The Dead Ground by Claire McGowan Page B

quite quickly, safe and well. Alison hasn’t been gone very long. You saw her this morning?’
    ‘Not really. She gets up early. She tries not to wake me, but I heard the car start. They told us we should check under, you know, for bombs. So I always wake up when it goes. Then Erin – that’s Ali’s assistant – she rang to say Ali never turned up.’
    ‘And that wasn’t like her?’
    ‘Not like her at all.’ She leaned forward confidentially. ‘The women who go there – the girls – Ali always said they were under enough pressure. It was her job to be on time, to be unemotional, give them all the facts.’
    Paula tried to keep her face blank, thinking it was possible she’d have made a decision by now if the doctor had been there.
    ‘I’ve tried all our friends,’ Veronica went on. ‘Ali has a sister, but they’re not in contact. No one knows anything. Her car – I suppose if we could find that—’
    ‘The PSNI are looking for it now,’ Guy reassured her. ‘They’ll find it soon, I’m sure.’
    ‘Erin said the clinic was still locked when she arrived. Normally Ali would open it – she didn’t even like Erin having a key, she’s so security conscious.’
    And something of a control freak, it seemed. Not the type to up and run away, unless something in her had finally snapped. ‘Does she have a home computer?’ Paula asked. ‘Often we can get useful information from those.’
    ‘Yes, a laptop. She doesn’t let me use it! She’d have it with her, normally; she keeps everything on there. Even all her clinic stuff, the patient records. She doesn’t want anyone else to have access, you know, in case some of these extremist people get hold of it.’
    That was enough to make Paula shiver, seeing as her own records were in there.
    ‘Ms Cole,’ Guy was saying. ‘Is there anyone else Alison might have gone to see, anyone at all we could check with – a distant friend, a relative?’
    Veronica paused. ‘I was trying to think. I suppose there’s a chance she went to see Heather. They’d had that falling-out, of course, but it’s possible Ali wanted to make it up with her.’
    ‘And who’s Heather?’ asked Guy, making notes.
    ‘Ali’s daughter.’ She saw their expressions. ‘You didn’t know she was married?’
    ‘I’ll drop you back,’ Guy said, ushering Paula out to his BMW. ‘You’re very pale still. Are you sure you’re OK to be working?’
    She put on her seat belt, wearier than she wanted him to know. At least the puking had subsided. ‘I can’t be off now, can I?’
    ‘No,’ he admitted. ‘We’re running out of time with the baby, and if Dr Bates doesn’t turn up soon—’
    ‘You think it looks bad?’
    ‘I do. I don’t like the sound of those death threats.’
    ‘It’s an inflammatory issue here, abortion. And her living with a woman too – some would see that as deliberate provocation.’
    Guy did what she’d come to think of as his Ballyterrin look, a sort of ‘I can’t believe how backward these people are’ shake of the head. It made Paula bristle in defence of her home town, then realise sadly that some things were indefensible. ‘What were you doing there anyway?’ he asked. She froze. He retracted. ‘Sorry. It’s just you said you had a lead. I take it that’s why you knew her name.’
    She stared out the window and spoke carefully. ‘I had an idea that she might know about women who’d lost babies in the town – you know, if they’d had abortions. Then when I got there, she was missing.’
    As she’d hoped, he either bought it or didn’t want to ask further. ‘I suppose it was worth looking at. You should have told me, though.’
    They were pulling into her street now, snow suspended in the air beneath the street lights, a pinkish hue over all. ‘I know.’
    ‘It’s just – you remember what happened last time you went it alone—’
    ‘Do I remember having a gun held to my head? Yes. I do.’ An awkward silence fell. She could see