Read Online Finding Jennifer Jones by Anne Cassidy - Free Book Online Page B

wearing short trousers and a cap but the girl was wearing a dress, tied up at the back with a bow. Creeping behind them was a pickpocket and the slogan was Keep Your Valuables Safe!
    Kate thought of the families who trudged in and out of the tourist information office trying to finds ways to keep their children entertained. They saw hundreds every week. Since she’d worked here she’d probably spoken to more than a thousand parents who all asked similar questions. Is there anything for the children to do? Are there child-friendly attractions? What can we do with the kids? The parents were often nice but some were irate, annoyed; spending two weeks in close contact with their children was often not the relaxing experience they thought it would be.
    And the children themselves were sometimes badly behaved.
    “Aimee bought Louise a lovely frock, yesterday,” Grace said. “Broderie anglaise. Absolutely beautiful and cost a bit, but you know Aimee. Nothing’s too good for that little girl.”
    Kate murmured agreement and then, in that moment, she remembered how the teddy bear badge had ended up in Jodie Mills’ pocket. She almost cried out.
    It had happened on the previous Thursday, the day before the girl went missing.
    The family had come into the shop about four o’clock. Kate noticed the time because she was starting to think about leaving work at five and was glancing at the clock. The mother was pushing a young child in a buggy and the father had a toddler in his arms. An older girl, who looked about ten, seemed apart from them, and was on the other side of the shop, flicking through leaflets, taking fliers out of the stacks, looking at them and and then discarding them haphazardly. Every now and again the mother called across Don’t, Jode! but the girl just continued. Kate was filling in some paperwork and only glancing at her from time to time. She did notice a teenage boy outside the door standing waiting. Kate briefly wondered if he was with the family but mostly she just tried to concentrate on the spreadsheet she was filling in. Then the girl started to sing, a recent pop song that Kate knew, and she kept repeating the same two lines over and over. Even Aimee stopped talking to look over at the girl.
    The toddler got down from his father’s arms and came over to Kate. He pointed at the badge she was wearing, shaped like a teddy bear. He liked it. He was sweet and was chatting nonsensically at her, pointing at the bear’s face on her badge.
    She gave it to him. He ran off to his dad and started a nonsense conversation with him. Kate looked away. It was twenty past four and as it was quiet she thought she might be able to leave work early. The older girl moved across her field of vision and then there was the sound of the toddler crying. Kate glanced over. The girl had Kate’s badge in her hand. The girl made eye contact with Kate as if to challenge her to say something but then the door of the shop opened and a group of elderly people came in. Kate groaned. She wouldn’t get away before five after all.
    “You all right?” Grace said. “You look a bit distracted.”
    “I’m fine,” Kate said shakily. “I’ve just got to make a call.”
    She went into the staff area at the back of the shop and called Julia. When her probation officer answered she poured out what had happened and asked her to arrange another interview with DI Heart. Julia agreed, sounding pleased and positive and Kate ended the call smiling, feeling a sense of relief.
    The interview couldn’t take place until the early evening. Kate took the bus to Exeter because Julia couldn’t make it. She didn’t mind that Julia wasn’t there. She just wanted to get it over and done with. She was shown straight into the same interview room that she’d been in days before. After a few moments DI Heart came in and gave the smallest of smiles. The detective pulled out a chair and sat down. She looked pale, her face drained of colour, no make-up,