‘What? Martin isn’t the kind of man who disappears. Well, not without a reason. And not for long, anyway, although sometimes I wish he would.’
Rob showed her Martin’s phone. ‘Wherever he’s gone, he’s left his phone behind, and that’s not like him at all. He had a call this morning from somebody called Ted wanting to talk to him urgently about business.’
Katharine suppressed a hiccup, and held on to the kitchen counter to steady herself. ‘You say you’ve looked everywhere?’
‘All around the house. Every bedroom, and I’ve even checked the barns. He’s not here, Katharine, and he can’t have driven off anywhere because your Range Rover is still here.’
Katharine scraped out a wooden chair and sat down. ‘Oh, he’s sulking, that’s all. He’ll be back. He always has to be the centre of attention, and at the moment it’s all about your Timmy. And he’s very angry about this house, too, and your father’s will. Not just angry. He’s seething about it. And I mean seething. Being the oldest, he always thought the house would come to him.’
‘Has he done this kind of thing before?’
‘Once or twice. Usually after he’s been drinking. We were on holiday in France once and he disappeared for two whole days. When he turned up again, he expected me to apologise.’
‘Well, if that’s the case, I’m not going to report him missing just yet. The police don’t normally log an adult as missing for at least twenty-four hours, not unless there’s special circumstances. But if he’s not back by the end of the day, I’ll call that Sergeant Billings.’
Katharine stood up. ‘I’ll be back for my coffee in a minute. I have to change the bed and I think I might need to be sick again.’
When she had left the kitchen, Rob shook his head and said, ‘Martin can be such a dick sometimes. I only hope he hasn’t done anything stupid, like got his foot wedged in some crevice up on Pew Tor, or fallen into the Grimstone leat and drowned himself.’
19
At nine o’clock, John Kipling knocked at the door to report that last night’s specialist team of volunteers had still found no trace of Timmy. During the daylight hours today they would widen their search area as far as Willsworthy and Wistman’s Wood, both about eight miles away, but if they couldn’t find him by the time it grew dark, they would have to consider calling off the full-scale search.
‘It’s the dogs that make me think he’s not in the area any more,’ John told them. ‘They haven’t picked up so much as a sniff of him. But we’ll extend the search for as far as a five-year-old could feasibly walk, and a bit further.’
‘I’m afraid to tell you that we have another missing person,’ said Rob. ‘My brother, Martin. He came home from Tavistock last night a little the worse for wear, but we haven’t seen him since.’
‘We’re not panicking yet,’ put in Katharine, her voice sharp and steady like a schoolmistress. ‘He’s pulled this kind of trick before. But your people might keep an eye open for a rather bedraggled middle-aged man. They’ll be able to recognise him because he’ll be wearing a navy-blue blazer with gold buttons and he’ll look as if he’s suffering from a crashing hangover. If they do come across him, they might be so good as to suggest that he returns here to Allhallows Hall as soon as he finds it convenient.’
John looked at Rob as if to say, Gosh, she’s angry with him, isn’t she? If and when he eventually turns up, I’ll bet he’s in for the roasting of a lifetime.
As he turned to go, he snapped his fingers and said, ‘Nearly forgot to tell you. Ada called me first thing this morning. She’s dropping over to Monkscross to see Frank Coade around ten, so she reckons she’ll be here around half past eleven. She would have called you but she forgot to make a note of your number.’
‘Okay, fine.’
‘And – Rob – please don’t give up hope of us finding your Timmy. Children don’t just vanish off the face of the Earth. The rector and his partner are going to be joining us today so maybe we’ll have some divine assistance.’
Rob was about to say that he didn’t believe in God, but then he remembered that he did, at least for the time being. But if Timmy were never to be found, he knew that he would instantly go back to being a committed atheist. No God of any denomination would allow a dear little boy like Timmy to be lost to his parents forever.
*
Ada arrived at noon. It was lashing down with rain, but strangely the sun had come out from behind the clouds so that the courtyard and the garden were dazzling. She was wearing a black boat-neck sweater today and very tight black jeans, and she was accompanied by an elderly man in a hooded khaki raincoat. When he stepped into the porch and took his raincoat off, and shook it, Rob saw that he looked almost saintly, like medieval paintings of Joseph the stepfather of Jesus. His white beard was neatly trimmed, and although his crown was bald and mottled, he had two wings of long white hair. His eyes were bright, but the irises were so pale they were almost colourless, giving him the appearance of being blind, although he clearly wasn’t, and didn’t even need to wear glasses.
He was wearing a three-piece suit in purplish herringbone tweed, with padded shoulders and wide lapels, which suggested it must be at least twenty-five years old.
‘Rob – Vicky – this is Francis Coade I was telling you about – the gleaner. I hope you don’t mind but after I described your priest’s hole to him he was itching to come and see it
