After a near sleepless night, I slept for most of the rest of the journey and woke up about ten miles from Churchstone, leaving behind a very nice, faintly erotic dream which had involved Ash’s naked torso and a lot of kissing.
‘You talk in your sleep,’ said Ash.
‘Do I?’ I feigned disinterest although I could feel the furious blush on my face.
‘It’s okay,’ Ash flashed me a sardonic grin, ‘you didn’t say anything intelligible. Just a lot of mumbling.’
Phew.
‘Or it might have been moaning.’
The furious blush turned molten. ‘Glad to have entertained you,’ I snapped, resting one cheek on the welcome cool of the passenger window.
‘You— Oh shit.’ He stared into the rearview mirror.
Instinctively I turned and looked over my shoulder out of the rear window. A blue flashing light was following us.
He pulled over into a rather handily placed layby which had probably been the intention of the police car behind us.
‘What speed were you doing?’ I asked.
‘Below the limit. I’m careful, especially in this. Well, I am now. I did a speed awareness course.’
Two police officers, one very tall young man and one short, plump older woman got out of the car. Both had ambivalent expressions on their faces, neither friendly nor hostile. The woman approached Ash’s door, the young man behind her.
Ash wound down his window.
‘Is this your vehicle sir?’
‘Yes.’
‘Can I see your driving licence?’
Ash wriggled his wallet out of his back pocket and wordlessly handed the licence to the officer.
‘Do you have your insurance documents?’
‘No, I don’t keep them in the car.’
‘MOT certificate?’
‘No.’
I’d have been bending over backwards to appear a helpful, eager-beaver, law-abiding citizen. What was with the surly one-word answers? My heart was racing; I couldn’t help it. This was exactly the kind of thing I always tried to avoid.
This was the sort of behaviour that got you hauled out of the car and clapped in handcuffs. Not that I knew, never ever having been stopped by the police before. I wondered if Ash had been previously.
‘Would you mind telling me where you’re going and where you’ve been?’
Ash shrugged. ‘No, we’re on our way to Churchstone from Hertfordshire.’
‘Churchstone?’ The police officer turned to her male colleague.
‘I… we live there.’
‘Are you acquainted with a Mrs Hilda Fitzroy-Townsend?’
Ash and I glanced at each other and I caught my breath in sudden panic. The girls.
‘Is she all right?’ I blurted out. ‘Has something happened to her?’ I began to scrabble in my bag for my phone. I’d texted her to tell her we were on our way when we left at twelve.
‘Please leave your hands where we can see them.’ The woman’s voice rapped out with loud authority and I dropped my bag and held up my hands.
‘I was just checking to see if I’d had a message from her.’
‘You know Mrs Fitzroy-Townsend?’
‘Yes.’ I nodded.
‘Do you know where she is?’
I lifted my head, worried now, and there was a hardness in the other woman’s expression.
‘Well, I know where she should be,’ I said. ‘Do you want me to ring her?’
The two police officers exchanged identical bland expressions with each other.
‘We would like to see Mrs Fitzroy-Townsend for ourselves. There are concerns for her safety.’
‘Do you think she’s had an accident?’ I asked.
Now the police were decidedly iron-faced.
‘When was the last time you saw Mrs Fitzroy-Townsend?’
‘Friday morning.’ Ash nodded in confirmation.
‘And you’ve not seen her since then?’
‘Well, no. We’ve been away. She’s looking after my nieces. But she was there this morning because she texted me about eight to say everything was all fine.’
The policeman frowned and checked his notebook. ‘So you have had contact with Mrs Fitzroy-Townsend this morning?’
‘Yes.’
‘And where was she this morning?’
‘At my house.’
‘Which is where?’
I reeled off the address. ‘We’re just on our way back there.’
‘We would like to see Mrs Fitzroy-Townsend. As I said, there are concerns for her safety.’
‘So there hasn’t been an accident?’ This was all very confusing.
‘Not that we’re aware of. We’d just like to ascertain her whereabouts.’
I frowned. ‘Well, in that case, I’m sure she’s absolutely fine. I can call her if you’d like.’
‘We do need to speak to her. Check that’—she gave me a stern look—‘she’s there of her own volition.’
‘Sorry?’ I frowned trying to compute the implications. ‘You think I’ve kidnapped her?’
‘We’re just trying to confirm her whereabouts. Her family are very worried about her.’
‘But didn’t they try to ring her?’
‘She’s not been responding to texts, phone calls, or voicemails. Mrs Fitzroy-Townsend was reported missing yesterday morning and was last seen getting into this vehicle.’
I was confused and worried. The only thing for it was to sign up for a police escort home so we could get to the bottom of things.
Chapter Nineteen
The house was quiet when I opened the front door but there was a lovely smell of baking which boded well.
‘Hello, Hilda. We’re back,’ I called, feeling rather self-conscious in front of the two police officers who were virtually breathing down my neck.
I walked down the black and white tiled hallway towards the back of the house and the kitchen-diner.
‘Auntie Claire, Auntie Claire!’ Ava darted forward and flung her arms around my hips as if I’d returned from a lengthy transatlantic sea-voyage rather than an overnight trip down the M1. Behind her, Poppy, in an outsized apron, and Hilda with one of my new table cloths tucked in her sweatshirt like a bib, were in the middle of spooning cake mixture into little flowered bun cases.
‘We’re making butterfly cakes and we made flapjacks and cookies.’
Hilda glanced over her shoulder at us, ‘You’ve made excellent time… Ah, good afternoon.’ She gave the police officers a regal nod. ‘We have company.’
‘Mrs Fitzroy-Townsend?’ asked the policeman.
‘Yes. How do you do?’ said Hilda turning around and brushing her hands on the tablecloth. ‘Can I offer you and the WPC a cup of tea? I’m sure Claire and Ash will want one after their long drive. How was the trip?’
‘That would be…’ He looked back at his colleague a little uncertainly. ‘Perhaps we could speak privately with you in another room?’
‘Why would you want to do that? I have nothing to hide from my friends.’
‘It would be better,’ pressed the WPC, her mouth tightening.