘You’re her role model, Roberta,’ he said.
Bobbie smiled uncertainly. We’re bullying her, I thought.
‘Let me clear the dishes,’ she said, stacking plates with a clatter.
‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ I said, ‘and then maybe we can all go for a walk.’
‘Not me,’ said Danny. ‘I’m going to stay and lie about, I think. That’s what I
Finn followed Roberta and me into the kitchen, carrying a couple of glasses as her excuse. She turned to my sister, who was furiously scrubbing clean dishes.
‘Where did you get your jumper?’ she asked. ‘It’s pretty; it suits you.’
I stopped in the middle of the room, kettle in hand. Bobbie smiled with delighted embarrassment.
‘A little shop near us, actually. I thought maybe it made me look too fat.’
‘Not at all,’ said Finn.
I felt a wash of emotions – astonishment at Finn’s aplomb, shame at my own neglect of Bobbie, a rush of swamping tenderness for my sister, who could be made so happy by such a small remark. But then I heard Bobbie asking Finn what exactly she was studying. There was a ring at the front door, a murmur of voices, and Danny appeared in the kitchen doorway.
‘A man called Baird,’ he said.
‘I’ll see him in the kitchen. Can you take the others through into the living room?’
‘I feel like a fucking butler,’ Danny said, looking across at Roberta. ‘I mean a damned butler.’
Baird came into the kitchen and began fidgeting with a mug on the table.
‘Do you want me to put some coffee into that for you?’
‘No, thanks. Your extractor fan wants fixing. It gets rid of kitchen odours. I could have a look at it if you want. Take it apart.’
I sat down opposite him.
‘What’s up?’
‘I was just passing.’
‘Nobody just passes Elm House.’
‘Dr Daley says that Miss Mackenzie’s shown some signs of improvement.’
‘Some.’
‘Has she said anything about the crime?’
‘Rupert, has anything happened?’
‘Everything’s fine,’ he said formally. ‘I just wanted to see how you were.’
‘We’re fine too.’
He stood up as if he was about to go.
‘I just wanted to ask,’ he said, as if it was an afterthought, ‘that you keep a lookout for anything unusual.’
‘Naturally.’
‘Not that there’ll be anything, but if you notice anything unusual, or if Miss Mackenzie says anything, dial 999 and ask for Stamford Central 2243. That’s the quickest way of reaching me any time, day or night.’
‘But of course I won’t be using that number, Rupert, because you explained to me how perfectly safe this situation was and that I had nothing to worry about.’
‘Absolutely. And that’s still the case, although we had hoped for a conviction by now. Is this the only exterior door apart from the one at the front?’ He grasped the handle and tried it. It didn’t seem very firm.
‘Should I have bars put on?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Rupert, wouldn’t it help if you told me who we were supposed to be looking out for?’
‘You’re not supposed to be looking out for anybody.’
‘Do you have a suspect or a description or an Identikit picture?’
‘We’re pursuing various possibilities.’
‘Rupert, nothing’s going to happen here. Nobody cares about Finn, and nobody knows she’s here.’
‘That’s the spirit.’
‘For God’s sake, Rupert, there was that lorry-park fire on Monday. How many veal transporters were destroyed? Forty?’
‘Thirty-four lorries suffered varying degrees of damage.’
‘So shouldn’t you be out harassing animal liberationists rather than worrying me?’
‘I believe that some of my colleagues are following a line of inquiry there as well. As a matter of fact…’ The sentence died away.
‘Have you got a suspect? Why are you really here?’
‘Looking in. I’ll go now. We’ll keep in touch.’
‘Do you want to see Finn?’
‘Better not. I don’t want to make her nervous.’
We walked to his car together. A thought occurred to me.
‘Have you heard from Mrs Ferrer?’
‘No.’
‘She wanted to see Finn, bring her some stuff, and I thought it might be helpful to Finn to meet her.’
‘That’s probably not such a good idea at the moment.’
‘I thought I might go and see her. I’m worried that nobody has given her any kind of help. Also I’d like to talk to her about the family, about Finn. I wondered if you could give me her address.’
Barid paused and looked back at my house, apparently deep in thought. He rubbed his eyes.
‘I’ll think about it.’
We shook hands and for just a fraction of a second he delayed letting go. I thought he was about to say something, but he stayed silent, just nodding a goodbye. As I turned round to return to the house I saw Finn’s pale face at her window. I wasn’t going to be put off so easily. And anything that delayed joining Danny and Roberta for a few minutes was additionally attractive. I picked up the phone and called Michael Daley.
Thirteen
