25.04.2017
•
Views
‘Is the child all right?’ Mrs May asked. ‘The boy?’ She didn’t seem able to say his name. ‘We’ve been watching the news.’ ‘It’s a little early to tell,’ I said, ‘but as far as I know his condition’s stable for now.’ She nodded, swallowed, and made a small sign of the cross. ‘I believe,’ I said, ‘that you provided your daughter with an alibi for last Sunday. Is that right?’ ‘We did, yes,’ said Mrs May. ‘Your colleague rang us to talk about it, a very nice young lady called, what was she called, dear?’ ‘DC Zhang,’ said Mr May. ‘Can I ask you about that?’ ‘Well,’ said Mr May. ‘Yes, well, Joanna came to have lunch with us on that day, and we weren’t really sure exactly what time she went home, but she reminded us it was about four thirty so that’s what we told your colleague.’ ‘Joanna reminded you?’ ‘Yes. We asked her because we weren’t sure. We didn’t think to question it, because it could have been four thirty, couldn’t it, Mary?’ Mrs May nodded. ‘We never really checked,’ she said. ‘And we started lunch quite late. But I suppose it could have been earlier too. Now that I think about it. We never actually checked the time ourselves.’ ‘So you weren’t absolutely sure?’ ‘Not certain, no, but your colleague said that was normal.’ ‘Would you mind making a statement to that effect?’ ‘We never thought our daughter would be capable of such a thing,’ said Mr May. ‘If we’d ever dreamed… oh dear God… would they have been able to find the boy earlier?’ ‘It’s not your fault,’ I said, but he lowered his eyes and I could see that it was a question that they would be asking themselves for a very long time. ‘Can I ask, do you have any idea why Joanna might have done this?’ I said. They exchanged a glance then, and Mrs May gave a small shrug of her shoulders. Mr May said, ‘Joanna’s infertile. That’s the only sense I can make of it. She only discovered her infertility last spring after she tried to get pregnant using artificial insemination. We didn’t approve. We thought she should be in a stable relationship before she had a baby, but she was insistent, as usual, and so we gave her the money anyway, for the inseminations, and then for the fertility tests, because you try to help your children. You feel responsible for their happiness. I don’t think she would have told us if she hadn’t needed us to pay for it. She doesn’t confide in us. In fact she only contacts us if she wants something. Anyway, it upset her a great deal, the infertility. She wasn’t used to not getting what she wanted. My guess is that she took this boy because she wanted a child. But let me tell you this: don’t expect her to explain why she did it. She never admitted to anything as a child, and I doubt she will now.’ He stood up again, painfully, and made his way to the mantelpiece. He took down a photograph of Joanna May and gazed at it for a moment before showing it to his wife. In the photograph Joanna May was on a beach. She couldn’t have been more than ten or eleven years old. In her swimsuit she sat beside a body-shaped mound of sand from which the head of a smaller child protruded. She wielded a spade triumphantly and the child was smiling too. ‘I’ll move this I think, Mary,’ said Mr May. ‘Yes, dear.’ Her eyes slid to her lap as he left the room, fingers picking at the fabric of her skirt. Together, we waited silently for him return, but before he did, the sound of breaking glass made
Mrs May flinch.
-
Page 2 and 3:
Gilly Macmillan grew up in Swindon,
-
Page 4 and 5:
Burnt Paper Sky Table of Contents A
-
Page 6 and 7:
JIM BEFORE
-
Page 8 and 9:
DAY 2 JIM
-
Page 10 and 11:
JIM
-
Page 12 and 13:
JIM
-
Page 14 and 15:
JIM
-
Page 16 and 17:
DAY 3 JIM
-
Page 18 and 19:
JIM
-
Page 20 and 21:
JIM
-
Page 22 and 23:
DAY 4 JIM
-
Page 24 and 25:
JIM
-
Page 26 and 27:
JIM
-
Page 28 and 29:
JIM
-
Page 30 and 31:
JIM
-
Page 32 and 33:
DAY 5 JIM
-
Page 34 and 35:
JIM
-
Page 36 and 37:
JIM
-
Page 38 and 39:
DAY 6 JIM
-
Page 40 and 41:
JIM
-
Page 42 and 43:
JIM
-
Page 44 and 45:
JIM
-
Page 46 and 47:
DAY 7 JIM
-
Page 48 and 49:
JIM
-
Page 50 and 51:
JIM
-
Page 52 and 53:
JIM
-
Page 54 and 55:
JIM
-
Page 56 and 57:
DAY 8 JIM
-
Page 58 and 59:
JIM
-
Page 60 and 61:
JIM
-
Page 62 and 63:
JIM
-
Page 64 and 65:
DAY 9 JIM
-
Page 66 and 67:
JIM
-
Page 68 and 69:
JIM
-
Page 70 and 71:
JIM
-
Page 72 and 73:
JIM
-
Page 74 and 75:
JIM
-
Page 76 and 77:
JIM
-
Page 78 and 79:
RACHEL
-
Page 80 and 81:
RACHEL ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS BIBLIOGRAPH
-
Page 82 and 83:
Author’s Note During the research
-
Page 84 and 85:
PROLOGUE NOVEMBER 2013 - ONE YEAR A
-
Page 86 and 87:
imaginary interview goes really wel
-
Page 88 and 89:
But whether I’ve been awake or as
-
Page 90 and 91:
BEFORE DAY 1 SUNDAY, 21 OCTOBER 201
-
Page 92 and 93:
eally honest, I hadn’t noticed it
-
Page 94 and 95:
‘OK,’ and he was off, careering
-
Page 96 and 97:
as if the woodland was holding its
-
Page 98 and 99:
appeared on the path. Our progress
-
Page 100 and 101:
‘That’s good news,’ she said.
