The Red Herring by Sally Spencer Page B

managed to slip by us?’
    â€˜None that I can think of, but I could get one of my lads to check through the back copies of the newspapers,’ Rutter said.
    â€˜Aye, you do that,’ Woodend agreed. ‘An’ check on the Armstrong Siddeley, as well. The one Mrs Hoddleston saw bringin’ Miss Beale home more than once, an’ which, coincidentally, was parked on the car park of the Spinner last night.’
    â€˜They could have been two completely different cars, sir,’ Bob Rutter pointed out.
    â€˜They could have been,’ Woodend agreed. ‘But it’s not really very likely, is it?’
    â€˜True,’ Rutter agreed. ‘So what will you be doing this afternoon, sir?’
    â€˜Oh, I thought me an’ Sergeant Paniatowski might have a bash at trackin’ down this Yank Verity Beale chose to spend her last night on earth with,’ Woodend said.
    Margaret Dunn shared both her daughter’s skinniness and her slightly haunted look, the deputy head thought as he glanced at the woman who was sitting across the desk from him.
    â€˜We’ve only been looking for Helen for a few minutes,’ he said reassuringly. ‘She’s bound to turn up soon.’
    â€˜She’s not here,’ Margaret Dunn said, biting her lower lip.
    She was doing her best to contain her panic, but she was still not making a very good job of it, Hargreaves thought. If they didn’t produce Helen soon, the woman would probably go into hysterics.
    â€˜If she’d tried to leave the school, the teacher on yard duty would have seen her,’ he said.
    But would he really? he wondered. Most of the staff had been walking round shell-shocked ever since he’d told them that Verity Beale had been murdered, and it wouldn’t really have surprised him if half the school had nicked off without anybody noticing.
    â€˜She knew she had a dental appointment booked,’ Margaret Dunn said. ‘She knew I was going to pick her up to take her there. We’ve done it before. She’s always waiting for me by the main gate.’
    â€˜Children sometimes forget things like that,’ Hargreaves said.
    But from what he’d seen of Helen Dunn it didn’t seem likely, even to him, that she’d be the forgetful type. In fact, apart from that one incident in Woolworths – an incident which, at Verity Beale’s insistence, her parents still hadn’t been told about – Helen was a conscientious child, almost to the point of being a bit too much of a goody-goody.
    There was a knock on the door, and the duty teacher entered the room. Hargreaves looked up at him expectantly, but the teacher shook his head.
    â€˜We checked everywhere,’ he said. ‘The playground, the classrooms, even the parts of the school which are out of bounds to the children. There’s no sign of her anywhere.’
    â€˜What about the street?’ Hargreaves asked. ‘Have you thought to look there?’
    The duty teacher nodded. ‘I’ve had the prefects check the full length of Park Road. They’ve gone into the shops. Nobody’s seen a girl in a King Edward’s uniform.’
    Margaret Dunn’s sallow face turned even paler than the deputy head would ever have thought possible.
    â€˜Can we get you something, Mrs Dunn?’ he asked solicitously. ‘A glass of water, perhaps?’
    But it was doubtful if Margaret Dunn had heard him. Her skinny hands were entwined and she seemed to be shrinking into herself.
    â€˜Oh my God!’ she moaned. ‘Whatever will he say? Whatever will the squadron leader
say
?’

Eleven
    T he duty sergeant handed the message to Woodend as soon as he returned from lunch. It was short and to the point. Deputy Chief Constable Ainsworth and Detective Chief Superintendent Whittle would like to see him in Ainsworth’s office as soon as possible – if not sooner.
    As Woodend walked along the corridor he found