The Devil's Chair Read Online Free

‘Fill me in.’
    She was fully aware that the detective would be confiding in her facts about the case that were not in the public domain. She was equally aware that he hadn’t paid her the insult of asking her to keep these facts quiet.
    â€˜OK,’ he said, relaxing a little. ‘Briefly. We have Tracy Walsh, the thirty-two-year-old partner of forty-year-old Neil Mansfield. They’ve been together for two years.’
    Martha interrupted. ‘Neil Mansfield is not Daisy’s father, then?’
    â€˜No. Tracy had actually been married, briefly, to Daisy’s father, an Allistair Donaldson, but the couple split up not long after Daisy was born. Daisy has her mother’s surname, which Tracy reverted to on the break-up of her marriage. Donaldson lives near Inverness. He’s a fish farmer and has had little to do with his daughter. According to the local Scottish bobby who interviewed him his contact was little more than a tenner at Christmas. Tracy had had a few partners since Allistair but she and Neil met two years ago and have lived together for a little over a year. It is, apparently, a volatile relationship. They live in Church Stretton and are well known for their public drunken arguments. The local police have been called in several times.’ He sighed. ‘And as is usual in these cases, Piggy in the Middle is little Daisy, four years old, not surprisingly a rather quiet, withdrawn little girl.’ He looked up, his eyes soft, knowing she would want his sources. ‘Again, according to the neighbours. Anyway …’ He sighed. ‘On Saturday night the couple had yet another drunken argument after a bout of drinking that had started at lunchtime.’ His eyes met hers in weary cynicism. ‘They were pissed out of their brains. Tracy’s blood alcohol level was three hundred milligrams and that was hours after she’d left the house. No alcohol was found in the car so …’ He left her to draw her own conclusion.
    â€˜Crikey. Three hundred milligrams? That’s quite a few ciders,’ Martha commented.
    â€˜Yeah. And somewhere nearing four times the legal driving limit,’ Alex said. He continued: ‘At sometime around two in the morning Tracy runs upstairs and grabs her daughter, saying she’s had enough of Neil and is leaving him – she’s going to stay with a friend. She takes the car up the Burway towards the Long Mynd and the rest …’ He opened his palms. It was as though he had run out of words.
    â€˜What about Neil? Why didn’t he try to stop her?’
    â€˜He says he thinks he did – before he passed out. He pleaded with her to leave Daisy with him.’ A shadow crossed Randall’s face. ‘He says he was
going
to ring the police but …’
    He shrugged, his face bleak. ‘It’s an awful story,’ he said, ‘but not exactly uncommon.’
    Martha put a hand up as though to ward off his words and the images they conveyed. ‘Don’t,’ she said. Then, ‘So where does Neil Mansfield think she was heading?’
    â€˜She has a friend, a girl called Wanda. He thought he heard her name being mentioned. Those two are pretty thick. Wanda lives in Ratlinghope. It’s possible she was heading for there,’ he paused, ‘but never made it.’
    Martha eyed him. There was something else. She waited, knowing her silence would give him the opportunity to say what was really troubling him.
    â€˜There are some puzzling facts,’ he continued quietly. ‘In fact, the entire event is a series of anomalies.’ His eyes met hers. ‘I’ll start with what we know for certain. The accident was reported somewhere around six on Sunday morning.’
    â€˜Yes?’
    â€˜The call was made from a local cottage.’ He gave a twisted smile. ‘Hope Cottage.’
    Martha was bemused. ‘What’s so puzzling about that?’
    â€˜The