“G’day, Perce.”
“Hugo.”
“Lucy said you wanted to add something to your statement?”
“That’s right.”
Doyle was looking at him, waiting for him to go on, and Percy was aware of his own cadence, foreign to him suddenly, as he spoke. “I was thinking about it later. Sergeant Duke asked whether I’d gone over to the crib, and I said no.”
“I remember.”
“Only, that wasn’t right. I did go near the crib. I didn’t recall it when I was answering last night. It was the shock. I wasn’t thinking straight.”
Hugo was nodding in a not-unfriendly way, and yet to Percy, straitened by guilt, the gesture was concerning.
“Sure,” said the policeman, “I get that. Terrible shock. Easy to forget the details.” He wrote something on the notepad and looked up. “Just to make sure I’ve got it clear, you’re still happy with the rest ofyour statement—your horse needed a swim, you came to the creek, you saw the Turner family and thought they were asleep, and then you went closer?”
“Yes, but on the way, I walked past the crib.”
“Walked past it.”
“Around it. I didn’t know that’s what it was at the time. Just seemed like a basket to me.”
“Didn’t look inside?”
“No. I could see the Turners on the picnic blanket. I knew something wasn’t right. I went directly to them.”
Doyle wrote another couple of sentences on the notepad. “Didn’t see or hear anything?”
“I only wish I had. There was nothing to suggest—I’d have gone to check if I’d thought for a second...”
Doyle was nodding, and when it became clear that Percy was going to leave his regret unspoken, the policeman set down his pen. “Well, thanks, Perce,” he said. “I’ll get Lucy to type this up and we’ll add it to your statement.”
“Thanks.”
“Good of you to come in, especially on Christmas Day.”
“Of course.”
“And you’re not to worry, we’ll get to the bottom of it. Whatever happened, if someone out there had a part to play in it, we’ll find him. Make no mistake about that. Owe it to them all, don’t we?”
Percy nodded his agreement.
“And we’ll find that baby, too. I’ve got men out there now and they’re getting close.”
“You’ve got a lead?”
Doyle tapped the side of his nose. “Let’s just say, if she’s still out there to be found, we’ll find her.”
30
For the next few days, Percy struggled to keep his head above water. Meg was unreachable, neither of his sons was speaking to him, the Turner family lay dead in the morgue. The police were interviewing everyone in town—Percy had taken Kurt along to the station himself, getting in early before the eye of suspicion had a chance to land; the search for the Turner baby continued.
Some of the regulars had started to comment on Meg’s absence from the shop counter, and Percy told them she was resting, having taken the news hard. They all made noises of understanding; she was known to be an especially empathetic woman. In reality, though, Meg was very busy. When at home, she barely left the baby’s side: there was a new infant formula they’d ordered for the shop some months back that had sat on the shelf unsold. Meg put it to good use now, sitting for lengthy feeding sessions with the baby, crooning and singing, comforting the child, who responded well to the constant attention. The only other place she went was Halcyon, where she’d taken it upon herself to keep an eye on Mrs. Turner-Bridges, whose own baby had arrived under such difficult circumstances.
Percy grew increasingly uneasy. The baby—Thea—needed to be found soon, and not in his wife’s arms. He had been turning over his options in the days since Christmas, and finally, during the community meeting at the Institute, he’d perceived an opportunity. He’d gone alone, leaving Meg at home with the baby and the boys helping in the shop, and that’s where he’d glimpsed the woman people were referring to in pitying whispers as “Mrs. Turner’s poor sister-in-law.”
He’d already met her once before, a couple of weeks earlier, when he’d made an early morning delivery up to Halcyon. She had still been heavily pregnant then, her skin glowing with a fine sheen of perspiration as the day was already warm, despite the early hour. “Youmust be Mr. Summers,” she’d said with a smile when he appeared at the kitchen door. “Issy said you’d be along with the groceries today. Would you mind bringing them inside for me?”
