Perseverance Street (28 page)

‘I can well imagine her
dead husband’s army pals not being too happy at having her son stolen by a fellow soldier. Are you investigating that line of enquiry?’

Bannister was annoyed at being told his job by this man who was the most obvious culprit, although the assailant had told Randle that he was a friend of Lily’s dead husband.

‘I could investigate many lines of enquiry, Mr Cleghorn, but I always find it better to eliminate the most obvious suspects first.’

‘I’m pleased to hear that I’m being eliminated. Tell me, Sergeant, have you heard the latest rumour about Randle?’

‘What rumour’s that?’

‘The one about him selling young Michael Robinson to an Italian soldier who may or may not have already smuggled the boy over to Italy. Just a rumour, Sergeant, no idea where it came from, but it’s probably worthwhile you following it up.’

Bannister stared at Charlie, knowing full well where he’d got this information from, and how it had been obtained. He knew that Charlie had been in special forces and he knew he’d been awarded a Military Medal. Someone like that would have little trouble in scaring information out of Randle. From what Randle told him, if they hadn’t been disturbed by fishermen, the Malton police would have had a murder case on their hands. Charlie Cleghorn didn’t look a dangerous man but his military record said otherwise.

He got to his feet and said, ‘I’m not an idiot, Mr Cleghorn. I know exactly what’s been going on and if I find one scrap of evidence to implicate you in the assault on Randle I’ll have you inside so fast your feet won’t touch the floor!’

Charlie ignored Bannister’s threat
and sat back in his chair, with arms folded, as he looked up at the policeman. ‘Tell me, Sergeant. Do the Randles strike you as a couple who make friends easily?’

They both knew the answer to that. ‘It’s not a crime to be unfriendly, Mr Cleghorn – but it’s a serious crime to torture people.’

‘So, you do agree that the Randles aren’t the types to make friends easily?’

The question was rhetorical. Bannister said nothing. He left the house to see if Lily and Dee would corroborate Charlie’s story. He knew they would and he also knew they’d be lying, but he had to go through the motions. It was a matter of procedure.

As he drove over to Shipley he ran through Charlie’s story about Michael being sold to an Italian and wondered if it was worth following up. It was a very strange story and he knew what his boss would say if he put the matter to him.
Forget it, John. We’ve enough bloody crimes to solve without chasing wild rumours
.

Then he thought about the two words
ulterior motive
and he couldn’t help but agree with Charlie. The Randles had been pleasant enough with him, but he’d sensed it wasn’t genuine. Plenty of people put on an act when talking to the police, so it hadn’t bothered him at the time.

But maybe, with the Randles, it should have bothered him.

Jane Robinson wheeled the pram along
Street Lane until she came to the newsagent’s. It stood on its own a couple of hundred yards away from the main shopping parade and on the other side of the road, the same side as she and Godfrey lived. She depressed the brake pedal with her foot and went inside, as she did every morning. She called it her morning constitutional. Every morning she’d make the ten-minute walk from her home to the shop to get her
Yorkshire Post
, and the ten-minute walk back, pushing her grandson in his pram. Every morning she left him outside rather than suffer the effort of taking the huge pram into the shop and it getting in everyone’s way.

It had never occurred to her that there was any danger in leaving an unattended child in a pram. This was a respectable area with no undesirables hanging around. The man walking towards the pram looked eminently respectable. He wore a trilby and had a neat moustache. His suit was grey pinstripe, possibly a demob suit, but there was no shame in that. Many men who could afford better wore their demob suits as a badge of honour. He was carrying a large shopping bag; no shame in that either. Men doing the shopping for their wives were to be applauded, according to most women.

Other than him that part of the
footpath was deserted. He reached into his bag as he reached the pram and took out a large doll, probably the same size as a six-month-old child. He paused for no more than the few seconds it took him to swap young Christopher for the doll and move on. No one saw this happen. By the time Jane Robinson emerged from the shop the man had turned a corner and was out of sight with the sleeping boy in his shopping bag.

She released the footbrake and headed for home, scarcely glancing in the pram at what she assumed was a sleeping baby. It wasn’t until she arrived home that she let out the scream which told the world that Christopher was gone.

