Her Deadly Secret by Chris Curran

Author:Chris Curran
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008261320
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2017-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

Joe

Joe decided it was safer to stay in the bedroom to check the stuff from the envelope. After the way Loretta had looked at him when she came by he wouldn’t put it past her to turn up again any minute.

He spread it out on the dressing table and switched on the laptop, typing ‘Natalie Grant’ into Google. Nothing seemed to relate to the Natalie of the papers.

Then he tried the name of the school mentioned in the news clippings. But no matter how hard he looked, he couldn’t see a reason for Hannah to change her name. Nor was there anything that might have helped Lily track down her real father. He was trawling through pages listing Ofsted reports, exam successes, and all kinds of fundraising events, when he heard the hammering on the front door. Surely not Loretta back again – oh God, Hannah.

As he ran down he told himself the hospital, surely, would have rung if it was bad news.

It was Mrs Sillitoe from next door. He sighed and leaned against the door jamb. She probably wanted him to take the lid off a jar or deal with a spider – bloody cheek after the carry-on with the police the other day. ‘Hello, Mrs S. Everything all right?’

She moved past him and headed for the lounge, switching on the light and settling herself in an armchair. ‘Sit down, Joe, love, there’s something I’ve got to tell you,’ she said.

He perched on the sofa. ‘OK.’

‘It’s about Hannah. I’m so sorry, Joe.’

He might have known the old busybody would try to get in on the act when she heard about Hannah being in hospital. ‘Thanks, I’ll tell her you were asking after her. I just came back for a quick sleep, so if you don’t mind …’ He opened the lounge door, but she stayed where she was, probably expecting him to make her some tea – well, she could whistle for that.

‘I’m not talking about that, Joe. I mean I am sorry she’s poorly, but it’s about what I said to the police.’ She twisted her fat hands, the knuckledusters of rings cutting into the flesh. ‘They got me all confused, see. And I wasn’t to know I was the only witness, was I?’

‘What are you saying?’

‘Well, it’s like I said. Apparently, no one else saw Hannah at the time poor little Lily was killed.’

‘And?’

‘Well, the police came back today. Asking if I made a mistake. Only, I told them, when they came the first time, that Hannah was in the garden hanging up the washing and we had a bit of a chat. I said I was watching that antiques programme just before, so I knew what time it was. But this afternoon the sergeant told me he’d checked and that programme was on the day before.’

Joe sat down again. ‘So did you see her or not?’

‘Well, that’s just it, I don’t know. Couldn’t swear to it and that’s what I had to tell the detective.’ She reached out and touched his forearm.

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