-
Page 102 and 103:
FM: Do you think that expressing fe
-
Page 104 and 105:
JC: It was a promotion is what it w
-
Page 106 and 107:
suspect, is not going to be an easy
-
Page 108 and 109:
RACHEL John couldn’t stand the wa
-
Page 110 and 111:
It was the awkward twitch of Inspec
-
Page 112 and 113:
‘Solid eight hours,’ I said. I
-
Page 114 and 115:
RACHEL Inspector Miller said that b
-
Page 116 and 117:
JIM Kenneth Steele House is where I
-
Page 118 and 119:
had four pairs of officers in place
-
Page 120 and 121:
at others. He was always watching m
-
Page 122 and 123:
JIM I was quite pleased with how th
-
Page 124 and 125:
his parents as well as his grandpar
-
Page 126 and 127:
‘Expertise is on our side,’ she
-
Page 128 and 129:
RACHEL My sister Nicky was waiting
-
Page 130 and 131:
unstoppable. She told me that the w
-
Page 132 and 133:
the streetlights and the geometric
-
Page 134 and 135:
JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
-
Page 136 and 137:
FM: So you recommended Emma for the
-
Page 138 and 139:
DAY 3 TUESDAY, 23 OCTOBER 2012 Be a
-
Page 140 and 141:
RACHEL In the car on the way to Ken
-
Page 142 and 143:
‘If you are the person who is wit
-
Page 144 and 145:
‘This way,’ she said. She swept
-
Page 146 and 147:
‘It’s a soft alibi.’ Fraser w
-
Page 148 and 149:
trace of dignity or vulnerability,
-
Page 150 and 151:
missing”, and that everybody is l
-
Page 152 and 153:
looking woman too: nicely dressed,
-
Page 154 and 155:
‘Were there signs that the arm wa
-
Page 156 and 157:
accident. But we’ll check it out
-
Page 158 and 159:
To the insultingly practical: Don
-
Page 160 and 161:
JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
-
Page 162 and 163:
FM: So apart from the negative pres
-
Page 164 and 165:
they’re focused on the job? FM: Y
-
Page 166 and 167:
DAY 4 WEDNESDAY, 24 OCTOBER 2012 Cr
-
Page 168 and 169:
RACHEL I slept only fitfully after
-
Page 170 and 171:
WEB PAGE - www.whereisbenedictfinch
-
Page 172 and 173:
JIM I spoke to Emma before I left f
-
Page 174 and 175:
say that he doesn’t play by the r
-
Page 176 and 177:
‘Bye,’ Fount said to him. ‘Wh
-
Page 178 and 179:
thanked her for what she did for us
-
Page 180 and 181:
I sat on the bed for a long time, u
-
Page 182 and 183:
JIM Fraser and I had a pre-meet bef
-
Page 184 and 185:
‘He’s got an alibi, doesn’t h
-
Page 186 and 187:
RACHEL Nicky phoned the police and
-
Page 188 and 189:
door in the middle of the night. Yo
-
Page 190 and 191:
an orange wash remained. It struck
-
Page 192 and 193:
RACHEL When I got back inside Nicky
-
Page 194 and 195:
JIM On the night of Wednesday, 24 O
-
Page 196 and 197:
DAY 5 THURSDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2012 You
-
Page 198 and 199:
RACHEL I slept the night in Ben’s
-
Page 200 and 201:
individuals closest to Ben, and he
-
Page 202 and 203:
‘What about their son, Charlie Bo
-
Page 204 and 205:
He took another sheet of paper from
-
Page 206 and 207:
more imperfect than any version of
-
Page 208 and 209:
JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
-
Page 210 and 211:
JC: She said she was knackered. She
-
Page 212 and 213:
It led swiftly to the fourth state.
