‘I think you care,’ he said. She flinched as if he had slapped her but said nothing. ‘At least I hope you do.’ Still she ignored him.
‘Why did you take the child, Marilyn? Surely there was no need for that.’
‘Mr Taverner went all weedy on me. He said he was going to the police. Of course he had to discuss it with Emma Coulthard first.’
She said the name in a sneering, high-pitched la-di-da voice.
‘I phoned him from the club this morning. I told him he’d better watch out or I’d hurt those kids. I told him he mustn’t see her.’
‘Did you mean it?’
‘Of course I meant it. Then I saw the little boy. Claire had gone back to the Coastguard House. I told him it was a game. “ Let’s hide from Claire,” I said. It was easy as pie.’
‘You must have realized there’d be a search and we’d find him.’
She shrugged. She’d been jealous of Emma Coulthard, rejected by Mark. She’d snatched David to get her own back. There’d been no logic to it.
‘You’ll have to come with me now.’
She pulled her fingers through the wiry hair in an attempt to make herself presentable.
‘I know.’ She nodded again towards her father. ‘He doesn’t have to come, does he?’
‘Not unless you want him to.’
Bernard Howe did stir sufficiently to come to the door to see them off. He put his hand for a moment on his daughter’s shoulder.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘About Kath. I should have done something about her.’
She pulled away and stood for a moment on the step, waiting for Ramsay and Sal Wedderburn to join her. Then she strode off down the street, her back straight, her arms swinging at her side.
Ann Cleeves
Ann Cleeves is the author behind ITV’s VERA and BBC One’s SHETLAND. She has written over twenty-five novels, and is the creator of detectives Vera Stanhope and Jimmy Perez – characters loved both on screen and in print. Her books have now sold over one million copies worldwide.
Ann worked as a probation officer, bird observatory cook and auxiliary coastguard before she started writing. She is a member of ‘Murder Squad’, working with other British northern writers to promote crime fiction. In 2006 Ann was awarded the Duncan Lawrie Dagger (CWA Gold Dagger) for Best Crime Novel, for Raven Black, the first book in her Shetland series. In 2012 she was inducted into the CWA Crime Thriller Awards Hall of Fame. Ann lives in North Tyneside.
