Read Online Abattoir Blues by Peter Robinson - Free Book Online Page B

names and addresses, mostly just a street name, occasionally a telephone number Alex retrieved from her mobile’s contacts. It was enough to be going on with. Back at the station, they could put DC Masterson on it. Nobody could track down a name, address or phone number as fast as she could. ‘We’ll check again with them all,’ said Annie. ‘Just in case. One of them might remember something he said, something that might not have seemed important at the time.’
    Alex disappeared into the other room and came back with a photo of Michael posing casually on the balcony, with the view of Eastvale spread out in the background. ‘That was taken two weeks ago,’ she said. ‘I took it myself. You remember, that nice weekend near the end of last month?’ She handed over the photo, then put her hands to her face. ‘Oh, God, what can have happened to him?’
    ‘I know you’re worried, Alex,’ Annie said, ‘but I’ve had a lot of experience with this sort of thing, and there’s almost always no cause for concern. I bet you we’ll have Michael back home with you in no time.’
    ‘It’s true,’ added Doug Wilson. ‘Leave it to us. Is there anywhere you think he might have gone? A favourite place, a hideaway? You know, if he got upset about his father, or you had an argument or something? Somewhere he’d go to be alone, to think things over, feel safe and secure?’
    Annie thought it was a good question to ask, and she watched Alex as she thought her way through it and framed an answer.
    ‘I don’t really know. I mean, he always feels safe and secure here, with us. He doesn’t need an escape. We haven’t really had any fights, not serious fights where either of us has gone off alone. Michael does like long walks by himself, though. I think it’s a habit he developed in his childhood, you know, growing up on the farm.’ She laughed. ‘You had to walk a long way to get anywhere, where he lived.’
    ‘Anywhere in particular?’ Wilson asked.
    ‘Just around the dale in general,’ said Alex, ‘though I’m sure it’s not something he’d do in this weather.’
    ‘We have to cover all the possibilities, Miss— Alex,’ said Wilson.
    Alex favoured him with another smile. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘If I could think of where he might be, don’t you think I’d tell you? I can’t go looking for him myself. I don’t have the car, and there’s Ian . . .’
    ‘Don’t worry,’ Annie assured her, standing and giving Wilson the signal to close his notebook. ‘It’s our job. We’ll take care of it. Can we have a look at that computer now?’
    They drew a blank on Michael’s computer. Nothing but a lot of spam and a few harmless emails from friends – nothing from Morgan, no references to tractor-thieving sprees, as far as Annie could gather – and his photo collection, along with various software programmes for manipulating images. The photos, mostly landscapes and people at work around farms, were as good as the framed ones in the living room. There was no porn, and no record of porn sites in his bookmarks or browsing history. Either he was happy with what he had, or he had gone to great pains to erase his tracks. Annie guessed the former. Most of the bookmarks were for travel-related sites and photo-posting services such as Flickr. If this business went any further, of course, the computer would have to go to Liam in technical support for a thorough examination, and if there was anything dodgy on it, or ever had been, he would find it, but there was no reason to suspect that it was hiding deep and dirty secrets just yet.
    ‘You’ll ring me as soon as you find him?’ Alex asked at the door.
    ‘We’ll ring you,’ said Annie. She took out a card, scribbled on the back and handed it to Alex. ‘And I hope you’ll call me if you hear from Michael. My mobile number’s on the back.’
    They didn’t even bother trying the lift. On their way down the stairs, Annie heard a cry of pain as they went