When Lily and Dee got back from Skipton market that evening, Bannister and a constable were in his car outside the house. As Dee’s motorcycle combination roared up the drive Bannister got out and followed them. Lily saw him first as she swung off the pillion.

‘Sergeant,’ she said apprehensively. ‘What are you doing here?’

He looked at her, trying to assess her demeanour before he said, ‘I’m afraid I have some bad news, Mrs Robinson.’

His eyes held hers, watching for any flicker of guilt. But her eyes showed only fear of what was to come. ‘Bad news? What bad news, Sergeant?’

‘At ten o’clock this morning your son was taken from a pram outside a shop in Leeds.’

‘You mean he’s missing?’

Bannister nodded, still not taking
his eyes off Lily’s face, which showed nothing but shock.

‘Did anyone see who took him?’ Dee asked, taking off her helmet.

Bannister looked at her and shook his head. ‘Apparently not. Mrs Jane Robinson didn’t notice the infant was missing until she arrived home.’

‘What? She pushed an empty pram home and didn’t notice there was no baby inside?’

‘The baby had been replaced by a doll of similar proportions.’

‘And this bloody woman can’t tell the difference between a doll and a real baby?’

Bannister returned his gaze to Lily, who was now crying. ‘Maybe we should go inside,’ he said. ‘I need to ask you both a few questions.’

‘And to search the house,’ said Dee sarcastically, ‘in case Christopher’s in there.’

‘I haven’t got a warrant to search your house but it would help if I could do that with your permission. You do appreciate that we need to eliminate you from our enquiries.’

‘We haven’t got him,’ sobbed Lily. ‘Why did she leave my baby on his own outside a shop? Why has a woman like that got custody of him? Will you be able to find him, Mr Bannister?’

‘We’ve got thirty men on the case right now. You would have been contacted earlier, but we didn’t know where you were.’

‘Working,’ said Dee. ‘In Skipton market since nine o’clock this morning. You can ask any of the other stall-holders. What time was the baby taken?’

‘Around ten o’clock.’

Bannister signalled for the constable to get out of the car and the four of them went into the house, which was searched thoroughly by the two policemen. No sign of Christopher. Bannister didn’t expect to find him. This new twist to the case was baffling him.

‘We wouldn’t do anything as stupid as this, Mr Bannister,’ sobbed Lily. ‘For God’s sake, I’m applying for custody of him.’

‘It wouldn’t surprise me if Randle’s taken him,’ seethed Dee. ‘I wouldn’t anything past that lying creep!’

‘The Malton police have already investigated that end of things,’ Bannister told them. ‘Bernard Randle has a rock-solid alibi. He was in his CO’s office at ten o’clock this morning.’

‘What about his wife?’ Dee asked.

‘His wife claims she was
at home alone all morning.’

‘So, she doesn’t have a solid alibi.’

‘Not as such, but—’

‘Then arrest her.’

‘We can’t go round arresting people just because they can’t prove where they were at a particular time.’

Lily was sitting in a chair with her face in her hands, her shoulders heaving with great sobs. She eventually looked up at Bannister. Imploring him.

‘Mr Bannister. If you find Christopher, will you bring him to me, please? I’m his mum. I haven’t seen him since he was a month old. Why were those awful people allowed to take him off me?’

‘Mr
and Mrs Robinson are perfectly respectable people. Your son is being well taken care of.’

‘Is he really?’ A vague memory came to her mind. ‘The man’s a crook.’

‘Lily,’ said Bannister reprovingly, ‘I know you’re upset but there’s no cause to start making false accusations.’

‘I’m not,’ said Lily. ‘He sells meat on the black market. My Larry told me. He doesn’t declare all his pigs to the food inspector … or something.’

‘Really? And how come you didn’t mention this when your son was put into their care? Or have you just made it up?’

‘I know what you’re thinking, Sergeant,’ said Dee, ‘but Lily’s not that devious. Nor does she know enough about the butcher’s trade to have made up a story like that.’

‘I thought about telling someone when they took Christopher,’ Lily said, ‘but I promised my Larry I wouldn’t say anything to anyone, which was daft of me because Larry would probably shop them himself for what they’ve done to me.’

‘Well, if that’s true we’ll have it looked into.’

‘It is true. My Larry wouldn’t tell such a lie about his own father.’

‘We’ll do whatever we can,’ said Bannister. He looked from Lily to Dee. ‘Maybe you should get a doctor to see her.’

