The Perfect Daughter Read Online Free Page B

Gradey might be watching.
    â€˜Why haven’t they raided us already, I wonder.’
    â€˜We’ve been discussing that. We think they may have been waiting for you to come back, Nell.’
    â€˜And charge me with harbouring an escaped prisoner?’
    â€˜Or obstructing the police in the course of. They can always think of something.’
    It wasn’t a comfortable thought. If that was what they were waiting for, Gradey could have telephoned a message to Scotland Yard by now. A car-full of police might be rumbling up the hill towards us.
    â€˜Gwen, you’re not to attack them. Understand? Let them come in, let them search, let them take her away if it comes to it. Just don’t lay a finger on them whatever they do.’
    She turned away.
    â€˜Do you understand, Gwen? It’s an order.’
    Still she wouldn’t look at me.
    â€˜When I think what they did to her. You too, come to that. Let alone lay a finger on them, I could bloody kill them.’
    I put a hand on her shoulder. Her muscles were knotted like … like hemp ropes knotted around feet, swollen from seawater. Gwen flinched, so I suppose my fingers must have tightened. I said I was sorry, moved my hand.
    â€˜You see, Nell. You feel just the same as I do.’
    â€˜Perhaps. Only don’t do it. It wouldn’t be worth it.’
    We sat there, drinking more tea, watching the sky change from bright to dark blue through the gap in the curtains. They usually came in daylight, but they were getting more desperate these days so you couldn’t be sure. We let the fire go out. At around ten o’clock Gwen said: ‘Doesn’t look as if they’re coming today.’
    â€˜Dawn then, probably.’
    â€˜Miss their bloody breakfasts.’
    We lit the gas, warmed some soup for the four of us and decided that Gwen would take the night shift upstairs.
    â€˜Do you want to come up and see her, Nell?’
    â€˜Better not. She’ll only start arguing again if she sees me.’
    Gwen said goodnight and went upstairs with the soup. Amy came down, looking exhausted. She’s a dance teacher in ordinary life and weighs about as much as a litter of kittens, with twice the energy, but the waiting was wearing her down. We sorted out our sleeping arrangements. Amy was persuaded to have the chaise-longue. I made a nest of blankets on the rag rug in front of the fireplace. We took our shoes off, but didn’t undress. I made sure I’d put my shoes under a chair where I could find them easily when the knock on the door came. You’re at a disadvantage meeting police boots in stockinged feet.
    *   *   *
    None of us slept much. Now and then I heard boards creaking upstairs. Amy lay on her back, arms at her sides, too disciplined. I dozed now and then but the slightest noise brought me immediately wide awake. The only point when I came near deep sleep I imagined I was back in the dark of the boathouse and must have made some noise.
    â€˜What’s up, Nell? Are they here?’
    I was right. Amy hadn’t been sleeping.
    â€˜No. Sorry. Go back to sleep.’
    We both pretended. It got light around four. Just after five, horse hooves and wheels outside brought Amy and me to our feet but it was only the milkman. At six Gwen came down, rubbing her eyes.
    â€˜She’s asleep, thank God.’
    By seven there was so much traffic noise from Heath Street that we wouldn’t have heard platoons of police arriving. It was the holiday, of course. There were charabancs of people on outings grinding uphill to Hampstead Heath, motor buses hooting, and children shouting. It looked a dull weather day, but it didn’t sound as if that was bothering anybody.
    â€˜Perhaps they won’t come when it’s a holiday,’ Amy said.
    Gwen and I didn’t answer. Then, just as Amy was talking about having a wash and I was looking for the coffee grinder, it happened. There was a knock on