‘I’ve been everywhere I can think of.’ She sat on the bed.
‘Anything?’
‘She went to the Rainbow’s End after the Prom. Maura said she was a bit jumpy, but nothing new there… It was a student gig. Maybe she met someone…’
There was a pause.
‘The police think she might have been kidnapped.’ He couldn’t keep a shiver of excitement from his voice. He was still worried but kidnapping was something out of the movies, glamorous even.
Rosie frowned. ‘The Gillespies went to the police?’
‘Eleanor did. I think she cracked. Richard didn’t sound very happy. I phoned just now and I could hear him in the background. He says everyone’s overreacting.’
So do I, Rosie thought. I think she picked up a bloke at the Rainbow’s End out of boredom or desperation or devilment. She’s hiding out in a hall of residence or a grotty bedsit, waiting for the maximum fuss before making her appearance. Rosie wouldn’t have told Joe but it wouldn’t be the first time Mel had gone home with someone she’d met on one of her walkabouts.
‘Why do they think she was kidnapped?’
‘Apparently it’s not much more than a theory. Eleanor and Richard are high-profile parents. And there was a case a couple of months ago. The kidnappers got away with a half a million. Since then there has been a spate of copycat attempts. Mostly amateurs, the police say. Mostly easy to deal with.’ He paused and sat beside her on the bed. His feet were bare. She could see every bone and joint under the skin. ‘Do you remember Frank saying someone was in the Prom looking for her? An older bloke.’
‘Yes. Do the police think he might have been the kidnapper?’
‘I told Eleanor anyway. It’s up to them. She thought they might want to talk to us sometime.’
‘Me too?’
‘Why not? You know her as well as anyone. You’re best mates.’
Suddenly she felt sick with guilt. She remembered the good times. The girlie sleepovers with bottles of wine and soppy videos, the gossip about lads, mega shopping sessions in the city. She imagined Mel being held somewhere and what they might be doing to her. And she’d been thinking it was all some attention-seeking stunt.
‘Let’s go and look,’ she said. ‘Just in case. I can’t sit here doing nothing.’
They spent the evening in the city, tramping through all the pubs, even those Mel had never set foot in so far as they knew. They asked in the arcade and the pizza places and the roller-skating rink. No one had seen her. They ended up with Maura in the Rainbow’s End, shouting their questions over a flamenco guitar. Had there been an older guy in the night before? Anyone taking a special interest in Mel? Maura tried to answer their questions but in the end she got fed up with them and sent them home.
Joe walked Rosie all the way to her door. On the step he held on to her in a desperate bear hug. She pushed him away in the end, feeling confused and guilty. As guilty as if she’d played some part in Mel’s disappearance.
Chapter Twenty
Hannah had been expecting Arthur to be waiting for her at the prison but she went through the gate to the library without seeing him. It was halfway through the morning when he bounced in.
‘Can you spare a minute?’
She turned to Marty. ‘Are you OK on your own? Dave’s in the office.’
Marty rolled his eyes towards the ceiling. ‘Is that supposed to be reassuring?’
‘Well…’
‘Go on. I’ll be fine.’
They sat in Arthur’s office drinking coffee. He was a different man: the super-cool Scouser had gone; he was bubbling, the words falling over themselves. She regretted her impulse of the night before to involve him. She could tell there would be no stopping him now.
‘I’ve been to the Central Library, tracked down the back copies of the local rag. It’s great that they’ve still got them.’
‘Aren’t they all on microfilm?’ She wanted to slow him down, rein back some of the enthusiasm. Stop, she wanted to say. You don’t know what you’re getting into.
‘Mm?’ The interruption only checked him for a moment. ‘It’s amazing what you can find in the births, marriages and deaths columns.’
‘You haven’t wasted any time.’
‘I started with Maria’s death. The notice said she died after “a brave struggle with illness”. Cancer isn’t mentioned but that’s the implication.’
‘That would fit in with Michael’s memories.’
‘Then I went back a few years and found the report of her marriage. A front-page spread. Obviously a big do. The wedding of the season. Crispin Randle seems to have been a member of the local gentry. He owned land not far from here. He was an MP. Tory of course. Master of the Hunt. You know the sort of bloke. He married Maria Grey in 1952. Two years later Theo’s birth was announced. He was named Theo Michael, so I don’t think there’s any doubt we’re on the right track.’
She nodded, felt irrationally pleased that she could continue to think of her ghost as Michael.
‘I almost gave up the search then. I mean, I’d got enough for the police to be going on with. But I thought Randle was still a young man. What if he’d remarried…’
‘And had he?’ Just to show she was still listening.
‘Yeah. Three years later. That wedding was a much quieter event. The bride was Stella Midwood, who’d been working as his secretary. A year later they had a daughter, Emily.’
The names and dates washed over her. She thought she’d have to write it all down like a family tree to make sense of it.
‘Why didn’t they have Michael to live with them?’ she asked. ‘Why board him out with the Brices?’
‘Wait. There’s more drama to come. In 1964 when Theo Michael was ten, there was a fire in the family home. It was big news. The place was burned to a shell and Emily, the little girl, Michael’s stepsister, was killed. Crispin Randle sold the estate and some months later he resigned his seat in the Commons. Michael isn’t mentioned in the account of the fire or the resignation.’
‘Is that significant?’
‘Dunno. Perhaps it was too painful for Crispin to have him around. Perhaps Michael reminded him of the death of his first wife and his daughter. Perhaps Crispin had some sort of breakdown and couldn’t cope.’
‘Michael was only ten!’
‘Old enough to be shipped off to boarding school.’
‘Why did he come to Cranford then? And why the change of identity?’
Arthur shrugged. ‘Teenage rebellion? It’s possible he didn’t get on with his stepmother. Perhaps he resented the way his father dumped him.’
‘Perhaps.’ It’s all guesswork, she thought. Really, despite Arthur’s excitement we’re not much further forward. ‘Do we know where Stella and Crispin are living now?’
‘There’s no record. But the police will find out easily enough. We’ve done all the hard work for them.’ He hesitated. ‘Don’t you have an early finish today?’
‘Why?’ She knew he wanted something from her. Living with Rosie had given her a sixth sense about people bumming favours.
‘What about going to Cranford? This afternoon. We can give all this information to Porteous in person. That’ll stop him hassling you.’
Who are you kidding? she thought. That’s not what this is about. This is about you showing off to the police. You want the glory. You want to sit there and gloat.
‘We could stay the night. I could meet your friends. We could be back in time for work tomorrow.’
‘Go on then.’ She couldn’t think of an argument against it and, as Rosie knew, she’d always been an easy touch.
She phoned Porteous from the library. Dave had sloped off and Marty pretended not to listen.
‘Mrs Morton,’ Porteous said. ‘I was hoping to speak to you. More questions I’m afraid. Something’s come up.’
‘I can’t talk now. I’m at work.’ She couldn’t face an interview over the phone. She wanted Arthur there.