Hard Time Read Online Free

rule number two: don’t believe a word anyone tells you, even if you’re talking to your gran.
    “So let me get this straight.” She mimed note-taking at Daz, then leaned forward to narrow the gap with the mother. This close, Bev discerned holes of a different nature: defunct
piercings at the side of the nose and below the bottom lip. Youthful rebellion now regretted? Also apparent, despite the perfectly applied make-up, was a lattice of fine lines round the eyes. Not
crow’s feet, perhaps, but getting there. “You couldn’t collect Daniel yourself...”
    “Something came up at the last minute. I couldn’t make it.” She crossed a well-toned leg.
    “Work?” Bev asked.
    “No.” The smile was a tad smug.
    “Right.” Bev cleared her throat. “So you rang your husband from home this morning and asked him to go to the school?”
    “Rich was fine. He loves spending time with Daniel.”
    “But he didn’t arrive.” It wasn’t a question. She let it sink in but nothing surfaced. “Where were you?”
    Jenny glanced in Daz’s direction. “Sorry?”
    “You couldn’t get here? To pick Daniel up?” Hello, come in, please. “Where were you?”
    The hesitation could’ve been genuine. “A medical appointment. It slipped my mind.” She gave a faltering smile.
    Bev didn’t return it, felt strongly the woman was lying. “I’ll need details.”
    Jenny Page nodded, impatient. “Look, officer, I still think it’s a misunderstanding. I’m sure Richard must have asked one of the girls to collect Dan-Dan.”
    The quick change of subject was not subtle. “Girls?”
    She shrugged. “Secretary, PA, someone from the agency.”
    Bev sat back, arms crossed. “Got a double then, Mrs Page?”
    “Sorry?” She patently wasn’t. Bev was clearly ascending Jenny Page’s perfect nostrils.
    “A double? At the agency?” The cues weren’t picked up. Bev threw another. “The woman at the gates looked so much like you, Shirley Wilson and Tanya Woodall let Daniel go
with her.”
    “The old biddy wasn’t wearing her glasses. I asked.”
    “And Miss Woodall?”
    “How should I know? She’s only been here five minutes. Trust me: they’re mistaken.”
    “And Daniel?” Bev snapped. “Was he wrong too?” A tad harsh. But Jenny Page was a big girl. The little boy was Bev’s prime concern. And she had to admit there was
still distance between her and the woman. She’d come across similar bimbos before: leg-flashing eyelash-flutterers who – if they noticed other women at all – looked straight
through them. The Jenny Pages of this world felt easier with men because men were a soft touch. Bev didn’t do little woman.
    “Where’s your husband now, Mrs Page?”
    The eyes closed briefly. “I don’t know. I can’t raise him.”
    “Is that unusual?” She kept her voice neutral.
    “Extremely.”
    “Are you happily married, Mrs Page?” She returned the woman’s glare, letting the silence linger, aware Daz was shifting in his seat.
    “I see now.” Page rose, shrugged on a leather coat that matched her eyes. “You don’t believe me. You think I’m wasting your time.”
    Or your husband is. “Right now I don’t know what to think, Mrs Page.”
    True. At this stage, they were starting from scratch, knew naff-all about the Pages. Depending how things panned out, they’d soon know the lot. Cops were like the media: digging into
private lives, uncovering intimate details. Big difference: the police didn’t splash the goods all over the front page.
    As for the Pages’ possible involvement in Daniel’s disappearance... Like it or not, parents harmed their children. Bev wasn’t pussyfooting around so as not to hurt a few
feelings.
    Jenny Page looked down, hands on hips over a still seated Bev. “Know what? I don’t care what you think. Your attitude stinks. I’m going home. I’ll wait for my husband
there.”
    Before she reached the door, the phone in her bag trilled. The tension in her face eased as