-
Page 214 and 215:
Quick response appreciated, obvious
-
Page 216 and 217:
WEB PAGE - www.whereisbenedictfinch
-
Page 218 and 219:
I didn’t know what to say. I look
-
Page 220 and 221:
RACHEL Zhang agreed to come and giv
-
Page 222 and 223:
sensation. Then she spoke to him of
-
Page 224 and 225:
abstract shapes floating within it,
-
Page 226 and 227:
JIM I got one of the DCs to pick up
-
Page 228 and 229:
RACHEL This time, I made no attempt
-
Page 230 and 231:
dog, black and white like Skittle,
-
Page 232 and 233:
FM: I’m not intending to. That’
-
Page 234 and 235:
everything that had happened. But I
-
Page 236 and 237:
JIM We worked closely with John Fin
-
Page 238 and 239:
DAY 7 SATURDAY, 27 OCTOBER 2012 An
-
Page 240 and 241:
RACHEL In the early hours of the mo
-
Page 242 and 243:
school year, but I started to work
-
Page 244 and 245:
tight. A hospital band was visible
-
Page 246 and 247:
cancer himself. The whole family, w
-
Page 248 and 249:
Another page. A different drawing:
-
Page 250 and 251:
‘The blog.’ I was slow; I didn
-
Page 252 and 253:
told him to fuck off. ‘Tell Frase
-
Page 254 and 255:
‘Stop asking me to be patient. Ho
-
Page 256 and 257:
JIM In the incident room the blinds
-
Page 258 and 259:
swing. ‘So what are we thinking?
-
Page 260 and 261:
‘She’s drunk?’ I asked when h
-
Page 262 and 263:
JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
-
Page 264 and 265:
JC: Fine. He coaxes his lips up int
-
Page 266 and 267:
JIM It was Emma who I thought of al
-
Page 268 and 269:
DAY 8 SUNDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2012 The P
-
Page 270 and 271:
RACHEL When dawn came there was no
-
Page 272 and 273:
JIM Nine o’clock Sunday morning,
-
Page 274 and 275:
RACHEL The hospital receptionist se
-
Page 276 and 277:
JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
-
Page 278 and 279:
RACHEL My cab driver on the way hom
-
Page 280 and 281:
tall bear of a man, with very dark
-
Page 282 and 283:
‘To be honest, I assumed Nicky wo
-
Page 284 and 285:
He actually put his hand over his h
-
Page 286 and 287:
‘Cool,’ my avatar said. ‘New
-
Page 288 and 289:
me wants you here to run the invest
-
Page 290 and 291:
I behaved in an arrogant and disgus
-
Page 292 and 293:
RACHEL I logged on to Furry Footbal
-
Page 294 and 295:
‘I know it was him,’ I said. Th
-
Page 296 and 297:
Her handbag was on the seat between
-
Page 298 and 299:
so that my toes were already numb.
-
Page 300 and 301:
‘It’s what Miss May said, about
-
Page 302 and 303:
He sat back down. ‘Again,’ he s
-
Page 304 and 305:
JIM Nicky Forbes was disturbed by m
-
Page 306 and 307:
RACHEL It took me twenty-five minut
-
Page 308 and 309:
here. And then I saw something else
-
Page 310 and 311:
JIM Nicky Forbes’s expression was
-
Page 312 and 313:
RACHEL They prised me up off the ca
-
Page 314 and 315:
Operator: OK. They’re a few minut
-
Page 316 and 317:
RECORD OF EVIDENCE: AVON AND SOMERS
-
Page 318 and 319:
RACHEL Bristol Children’s Hospita
-
Page 322 and 323:
RACHEL I approached my son’s beds
-
Page 324 and 325:
EPILOGUE CHRISTMAS 2013 - ONE YEAR,
-
Page 326 and 327:
RACHEL A few weeks ago, somebody as
-
Page 328 and 329:
that he loved so much in return. Th
-
Page 330 and 331:
JIM Addendum to DI James Clemo’s
-
Page 332 and 333:
JC: Yes. FM: Have you seen her sinc
-
Page 334 and 335:
RACHEL We might never have closure,
-
Page 336 and 337:
us that. He came to our house and w
-
Page 338:
BIBLIOGRAPHY The following websites