Read Online Lullaby by Claire Seeber - Free Book Online Page B

God knew when it had last been changed. It was stifling already, and the bedside clock said it was only 8 a.m. If she wasn’t getting up to help me, Maxineslept in for hours. She must have stayed out last night. I pulled back the curtain and threw back the little casement window to let some air in. A saucer of fag-ends rested on the ledge outside; presumably a boyfriend’s. Mickey would have a fit; it was his smart Thomas Goode china. Wrinkling my nose, I picked up the once-white saucer, dislodging a bus-pass holder tucked underneath. The plastic was damp with dawn dew, so I wiped it on my dressing-gown and chucked it on the small desk beneath the window. But as I turned to go back downstairs, something caught my eye. As it landed, the holder had fallen open, and tucked inside was a folded page of passport photographs. Photos of my son.
    I took the stairs two at a time, brandishing the shiny strip like some kind of trophy, thrusting them at the policeman, gabbling about the girl I’d welcomed into my home, paid to be in my home.
    Calmly, Silver studied them. I began to bite my thumbnail. Then he pointed out the two photos that featured both of them: Maxine grinning, her squashy nose in profile, holding up my baby; Louis in green and white stripes, staring huge-eyed and surprised into the lens.
    ‘She’s his au pair. She’s probably very fond of him, isn’t she? I mean, he’s a cute kid. Why not have photos taken?’
    ‘Why hide them? She’s got loads of photos of Louis. Her ex bought her some flashy digital camera, for God’s sake. Why go to all the hassle of sticking Louis in a photo booth?’
    Silver shrugged imperceptibly. ‘Who says they were being hidden? Do you have any reason to suspect Maxine? You didn’t say so last night.’
    ‘Not really. But—well, where is she now?’
    ‘Has she stayed out before?’
    I considered for a moment, then nodded glumly. ‘Yes. I suppose she has.’ Quite often, if truth be told.
    ‘So, honestly, why not have them taken? It’s the kind of thing kids do to fill in time. God knows, babysitting can be quite dull.’
    He was so horribly detached; I, on the other hand, so horribly desperate.
    ‘Oh, and you’d know, would you?’ I snapped.
    ‘Yes, I would actually.’
    ‘I don’t think you’re taking this seriously.’ I poured myself a glass of water just so I didn’t have to look at him, drank long and hard.
    ‘Believe me, I am. Look, really, I don’t mean to insult you, Mrs Finnegan. Have you any other worries about the lass? You must tell me.’
    I didn’t. Not a single one that came to mind right now.
    ‘Are you concerned that—’ he paused.
    ‘That what?’
    Silver twisted his gum packet between two fingers. ‘That your husband and the au pair might be—’
    ‘No!’ I stopped him quickly. ‘Absolutely not. It’s never even crossed my mind.’
    ‘So we’ll wait until she’s back and talk to her before we rush to any assumptions. Does she have a mob—’
    ‘I’m sorry—’ I was abrupt. He wasn’t all that tall,but still he towered over me. For a moment I saw myself like some scrappy little terrier yapping at a big sleek labrador. It riled me even more. ‘—perhaps you haven’t noticed, but my son’s still missing? I’m just trying to be useful.’
    He took a deep breath. ‘I realise that. And I want to know everything you think is relevant. So,’ he rubbed his jaw, ‘DC Whitely from Lambeth tells me that you reported an argument with your husband.’
    I was thrown. ‘I didn’t.’
    ‘Well, he seemed to think you’d rowed about something.’
    ‘I never said that. It was just a silly, you know, disagreement about—’ About chocolate cake. About hormones and insecurity.
    ‘About?’
    ‘About nothing, really. This isn’t helping, DI Silver. It’s irrelevant.’
    ‘How can you be sure?’
    ‘Because I am. If you really want to know, it was about me eating Mickey’s cake. It wasn’t, you know,
that
kind of row.’
    ‘What