The Taken by Sarah Pinborough Read Free Book Online Page B

smiled. “Now, what can I get you two so early in the morning?”
    “It’s the phone line at the house,” Alex said. ‘It’s not working; I think the storm must have done some damage somewhere. We just wondered if yours was still on and if Simon could use it to make a call.”
    “I’ll pay you for it, of course,” Simon added. “I just need to check into my answer service. I’m a freelance journalist and that’s often the way clients get hold of me.”
    Alex bit back her grin. So he wasn’t trying to call a girlfriend. Not that it meant that he definitely didn’t have one, but she obviously wasn’t top on his list of priorities. And whether he has a girlfriend or not shouldn’t be on the top of yours. Making the point to herself, she took a step away from him.
    Alice had scurried behind the counter and she lifted her own phone to her ear, pulling away the clip-on earring when she did so, the way actresses used to do in Hollywood films of the fifties. Alex had always found it strange that Alice took so much care in her appearance, but had never been married. Mary said that Alice had never really had an interest in going down that route, but between her warm heart and her precise, well turned-out looks, Alex had often wondered why.
    Still, you never could tell what went on in other peoples’ lives. Alice must have had her reasons, and those were nobody’s business but her own.
    Tutting, Alice replaced the receiver. “Nothing, I’m afraid. It seems that mine’s down too.” She sighed and looked around her. “That’s a pain. They’d better get it back on soon.”
    “Why? Are you expecting a call?” Alex didn’t think 51
    Alice had ever lived outside Watterrow, so she couldn’t see her social circle expanding much beyond its confines.
    “No, no dear. It’s this place. In the old days it wouldn’t matter too much, but now just about everything relies on the phone working. The cash machine over there, and the chip and pin thing the bank persuaded me to install, they both need the phone running.” She paused and looked out into the gloom. “Still, I should imagine that in this weather trade won’t exactly be too brisk.” She peered a little harder. “I actually think the rain is getting heavier again.
    Well, I’ll be …” Her face clouded over. “I wonder if the river will burst its banks.”
    Through the shop window, Alex watched the trees begin to sway. Alice was right.
    The storm was picking up again. “I should imagine it probably already is. The water has been coming down solidly for about twelve hours.” She paused, and the next words came out quietly. “Aunt Mary said she could only remember one other time when the storms were this bad—about thirty years ago and the whole village ended up cut off.” She glanced at Alice, whose hands had fluttered to the crucifix at her neck, fingering it absently. “She said a little girl went missing in it. Melanie Parr? Do you remember it?”
    Alice’s smile was tight. Maybe a little too tight, Alex thought. “Vaguely. I didn’t have children, so I didn’t know her very well. And it was all a very long time ago.”
    The small glass panes of the door had steamed up where Simon gazed through them.
    “Surely if it’s likely that the village will get cut off, shouldn’t we be evacuating or something?”
    52
    Despite still fiddling with her cross and the collar of her blouse, Alice’s smile was genuine. “That’s not the way we do things out here. There’s nothing so important in the towns that we can’t live without them for a few days. And anyway, even if we did leave, where would we go?”
    Simon grinned at her. “I guess you have a point.” He turned to Alex. “And I think we should head back before this weather gets any worse.”
    Zipping their coats back up, right to the top this time, they stepped outside and left Alice staring quietly out at the angry weather.
    53

Chapter Seven
    Hearing movement upstairs, along with the latest