The Glass Wall by Clare Curzon

Author:Clare Curzon
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2012-05-09T16:00:00+00:00

Mr and Mrs Stephen Kane had checked in at the Pheasant on North Hill where the houses began to thin out, and open fields were still covered by snow of pristine whiteness. He was the branch manager of a jeweller in Wimbledon and she a General Science teacher at the secondary school there. As Z had expected, they appeared respectable and comfortably off. Their car, one of only three in the hotel car park, and not having a local registration, was a dark blue BMW

Hilda Kane, matronly, with grey-streaked hair flopping from a loose French pleat, faced the two policewomen tight-lipped, as she might a pair of year-nine miscreants. Her husband was more clearly in shock and Z was glad she’d decided to visit their hotel rather than face them in a police station.

‘What can you tell us?’ the man demanded nervously as soon as they were seated. The hotel had provided them with a small sitting room and now a waitress was bringing in a tray for coffee. Mrs Kane moved across to take over, while Z seated herself opposite and the WPC faded into the background.

‘We just can’t believe it,’ the man said wretchedly, walking up and down behind them. ‘Micky has never given us any trouble before.’

‘Not more than you’d expect from a young teenager,’ his mother granted. ‘The usual sulks and fits of non-cooperation. He wasn’t wild. Maybe a bit too quiet. All he wanted outside school was to take his dog for walks and to get into the tennis for the championships. He wasn’t much of a one for football, although he had to play it, of course. He didn’t belong to any gang or go out with other boys. He’d rather sit in his room and read or play with his computer.’

‘Never mind that, Mother,’ said the husband. ‘Get her to tell us what happened.’

So Z explained how she had come across him in hospital after Uniform had found him collapsed in the street. ‘We won’t know until later exactly what he’d taken, but they’d sorted him out and he was making good progress. I had a word or two with him myself, took in something for him to read, discovered he wasn’t interested in football but more keen on model aircraft.’

Hilda Kane stared at her fiercely. ‘Did you say anything to upset him? He’d never had anything to do with the police before. He must have been petrified.’

‘I didn’t tell him I was police. And he wasn’t at all upset. Quite quiet and polite. With hindsight I think he was already planning how to make his escape.’

‘Wasn’t that irregular? I mean, aren’t you supposed to warn people who you are before you question them?’ The boy’s father had stopped his padding up and down and turned to face her.

‘I wasn’t questioning. I’d gone there as a friend to enquire after someone else who’d been brought in the same night. A nurse in ITU mentioned Micky and I went along to say hello. Perhaps you would like to meet her.

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