Deadly Reunion by Geraldine Evans

Author:Geraldine Evans [Geraldine Evans]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Severn House Publishers Ltd
Published: 2011-01-31T16:00:00+00:00

EIGHT

‘Wonder why she kept it a secret that she had the child after all? Do you think it possible that Joanna is Adam Ainsley’s child? It would explain why she lied to us.’

‘It doesn’t seem likely given that Ainsley had no interest in her at school beyond taunting her about being a charity case. It might pay us to get hold of a copy of Joanna’s birth certificate, though, and see if Ms Douglas added the father’s name.’

‘Good idea. I wonder how many of our other suspects have deliberately misled us?’ Rafferty said once they were in the car and making their way back to Elmhurst. He loosened his tie and undid the top two buttons of his shirt, but gained little relief from the heat. He’d already taken off his jacket and slung it on the back seat. ‘Maybe we ought to check them out on their home turf, too. See what else we learn. It’s certainly been illuminating in Alice Douglas’s case.’

Llewellyn nodded. ‘Who do you want to try first?’

‘Let’s try Giles Harmsworth. If Ainsley’s not the father of Alice Douglas’s daughter, then he strikes me as a possible. After that, I think Sophie Diaz’s widower might be the most fruitful. It was her that Alice Douglas confided in about her unwanted pregnancy all those years ago. Maybe others confided their secrets there too, and more recently, and then regretted it. She might have shared any such secrets with her husband. Depending on where he lives, we could check it out this evening.’

Llewellyn flipped through his notebook. ‘Mr Diaz lives in London. Notting Hill.’

‘With the loveys, hey?’ He wiped his brow. He’d had enough of London yesterday when Cyrus had trailed them round the tourist sites in the heat. ‘I don’t think I feel like venturing to Notting Hill as well as the City in this weather. The stop-start traffic. The fumes. The crowds. No, the morning will have to do for Mr Diaz. Perhaps a storm will have broken by then and cooled the air.’

Giles Harmsworth, when he met them for a coffee from his job in the City, was fidgety and ill at ease. Rafferty couldn’t help but wonder why. He hadn’t displayed any nervousness when they interviewed him at Griffin School, so why now?

‘Tell me about Alice Douglas,’ Rafferty invited once the coffee was served in the high-priced eatery in which Harmsworth had elected to meet them. Rafferty had briefly glanced at the menu and was stunned at the prices. Five pounds for a cup of coffee. He ought to do them for daylight robbery.

Giles frowned. ‘Alice Douglas? What do you want to know?’

‘Were you the father of her baby?’

‘What baby?’

‘You didn’t know about it?’

‘First I’ve heard of it.’

Either Giles Harmsworth was a very good actor or he was telling the truth.

‘So when are we talking about?’ he asked.

‘That last summer term at Griffin. That’s when Ms Douglas fell pregnant.’

‘I’m sorry, Inspector, but I don’t know anything about it.’

‘So you don’t know who was the father?’

‘No.

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