A Wreath for my Sister Read Online Free PDF

only rumour – but one or two of her friends said she’d had an affair out there.’
    Joanna blinked.
    â€˜The penalty for adultery in Saudi Arabia is something between public stoning and fifty lashes. She scuttled back to Britain – to Daddy’s influence and the slightly more lenient laws of the UK.’
    Joanna sighed. ‘No wonder he was a bit prickly when one of the police called her a “good time girl”. Then what?’
    â€˜She’d managed to get a small council house in Leek on the Roaches Farm Estate.’ Mike fingered through the file. ‘She seemed to settle quite well there – had a few friends. There are a few single mums living there and they support one another, look after kids, go out together ... She went out shopping, up to the market, that Wednesday, leaving the little boy with a friend – a woman who lived across the street. She said she was popping up the market to get some underwear and a pair of socks for Sebastian.’ He grinned. ‘Don’t know where some of these women get their kids’ names from.’
    â€˜And?’
    â€˜She never came back. No one worried until late that night. And no one called the police for two days. Everyone kept thinking she’d gone off with a bloke for a couple of days and would eventually turn up.’
    He paused. ‘But she didn’t.’
    â€˜She abandoned the child?’
    Mike nodded. ‘It made us a bit suspicious, but he was a sickly kid. Thin and miserable. According to her closest friend, he cried a lot, especially in the night. I think she’d found life difficult. There was nothing particularly suspicious about her going.’
    â€˜Is there more?’
    Mike nodded. ‘She was more of a good time girl than her father had any idea of. There were stories of late nights and noisy parties. Two hundred pounds had been withdrawn from her building society account that afternoon, leaving it practically empty. A dress was missing from her wardrobe. It was a party dress – red. Some high heels and her bag of make-up were gone too, together with some toiletries – a toothbrush. We did all the usual enquiries, took statements. She’d been up the market that day. Bought some underwear all right, but we asked at all the stalls that sold kiddies’ clothes, and she didn’t buy the socks for Sebastian. Nothing for him at all. She wasn’t seen after about two thirty. She’d just disappeared. There was a possible sighting on the Manchester train but it wasn’t anyone who knew her. But her friend told us she’d been a couple of times to a gambling club in central Manchester. There was nothing suspicious at the house. After a couple of weeks of nothing we decided she’d met up with someone who didn’t want the kid – and had hopped it –’
    â€˜But no name was forthcoming?’ she interrupted.
    â€˜No. No name, but neither was any cause for concern ever unearthed.’
    â€˜Yet her father wasn’t satisfied?’
    Mike shook his head. ‘Definitely not. They never are. He was convinced we weren’t doing all we could to find out what had happened to her.’ Mike’s eyes met hers. ‘Like a lot of fathers he simply didn’t know his daughter. He kept saying she couldn’t have abandoned the child.’ He stopped. ‘I never met Deborah but I did see the child and judging from her photograph I would say there was a high chance she wanted a good time without the kid.’
    She nodded. ‘Did you get anything from her friends?’
    â€˜Apart from the woman who watched her kids she only really had one close friend – Leanne Ferry.’ He grinned. ‘One of the spiky-haired brigade. A feminist. You know, I can never get inside the minds of some of these women.’
    â€˜I know,’ she said drily.
    Mike grinned, for once refusing to take offence.
    â€˜So what did this ardent