Read Online Stranger Child by Rachel Abbott - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Rachel Abbott
Ads: Link
time.’
‘I’ll do my best,’ Charley responded. ‘But I gather she doesn’t want to talk to us at all, so we may get no further than checking that she is who she claims to be.’
Any further conversation was brought to a halt as a woman with a pale face who looked to be around forty opened the door. Her eyes had the haunted look of a person under stress.
‘Good morning,’ Becky said. ‘Mrs Emma Joseph? I’m Detective Inspector Becky Robinson, and this is Detective Constable Charlotte Hughes.’
The woman nodded. ‘Please come in.’ She held the door open so Becky and Charley could step into the wide hallway. At the far end was a beautiful antique wooden table with a bowl of fresh flowers adding a touch of brightness against a pale beige wall. But it was the portrait above the flowers that drew Becky’s eye. It was a painting of a lovely young woman, little more than a girl really, sitting on a chaise longue with her feet tucked up next to her. Emma Joseph intercepted Becky’s gaze.
‘That’s my husband’s first wife, Caroline. Tasha’s mother.’
Becky glanced at the woman standing before her in the hallway, looking to see if there was any trace of resentment that the portrait of the former wife was still hanging in pride of place, but she saw none. Just a hint of sadness.
‘Tasha’s with her father. I’ll take you to them.’
Becky didn’t move. ‘Before we meet her, Mrs Joseph, can you fill me in on yesterday? I gather you just found her in your kitchen? ‘
Emma Joseph lifted her hand to tuck away some stray strands of hair that had escaped from a loose ponytail behind her ears.
‘It was very odd. I’d been upstairs with Ollie – my little boy. I came down to the kitchen, and there she was. Standing there, saying nothing.’
‘How do you think she got in, Mrs Joseph?’
‘She must have gone round the side of the house and come in through the back door. I never lock that door when I’m in all day. Maybe not the brightest decision, stuck out here, but …’ She shrugged as if to say ‘That’s just the way it is.’
‘And what has she said to you – about how she got here, where she’s been?’
‘Nothing. We can’t get anything out of her, other than the fact she didn’t want the police involved.’ The woman shook her head and looked Becky in the eye. ‘She just
appeared
– from
nowhere
. How did she find her way to us?
’
‘She hasn’t told you?’
‘Not a word. She won’t even talk to her dad.’
‘Okay, Mrs Joseph. One more thing, if you don’t mind. Before you came downstairs and found Natasha in your kitchen, do you remember hearing anything at all out of the ordinary outside?’
For a moment, Emma Joseph look puzzled, but she was a smart lady. ‘Oh, you mean like a car or anything?’
‘Well, you’re quite a long way from a bus route here, and with all these lanes I am struggling to think how she would have got here on her own.’
‘Me too,’ Emma said. ‘I didn’t hear a thing, though. The tractor in the next field was making so much noise I wouldn’t have heard if a Sherman tank had rolled up, to be honest. But if you think somebody brought her here, why would they keep her for six years and then bring her back?’
Becky took a deep breath.
‘I’ve no idea. It doesn’t make any sense at all, as far as I can see.’
*
Emma Joseph pushed open the kitchen door and Becky caught a quick glimpse of a wonderfully comfortable-looking kitchen and living room – something she would expect to find in a style magazine – before her eyes came to rest on a man with his back to them, hands in his trouser pockets, staring out of a floor-to-ceiling glass door into the back garden. Although of average height and slender build, his hunched shoulders gave him the air of a person much older than the attractive, confident man Becky had been introduced to just the day before.
What a twenty-four hours he had had. Becky could still remember how the colour
‘I’ll do my best,’ Charley responded. ‘But I gather she doesn’t want to talk to us at all, so we may get no further than checking that she is who she claims to be.’
Any further conversation was brought to a halt as a woman with a pale face who looked to be around forty opened the door. Her eyes had the haunted look of a person under stress.
‘Good morning,’ Becky said. ‘Mrs Emma Joseph? I’m Detective Inspector Becky Robinson, and this is Detective Constable Charlotte Hughes.’
The woman nodded. ‘Please come in.’ She held the door open so Becky and Charley could step into the wide hallway. At the far end was a beautiful antique wooden table with a bowl of fresh flowers adding a touch of brightness against a pale beige wall. But it was the portrait above the flowers that drew Becky’s eye. It was a painting of a lovely young woman, little more than a girl really, sitting on a chaise longue with her feet tucked up next to her. Emma Joseph intercepted Becky’s gaze.
‘That’s my husband’s first wife, Caroline. Tasha’s mother.’
Becky glanced at the woman standing before her in the hallway, looking to see if there was any trace of resentment that the portrait of the former wife was still hanging in pride of place, but she saw none. Just a hint of sadness.
‘Tasha’s with her father. I’ll take you to them.’
Becky didn’t move. ‘Before we meet her, Mrs Joseph, can you fill me in on yesterday? I gather you just found her in your kitchen? ‘
Emma Joseph lifted her hand to tuck away some stray strands of hair that had escaped from a loose ponytail behind her ears.
‘It was very odd. I’d been upstairs with Ollie – my little boy. I came down to the kitchen, and there she was. Standing there, saying nothing.’
‘How do you think she got in, Mrs Joseph?’
‘She must have gone round the side of the house and come in through the back door. I never lock that door when I’m in all day. Maybe not the brightest decision, stuck out here, but …’ She shrugged as if to say ‘That’s just the way it is.’
‘And what has she said to you – about how she got here, where she’s been?’
‘Nothing. We can’t get anything out of her, other than the fact she didn’t want the police involved.’ The woman shook her head and looked Becky in the eye. ‘She just
appeared
– from
nowhere
. How did she find her way to us?
’
‘She hasn’t told you?’
‘Not a word. She won’t even talk to her dad.’
‘Okay, Mrs Joseph. One more thing, if you don’t mind. Before you came downstairs and found Natasha in your kitchen, do you remember hearing anything at all out of the ordinary outside?’
For a moment, Emma Joseph look puzzled, but she was a smart lady. ‘Oh, you mean like a car or anything?’
‘Well, you’re quite a long way from a bus route here, and with all these lanes I am struggling to think how she would have got here on her own.’
‘Me too,’ Emma said. ‘I didn’t hear a thing, though. The tractor in the next field was making so much noise I wouldn’t have heard if a Sherman tank had rolled up, to be honest. But if you think somebody brought her here, why would they keep her for six years and then bring her back?’
Becky took a deep breath.
‘I’ve no idea. It doesn’t make any sense at all, as far as I can see.’
*
Emma Joseph pushed open the kitchen door and Becky caught a quick glimpse of a wonderfully comfortable-looking kitchen and living room – something she would expect to find in a style magazine – before her eyes came to rest on a man with his back to them, hands in his trouser pockets, staring out of a floor-to-ceiling glass door into the back garden. Although of average height and slender build, his hunched shoulders gave him the air of a person much older than the attractive, confident man Becky had been introduced to just the day before.
What a twenty-four hours he had had. Becky could still remember how the colour
Similar Books
