Ann Cleeves - The Baby-Snatcher

‘I’ll get someone to take you to your gran’s,’ he said. ‘Your dad’s there.’

‘What about Claire?’ She didn’t ask what Bernie was doing at his mother’s. Ramsay didn’t explain. Bernie could tell her what was happening in Cotter’s Row, about the scene of crime officer in the back yard, the constable at the front door fending off the neighbours and the press.

‘Don’t worry about Claire. I’ll bring her over later.’

‘How’s the little boy?’

‘He’s fine.’ He had spoken briefly to Grace. She’d told him that the Coulthards weren’t demanding explanations at this stage. They were just relieved that the ordeal of waiting was over. He knew he would have to visit the Coastguard House – he was starting to suspect how much Emma Coulthard had deceived him – but he could allow them time with their son before he intruded.

In the Interview Room he found Claire with Sally Wedderburn and Newell, another member of his team. He gave his name for the tape and sent Newell away, then sat impassively and let Sally get on with her questions.

‘Why did you do it, Claire?’ Sally asked wearily. It wasn’t the first time the question had been asked.

‘Why did I do what?’ Claire wasn’t intimidated by the surroundings or the questions. She certainly wasn’t intimidated by Sally Wedderburn. In her stolid, solitary way she almost seemed to be enjoying herself, to be enjoying at least Sally’s discomfort because the interview wasn’t progressing as she’d hoped.

‘Why did you bring David Coulthard down the hill and lock him in your shed?’

‘I didn’t.’

‘So how did he get there?’

‘You tell me. You’re the police officer.’

Ramsay could sense that Sally was on the verge of losing her temper but he didn’t intervene. She’d come across more irritating suspects than Claire Irvine in her career and he wouldn’t always be there to bail her out. She took a deep breath.

‘You’re not suggesting that a three-year-old locked himself in your shed?’

‘Why not? He could have. As a sort of game. Hide and seek. I’ve told you he was that sort of kid.’

‘And locked the padlock from outside?’

‘Well, someone else could have done that, couldn’t they? Not realizing he was there.’

‘What sort of someone else are we talking about here, Claire? You don’t exactly get a stream of visitors through your back yard, do you? Or have I missed something?’

‘It could have been Marilyn. Or Bernie.’

It could have been Bernie, Ramsay thought. His taxi didn’t collect him until after David Coulthard went missing. He said, ‘ We’ve talked to Marilyn and Bernie. Neither of them touched the padlock this afternoon.’

‘Well, it wasn’t me. What would be the point?’

And that had been troubling Stephen Ramsay all afternoon. He couldn’t work out what was the point of the abduction. And where it fitted in with Kath Howe’s murder. If it did.

‘Perhaps you didn’t mean any harm,’ Sally said. ‘Perhaps you just wanted to teach David a lesson, a bit of discipline, while Mrs Coulthard was out of the way and couldn’t interfere. Because he’s a naughty boy, isn’t he? Not just lively, but naughty. And Mrs Coulthard won’t have it, will she? She talks about his frustration but that’s just an excuse. She doesn’t have to cope with his tantrums day after day.’

Ramsay sat forward, impressed. This was more the sort of performance he’d been expecting from Sally. She continued, ‘Perhaps this afternoon was the final straw. He was excited, let out on the Headland, suddenly with enough space to run around. I bet he went wild. So you thought you’d have to put your foot down. You’d see it as your duty almost, part of your job to teach him some respect. You told him if he didn’t behave you’d shut him up in the dark. But he didn’t behave, did he? So you had to carry out your threat. You’ll have been told that at college. Don’t make threats you’re not prepared to carry out. You didn’t mean to leave him there though, did you? Not all afternoon. Just while you took Helen up to the Coastguard House to change her nappy. You knew he’d be safe in there.’

Claire sat very still. She stared ahead of her and said, nothing. Encouraged, Sally went on, ‘Then Mrs Coulthard spoiled it by coming home early. You couldn’t tell her you’d locked David in a coal hole as a punishment. She wouldn’t have been very impressed by that. My impression is that she doesn’t have time for old-fashioned discipline. I don’t suppose she even lets you smack them. So on the spur of the moment you made up a story about him disappearing. After all these child abductions she believed it. And worried herself sick all afternoon.’

Claire began to clap her hands, very slowly.

‘Very good,’ she said. ‘Oh yes, very good. I almost believed it myself.’

‘Do you admit that’s what happened?’

‘Of course not.’ Claire was dismissive. ‘I love kids. I’ve been properly trained. I wouldn’t treat any child like that. Besides, Miss Clever Clogs, when Mrs Coulthard got in she sent me out down the Headland to look for David. If it happened like you said, why didn’t I just let him out of the shed and pretend I’d found him wandering? He couldn’t tell her any different. He can’t talk. Anyway, what were the other kids doing while all this was going on?’ She paused, then shot a knowing look at Sally. ‘Your dad lock you in the coal shed when you’d been bad, did he? That’d explain a lot.’

Suddenly and shockingly Sally blushed.

‘Could we go back to the padlock, Claire,’ Ramsay said gently, as if he were musing to himself. ‘ You do admit that you bought that?’

‘Yeah. I didn’t like Bernie’s bike in the hall. It left mud on the carpet. So we thought we might persuade him to leave it outside if we had somewhere secure.’

‘But this afternoon his bike wasn’t in the shed.’

‘No. He must have forgotten when he got in last night.’

‘You didn’t remind him?’

‘Na! He’d had enough nagging from Kath.’ She must have thought that sounded callous because she added limply, ‘You know what I mean.’

‘But when I came to talk to you a couple of nights ago his bike was in the hall then too.’

‘So? It’s going to take him a while to get used to it.’

‘There’s a stain on the shed floor,’ Ramsay said. She didn’t answer. ‘At first I thought it was oil from Bernie’s bike, but now it seems Bernie doesn’t keep his bike there very often. For some reason he seems to have taken a real dislike to the shed.’ He paused, but still she didn’t speak. ‘So I took a closer look at the stain and it looks much more to me like blood. We think it might be Kath’s blood. We’ll be able to tell. There are tests now. You know what that means, don’t you, Claire?’

‘I’m sure you’re going to tell me.’ But despite the flip response she watched him anxiously, frowning so the thick eyebrows met.

‘We think that’s where Kath was killed. Or if she wasn’t killed there she was put there soon after she died. Are you surprised about that?’

‘Of course I’m surprised. If it’s true.’

‘Then later, when the tide was high, she was moved to the jetty and thrown into the water. That’s what we think must have happened. I’d say it would take more than one person to do that. Or someone who had a car. Have you any idea who that might have been, Claire? How do you think the body was moved to the jetty?’

‘How the hell would I know?’ She glared at him.

‘But you must have noticed the stain in the shed?’

‘Of course not. It’s got a mucky floor. What’s one more stain? Anyway, I don’t go in there very often.’