Chapter 13

By the time she finally got through the pile it was way past her bedtime and her parents had gone upstairs over an hour before. She stretched and got up from the table, and packed her books away in her briefcase. She hated leaving anything in a mess.

Then she went into the kitchen and checked the cat's food bowls. There were some biscuits, but no meat left. And that had been the last tin. Frowning, she went to the cupboard to see if she could find anything suitable and, amazingly, there was the last tin still sitting on the shelf. So what had her mother fed her with earlier? Intrigued, she had a look in the kitchen bin. There, right on top, was an empty tin of best salmon. Aha! So that was how the land lay.

"Well, Jessica,"she said aloud to the little cat, who had followed her into the room. "It looks like you're in danger of being spoilt. But never mind."She bent down to pick her up and she nuzzled against her neck. "It'll make up for being lonely for so long."

She filled the bowl with the contents of the last tin and put the cat down in front of it. Jessica looked up and beamed at her before getting stuck in.

"I can't believe how much you eat. You're so tiny. Where do you put it all?"

Later, when she had cleaned her teeth and was comfortably settled in bed, Jessica came up to join her and nestled beside her on the pillow. Alison was sure this was inappropriate behaviour but, of course, she didn't know what her normal routine was with Miss Blacker. If she usually slept with her mistress, it would be unkind to throw her out now. And anyway she felt a certain smugness that Jessica had chosen to sleep with her rather than her parents.

~ * ~

The next morning Alison found it quite a wrench to leave the little cat behind with her mother. God, it's like falling in love, she thought. Who would have imagined she could form such an attachment so quickly? It was going to be so hard to give her up when Miss Blacker came back ... if Miss Blacker came back.

That lunchtime she went on the hunt for Miss Blacker's favourite niece, the child prodigy, Patsy Owen. The teacher on duty in the juniors' yard was Jean Harris, the same one Miss Wetherspoon had contacted the day before.

"Oh, hello,"she said, smiling. "Mavis rang me and told me you would be round today looking for Patsy."She waved to a small, rather podgy child sitting on the wall by herself. "There she is."Then, raising her voice, "Patsy, I've got Miss Metcalfe here to see you."

The child looked up and gave a huge grin, which suddenly transformed her from a rather ordinary plump little girl into something approaching a beauty, then got up and trotted towards them.

"I'm so pleased to meet you, Miss Metcalfe,"she said, proffering her hand in an oddly formal gesture. "My Auntie June told me all about you."

Alison accepted the proffered hand and smiled back.

"Actually it's your Auntie June I wanted to see you about,"she said. "Has she contacted you at all?"

"Well,"Patsy looked down at her shoes and then up again. "Not for a few days. She sent me a postcard every day for the first week but the last one was postmarked the thirtieth of December. Mind you, that could be the Christmas post, don't you think?"Her voice held such a pleading note that Alison rushed to reassure her.

"Of course it could. I'm sure that's it. She didn't say anything in it about being delayed, did she?"

"No."Patsy looked really disconsolate. "I thought she was coming back this Saturday."Then, as an afterthought. "Mummy's furious."

"Oh."Alison chewed her lip. "You don't happen to know where she was going, do you?"

"She was going to the Alpujarras, wasn't she?"

Alison, taken aback by the child's perfect pronunciation of the difficult Spanish word, took a moment to respond. "That's what I thought, but I don't know exactly where. I thought I might try to track her and find out whether there's any obvious reason why she's delayed."

"You think something's happened to her, don't you?"The child was looking really distressed, her eyes bright with unshed tears.

Alison squatted down to bring herself level with the child. She didn't believe in lying to children. It made them lose faith in grown-ups.

"I think something may have happened to her,"she said, "but there may be a perfectly reasonable explanation and if I can find out just where she went I might be able to find out and put all our minds at rest."

Patsy screwed her face up. "I don't know, she didn't tell me the exact details. Just a village in the Alpujarras."Then her face brightened. "But the lady at the travel agents will know, won't she?"

Alison and Jean exchanged a look.

"The travel agent?"

"You know, the one on the high street, next door to the bank. The one with the big blue sign outside. Auntie June always books her school trips there. She likes the lady in there."Patsy paused for a moment. "Heather, she's called. Auntie June likes her because,"Patsy's face creased into a smile, "she's the only person she's ever met who is nearly as fat as her."

Unable to contain herself any longer, she laughed out loud, holding one hand guiltily in front of her mouth.

Alison and Jean exchanged another glance. They were both smiling at the child's words.

"Thank you, Patsy,"Alison said, getting back to her feet. She looked at her watch. "I'll go along there now."

As she left the yard, the child called after her. "Miss Metcalfe?"

Alison stopped and turned around. "If you find out, will you tell me?"

"Of course. You'll be the first person I'll tell."