Read Online Rainstone Fall by Peter Helton - Free Book Online

gently, reverentially, as though the kid was dead already. If I didn’t make the right decision now then he soon might be. I had to buy myself some time until I could see what this was all about.
    I gently quizzed Jill about herself. She’d left another council place in Bristol’s Fishponds area behind, along with an ex-boyfriend, and had struck lucky being rehoused to Harley Street.
    ‘Did you break up with him?’ I asked.
    ‘Yes. None too soon neither. Stew’s a lazy sod who does a bit of gardening work when it suits him and watches telly all day when it doesn’t and Louis was beginning to pick up bad habits from him.’
    ‘How did the two get on?’
    ‘A bit too well, actually. Stew constantly undermined me when it came to Louis. Filled his head with his crap home-baked philosophy, turned him into a difficult boy. That’s one of the reasons I dumped Mr Stewart Tanner.’ She spat the name out with considerable force.
    ‘Could he be behind this? As a kind of revenge? Could he have taken Louis to get back at you?’
    ‘Stew? I doubt it. Not if it means getting off the sofa. And I didn’t leave a forwarding address. I think he’s too apathetic to get worked up about being dumped. Being dumped isn’t a new experience for him. He’s useless but kind of cute, that’s the problem. He’s probably got some other dumb girl cooking his tea already and in six months she’ll dump him too if she has any sense.’
    I picked up the note and wandered over to the window with it, trying to think. All kidnappers will threaten to kill their hostage if you involve the police. You ignore it and call the police and comply – or pretend to – and you pray a lot. Yet this was subtly different. There was no ransom demand as yet. The only demand was for Jill to contact me and for me to ‘get involved’. I was here. I was involved.
    ‘Why have they done this, Mr Honeysett? Why did they want me to call you? You must have some idea!’
    ‘I’m afraid I haven’t. As I told you on the phone, we’ll have to call the police, it’s the only way.’ I pulled out my mobile.
    ‘No! No, we can’t, they’ll kill him!’
    ‘They won’t kill him as long as they think they’ll get what they are asking.’
    ‘You don’t know that, how can you know that! We’re not getting the police involved.’ Jill stood up, agitated.
    Annis rose too and put a gentle arm around her shoulders. ‘It’s the only way, I’m afraid.’
    Jill shrugged her arm off. ‘He’s my son. No police! It’s my decision.’
    Annis and I looked at each other but for once the silent communication seemed to fail. Jill was right, it was her decision. I couldn’t make it for her. Yet I was here. I looked at the ransom note again. The demands had already been met: get Honeysett involved. I turned my back on the women and looked out on to the street. It glistened darkly in the rain that drummed a violent tattoo across the nests of black swollen bin liners on the pavement. There was a square bit of paper stuck under the windscreen wiper of the Landy. I looked at it for a bit, dismissing the possibility of a parking fine – too late in the evening. I checked my watch: ten to eight. A flyer then. None of the neighbouring cars had one.
    ‘Do you have anyone who could stay with you? A friend or a relative?’ I asked.
    She hesitated. ‘My sister, I suppose.’
    ‘Where does she live?’
    ‘Trowbridge. But I’m not sure. We don’t exactly get on.’
    ‘Think about it. Now what’s your phone number here?’
    ‘I haven’t got a landline yet.’ She gave me her mobile number.
    ‘Keep that charged and topped up, please. The note says they’ll contact me. I think I should wait at my place. The sooner we find out what it’s all about the better. Perhaps they’ve already left a message. Now, would you like someone to stay here with you?’ I was aware that meant volunteering Annis but she gave me a nod of approval.
    Jill shrugged. ‘It’s okay. I might call