Endangering Innocents by Priscilla Masters

in on all the details. And she knew his thoughts would be moving alongside hers. What should she have done after speaking to Baldwin on Monday afternoon? Sat outside the school every day? Taken more notice? This was the line the local newspapers would probably take.
    “What do you think, Sir?”
    Colclough’s eyebrows always met in the middle. Now they overlapped, the wiry, greying hairs tangling. And recently he’d put on weight. The number of chins had multiplied. Nevertheless he fixed her with a pair of very perceptive blue eyes. “I think under the circumstances, Piercy, your actions after the original alert were reasonable. But this - development - is unfortunate. Very unfortunate. And you say you’ve got the man downstairs?”
    She nodded.
    “And you’ve already searched his flat.”
    “Yes, Sir. She isn’t there. There’s no sign of her having been there but we’ll hand over to the SOCOs for a proper search.”
    He nodded. “Sensitive business this, Piercy.”
    She could not disagree.
    “A word of advice.”
    She waited.
    “Just because you’ve got a hot suspect doesn’t mean you can afford to ignore alternatives. Your man looks suspicious. But …”
    She nodded. As usual Colclough was offering sound advice.
    “We’d better set up an incident room,” she said. “And as it’s school holidays we may as well use the empty buildings. We can soon set things up there. We were called in quickly. She can’t be far away.”
    “Horton’s a remote, unpopulated area,” Colcloughsaid. “Not that far from Rudyard Lake. If Baldwin’s your man he really hasn’t had much time to dispose of … “Even he baulked at the phrase. “To do anything. If on the other hand the little girl wandered that way. Well - get officers to comb the entire area. Draft in extra men. I’ll speak to the Chief Constable. One thing you won’t be short of will be manpower. If necessary we can rope in the general public to help with a fingertip search. This will be given absolute top priority. Cancel leave and put everyone on overtime.”
    Colcough had two granddaughters, four and six years old. His decisions were as much emotive as professional. Our values reflect our lives.
    “There’s just one problem, Sir. Farmland. Foot and Mouth. Limited access.”
    Colclough withered her with his look. “For goodness sake, Piercy. A child’s life is more important than cattle.”
    “Farmers are defending their fields with force, Sir. They might accept police correctly garbed up in paper suits and responsible about dipping their boots in disinfectant but they’re not going to accept the general public wandering willy nilly all over their fields.”
    “Then get them to search their own farms. Buildings, barns, byres, wells. Anywhere that a child might be.” His eyes looked wrinkled, hooded, tired. “Is it possible? Was she that sort of child? Could she have
wandered
off? When her mother and stepfather were sitting outside in a car ready to take her home? What were her home circumstances?”
    “I don’t know, Sir.”
    “The teachers will.”
    “But even if her home life was less than idyllic, surely a five-year-old wouldn’t try to run away?”
    “Kids are funny.” Colcough’s bulldog features softened.“Start off thinking they’re heading somewhere. Then get lost. You never can tell with little ones. My little Catherine … Well - never mind. You’ve got work ahead of you. It’ll be a long night. Better ring Levin.”
    It was the first time she had been reminded of Matthew. She would ring him after speaking to Baldwin.
     
    Hide me, keep me safe. Work your magic on me and make me - invisible. Don’t let them find me.
     
    She observed Baldwin through the two-way mirror. He was sitting quite calmly, shuffling playing cards with a certain competence that surprised Joanna and reminded her of something - someone - too long ago to recall clearly. It was nothing more than a fuzzy image of deft hands flicking cards in a similar