Read Online Kennedy 01 - Into the Shadows by Shirley Wells - Free Book Online Page A

difficult knowing what to say to them. They’re all so different, too. While we were praying for Alice and the family, one girl of ten was in tears and another girl, the same age, was happily chewing gum and writing “I love Dave” on her arm.’
    ‘That’s kids for you,’ Andy said. ‘Criminals in the making, most of them. I’m glad I don’t have your job, Tony. I’d never have the patience.’
    ‘Most of them are fine,’ Tony argued. ‘They’re our future, remember.’
    ‘Then we’re all doomed,’ Andy said with a rueful smile.
    Tony turned his attention to Jill. ‘Am I forgiven?’ he asked.
    ‘Of course.’ She wished he’d shut up about it, and she wished he didn’t make her feel so uncomfortable.
    ‘Forgiven?’ Andy asked curiously. ‘What have you been up to, Tony?’
    ‘Liz told me I was rude to Jill at the party,’ he explained.
    ‘It’s just that I’m fascinated by her work. It’s a bit like that film, The Silence of the Lambs, isn’t it?’
    ‘No/ Jill said drily, ‘it’s nothing like that.’
    Tony looked embarrassed, and Jill hoped she hadn’t made him look a fool.
    ‘The FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit is very different to anything we have in this country,’ she explained. ‘It has to be - you only have to think of the size of the country. And, well, that was a film. My work is - was totally different.
    Very boring,’ she added lightly.
    “I bet it’s fascinating,’ Tony said.
    “Fraid not,’ she said, managing another smile.
    ‘To think that Alice is gone,’ Andy murmured vaguely.
    ‘It doesn’t sink in, does it?’
    ‘I’ve just called on Mary and Gordon,’ Tony told them, ‘and I saw Jon. He’s staying with them, did you know? He seems to be holding up well, considering. Perhaps if you believe in God - well, I mean I believe in God, but if you devote your life to Him, perhaps you see some reason to it.
    Perhaps you can believe she’s gone to a better place.’
    At that, Andy looked as doubtful as Jill felt. ‘Michael won’t be going to a better place, will he?’ he said.
    ‘No,’ Tony agreed.
    “I was just saying to Jill that I can’t believe it of him.
    He’d never do such a thing. Never.’
    ‘Did you teach him, Tony?’ Jill asked curiously.
    ‘When he was a youngster, yes. He must have been - let me think - nine years old when the family came to the village so I only had him for a couple of years.’
    ‘What was he like?’
    ‘Bright, a quick learner, polite - the ideal pupil. A little out of it at times,’ he added thoughtfully, ‘but that goes with the territory.’
    Seeing Jill’s puzzled expression, he explained. ‘As the son of the vicar, you’re going to be considered different by the other kids. It’s the same for the headmaster’s son. Used to be the same for the local bobby’s son in the days we had a bobby.’ He grinned smugly at her, as if he’d caught her out. ‘You’re the psychologist.’
    Jill supposed he had a point, except she hadn’t thought that applied these days. Perhaps it did in a relatively small village like Kelton Bridge.
     
    ‘Kids like that go one of two ways,’ he went on. ‘They either keep to themselves and concentrate on their studies, or they become the local troublemaker, determined to show their mates they’re no different.’
    ‘And Michael concentrated on his studies?’ she guessed.
     
    ‘He did. A model pupil.’ He thought for a moment. ‘He brought an injured blackbird to school once. We reckoned it had got on the wrong side of a cat. During the lunch break, he took it to Betty Taylor’s place. She keeps the animal sanctuary on New Road. Eventually, the bird recovered and Betty released it, but Michael called to see that bird every morning on his way to school.’ He took a quick swig from his glass. ‘I’m with Andy on this. I don’t believe he could pull a knife on any living thing and certainly not his mother.’
    They fell silent, each thinking, Jill supposed, of young