The Old Wine Shades by Martha Grimes

out.’
    ‘I don’t get it; why would Glynn stage it?’
    ‘Or someone else stage it?’
    ‘It’s monstrous. Why would she want to vanish in that way? And take Robbie with her?’
    Jury felt a push at his shoe. He smiled. ‘And Mungo. It wouldn’t be the first time an unhappy wife kidnapped her child for Some reason. Custody battle it is, usually.’
    ‘Hugh and Glynn were happy; they weren’t thinking about divorce.’
    ‘Not as far as you know.’
    ‘I know both of them very well; you couldn’t be much closer than we were.’
    ‘Then let’s say for the sake of argument, who knew Mrs. Gault was going house hunting besides her husband and the estate agent?’
    Harry Johnson folded his arms on the bar and considered. ‘Their staff, I imagine. Certainly the cook, as she’d be getting dinner. The maid? Well, the cook probably mentioned it to her. ‘Staff’ is probably overdoing it in the Gauhs’ case as there were just those two.’ Jury smiled slightly; for him, that would constitute ‘staff.’ Harry went on. ‘Someone might have known she went to Surrey to look at houses, but exactly where in Surrey, I doubt. You seem to be looking for a killer.’
    ‘An abductor, anyway. Go on about the house.’
    ‘It sits back from the road, very long front garden and the woods around on both sides and the back. I thought it seemed awfully isolated, but that, of course, is what they wanted in a second home–peace and quiet.’
    ‘That’s what people think they want, until they get it. What about Robbie? He’d be at a loss for friends, wouldn’t he?’
    ‘Unfortunately, Robbie was pretty lost anyway. You could say Robbie had already been kidnapped.’
    ‘What do you mean?’
    ‘That’s what I was going to tell you. Robbie was autistic.’
    ‘What a shame.’
    ‘He didn’t have friends; he didn’t make them very easily. Well, what can you do if you can’t or won’t talk? But he’s a great reader.
    Actually, she might have taken Robbie along so as to see how he liked it. There’s a school in Lark Rise for kids with autism and other speech and I suppose cognitive problems. That was what Glynnis wanted a house there for. She wasn’t looking for a holiday cottage. They would live there during the school year. She didn’t tell Hugh that, though.’
    ‘Why not?’
    ‘Hugh didn’t like the idea of Robbie’s changing schools. He thought it would be too hard on him, and he had enough on his plate without that. They argued about that quite a bit. I think it was the only thing they did argue about.’
    ‘I see.’ Jury thought about this. ‘The first one, this cottage–’
    ‘Lark Cottage. It was a small, neat-looking house in quite nice gardens. I didn’t talk to the owner.’
    ‘What do you think it was that was so off-putting to Mrs. Gault?’
    ‘Just a little too cute, too quaint. The kind of place tourists would think so typically English.’
    ‘There are entire villages that are that. Did she find Chipping Campden too quaint? Lower Slaughter?’
    Harry laughed. ‘I don’t know.’
    ‘Was Glynnis Gault a bit of a snob?’
    ‘Not at all. Quite the contrary, I’d say. She was accepting of things almost to the point of naiveté. She was wearing a black suit she’d bought from Marks and Spencer when she left the house.’ Harry smiled at the thought.
    ‘Then does this description of Lark Cottage, at least of her reaction to it, strike you as like her?’
    ‘Since you put it that way, no, it doesn’t sound like Glynn.’ He picked up the wine bottle, turned to Jury. ‘Are you saying maybe some other woman actually made the call?’ Harry saw the bottle was empty.
    ‘The telephone call? No, I don’t think someone else made the call, although it’s always a possibility.’ Jury paused. ‘Do you know of anyone who wished her harm?’
    ‘Absolutely not. Glynn wasn’t a woman to make enemies.’ Harry set the wine bottle down. ‘Look, I’m famished. Care to have dinner?’
    Mungo came