No Hiding Place: An edge of your seat mystery/thriller. (DI Sally Parker thrillers Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

about
childcare issues. “Are you retired, Mrs. Whiting? Only you seem too
young for that, if you don’t mind me saying.”
    Yvette smiled, and her cheeks
flushed the colour of a ripe cherry. “My husband is of a different
generation, Inspector. He has always expected me to be at home,
rearing our children. Once my children were grown up, it was nigh
impossible for me to obtain a job with no experience other than
child-rearing. I was hoping I’d raised my sons to think differently
to their father.”
    Mark withdrew his hands from
the safety of his mother’s and reclined in the sofa.
    Sally decided not to press the
issue further for fear that it would cause a wedge between mother
and son at a time when they most needed each other’s comfort.
“Going back to Gemma’s night out, did she ring you perhaps during
the course of the evening, Mark?”
    Mrs. Whiting reclined in the
sofa too and folded her arms across her chest.
    Sally had a hard time figuring
out if she’d upset the woman by changing the subject. The woman
eyed her son carefully whilst waiting for him to reply.
    “No. There was no need for her
to ring me, Inspector. I told her to go out and enjoy herself. This
was the first time she’d ventured out with the girls in over a
year. Why? Why would anyone take my precious wife from me?”
    “We’ll find out the answer soon
enough, Mark. I’m sorry for asking such dumb questions at this
time. It’s necessary to build a picture of Gemma from the outset.
Would you say she was an outgoing person?”
    He frowned. “Are you asking if
she flirted with people?”
    Sally was taken aback by his
sharp retort. “That’s not exactly what I meant. I was just asking
if she was the type to attract attention, in a group or was she an
introvert, happy to tag along with the crowd. That sort of
thing.”
    “Maybe it would be best if you
directed that question at her friends and not her husband,
Inspector. People show different traits when they are out of view
of their loved ones,” Yvette said abruptly.
    “That’s a fair assumption, Mrs.
Whiting. I’ll be asking her friends the same questions; don’t
worry.”
    A knock on the door interrupted
Sally’s flow. “Come in.” Jack poked his head into the room, looking
very sheepish. In the distance, Sally could hear the little girl
crying. Shit! What’s happened? The couple she was
questioning shot off the sofa and pushed past her partner. “What’s
going on, Jack?”
    “I left the table for a second
to get the girl a glass of water. When I turned back, she had
toppled out of the chair onto the floor.”
    “What? Bloody hell, I ask you
to do one simple thing…”
    He shrugged. “I don’t know how
it happened, boss. I’m sorry.”
    “Come on. Let’s see if the kid
is all right.”
    They rushed into the kitchen to
find Mrs. Whiting holding the crying child, smoothing her hand over
the girl’s face, wiping away the youngster’s tears, and kissing the
tip of her nose. Mark appeared out of his depth, standing with his
hands thrust deep into the pockets of his jeans, looking relieved
that his mother had taken charge of the situation. Sally wondered
if grief was playing a major role in his inability to pacify his
daughter himself. She was amazed that a mother’s instinct to
protect always kicked in at times such as this.
    Sally wondered if she might
have had that same motherly instinct. In her eyes, being in a
loving relationship was necessary before she embarked on having a
child—and she didn’t envisage being in that situation in the near
future, if ever, after ending her abusive marriage to Darryl. She
shook his smarmy image from her mind and stroked Samantha’s arm.
“Are you all right now, sweetie? Did you have a nasty fall?”
    Sniffling, the girl clung to
her grandmother’s neck and nodded. “I think so. Can Grandma stay
with me?” Samantha shot Jack a distrusting glance.
    Sally smiled and rubbed the
little girl’s arm again. “Of course, sweetie, if