‘She’s had enough of doctors, Sergeant. I’ll look after her. There is one thing, though.’

‘Yes?’

‘Lily’s
been driven out of her home in Leeds by her neighbours. The people round here don’t know who she is. As far as they’re concerned she’s just our Lily from Leeds who’s come to stay with me for a bit. If word gets out who she is, well, she’ll have to move on.’

‘They won’t hear anything from the police,’ said Bannister, looking at the constable who nodded his assurance. Bannister drove back to Leeds convinced that Lily and Dee had had nothing to do with this. He was also becoming more and more convinced of her overall innocence of everything that had been thrown at her. What he didn’t know was what he could do about it. Her two boys had vanished into thin air and the only possible suspect, Randle, had a rock-solid alibi.

Charlie arrived
just a few minutes after Bannister and the constable had left. Dee opened the door to him. Charlie followed her inside.

‘Charlie, have you heard?’ she said, over her shoulder. ‘Christopher’s been taken.’

‘Yeah, I know that. I’ve been waiting for Bannister to leave.’

She half turned. ‘What? Why?’

‘I needed him to interview you first, and for you to be completely convincing.’

Dee turned to face him. ‘Charlie, what are you talking about?’

Charlie held opened the handles of the shopping bag he was carrying and showed the contents to her. ‘So far he’s been fed twice and had his nappy changed twice, although I think he’s done another one. He’s a great kid. No trouble.’

Dee’s mouth hung open with shock as she looked down on Christopher. ‘Charlie, what the hell have you done?’

‘I’ve brought Christopher to see his mum.’

He looked up just as Lily came to the living-room door. ‘Hiya, Lily. Hey, look who I found.’

Lily darted
forward and looked in the bag. She held her hands to the sides of her face as she gazed down on this boy she hadn’t seen for five months of his six-month life. He’d altered so much she didn’t immediately recognise him. She looked up at Charlie.

‘Is this really Christopher?’

‘I do hope so,’ said Charlie, ‘otherwise I’m in deeper trouble than I thought.’

He was more than twice the size he’d been when she last saw him, under that table in Leeds Town Hall, surrounded by unfriendly feet, when she’d kissed him goodbye, not knowing if she’d ever see him again.

With tears streaming down her pale cheeks she lifted him from the shopping bag and took him in her arms. Within seconds she knew he was her Christopher, the son she’d given birth to all those awful months ago. Dee and Charlie stood back, smiling, as she kissed him all over his head. Then Dee took Charlie’s arm and led him into the kitchen.

‘Good God, Charlie! What the hell are you playing at? You can’t do things like this. As soon as the police find out that Lily’s got him they’ll take him off her and she’ll have no chance of custody. On top of which we could all end up in the slammer!’

Charlie placed a hand on each of her shoulders. In the background they could hear Lily singing to her son. ‘Dee, I know what I’m doing. Lily needs this time with her son, no matter how brief that time is.’

‘Brief? How do you mean?’

‘I mean, she can’t keep him for more than a couple of days, then he goes back. In two days’ time Christopher is found and his grandparents are totally discredited as unfit guardians when the custody hearing comes up.’

Dee sat
down and lit a cigarette. ‘Might work, especially with the police investigating Godfrey about his black-marketeering.’

‘Black-marketeering eh? Didn’t know about that.’

‘Neither did I. Lily reckons he didn’t declare all his pigs or something. That’s what she told Bannister.’

‘If Lily said it, I believe it.’

Dee smiled. ‘How are we going to prise Christopher away from Lily in two days’ time?’

‘Ah, well, I thought that’s something best left to you. You must tell her the situation right now so she knows the score. We need her fully aware of the situation for her own benefit. Has Bannister searched the house?’

‘Yes, thoroughly. I gave him permission.’

‘That’s good. So Christopher can stay here, then. Hey, he’s a great kid, doesn’t cry much at all. I’ve got all sorts of baby stuff in the van. Baby milk, clothes, nappies, dummies. I figured you could make a bed up in a drawer, he’s still only tiny.’

‘You’ve been planning this for some time, haven’t you?’

‘About a week. I had to do a recce on his grandma’s movements. Fortunately she’s a creature of habit – one of them a particularly bad habit.’