Hidden Depths by Ann Cleeves Read Free Book Online Page B

to mature. There were hanging baskets outside the houses, spotless cars on the drives. Nothing to sneer at, Vera told herself.
    She hadn’t been sure Geoff Armstrong would be in. When she’d phoned there’d been an answering machine, but she hadn’t left a message. She’d just as soon catch him unprepared. She drove slowly down the street looking for the right house. It was three o’clock and the younger children were coming out of the primary school on the corner. Mothers waiting in the playground looked pink and dazed after an afternoon in the sun. Vera was standing on the step with her finger on the bell, when Armstrong walked into the drive. He was holding the hand of a little girl only just old enough to be at school. An ad-man’s dream cute kid – blonde curls, freckles, huge brown eyes, dressed in a regulation red gingham frock.
    ‘Yes?’ he said. Only one word, but spoken with that undertone of aggression which had scared Julie.
    Before she could explain, the front door opened. A slight woman was framed in the doorway. She was wearing a dressing gown, blinked out at the sunlight, but wasn’t embarrassed to be caught like that. She knew she still looked good.
    ‘Kath works nights,’ Armstrong said angrily. ‘I finish early on Fridays so I can fetch Rebecca. That way Kath gets an extra hour in bed.’
    ‘Sorry, pet.’ Vera spoke to the woman, not to him. ‘No one said.’ She held out her ID so they could both see. ‘Can I come in?’
    They sat in the small kitchen, leaving Rebecca in the lounge with juice, a biscuit and children’s TV. Kath put the kettle on then excused herself to get dressed. When Vera apologized again for waking her, she waved it away.
    ‘It’s impossible to sleep in when the weather’s like this. Radios in the gardens and the kids playing out. Anyway, this is important. Poor Luke.’ She stood for a moment in the doorway, then went upstairs. They heard her progress: footsteps, a cupboard being opened, the shower.
    They sat on tall stools next to the breakfast bar. Vera thought they must look ridiculous. Two overweight gnomes on toadstools. ‘Did Luke spend a lot of time here?’ she asked.
    ‘Quite a lot, before he was ill. More than Laura. I thought she’d be excited when Kath had the baby. A little sister. But she seemed to resent her. Luke was better with Rebecca even when she was tiny.’
    ‘He hadn’t been here since he left hospital?’
    ‘No. Kath wanted to have him over to stay last weekend, but I wasn’t sure . . .’
    ‘You were worried about your little girl?’
    ‘Not that he’d hurt her, like. But that if he behaved strange, she wouldn’t understand.’ He paused. ‘I never handled Luke well when I lived at home. Pride, Kath says. I wanted a boy who was strong, competitive, good at games. Like me only better. I suppose I was ashamed because he was different from other lads.’
    Vera thought he’d changed since he left Julie. Kath must be a civilizing influence. Or maybe she’d just taught him how to talk a good game.
    ‘You used to lose your temper with him.’
    He looked up, shocked. He was a bereaved father. She wasn’t supposed to talk to him like that.
    ‘It was a bad time,’ he said. ‘I’d lost my job, no money, Julie and me weren’t getting on. Lately I’d been trying to understand him better. Then that lad he was knocking around with drowned and it freaked Luke out. No one could get through to him then.’
    ‘Did you visit him in hospital?’
    ‘Kath and I both went. I’m not sure I could have faced it on my own. First few times you could tell he was really doped up. I mean, I’m not sure he knew we were there. But even then he looked scared. He jumped whenever anyone came up behind him. When he got better we took him out for an afternoon. A pizza and a bit of a walk round Morpeth. He was more chatty then, but still very nervy. He kept saying it was his fault, that lad drowning. We got to the bridge, you know over the river by the