The Child’s Secret. Amanda Brooke

quiet ones slip through the net.’

      ‘Did she get in trouble?’

      ‘Jasmine? No, it was me who got hauled over the coals!’

      Sam didn’t look moved. ‘Don’t expect sympathy from me when I was the one left to clear up after you all.’

      ‘Sorry, was there much of a mess?’

      Sam thought of the screwed-up ball of pink paper which he had transformed into a soaring paper bird when he said, ‘It’s all in a day’s work – and the way things are at the moment, I suppose I should just be glad I’ve got a job.’

      ‘Actually, I think that could be behind Jasmine’s behaviour,’ Anna said, making the link with Sam’s comment far more quickly than he could have hoped. ‘Her dad was laid off a few months ago and since then she seems to have slunk deeper into the shadows. I wouldn’t have thought the family are in dire straits; her mum still works but that might be part of the problem. They both worked at a builders’ merchants but only she got to keep her job. They’re not a happy family by any stretch of the imagination.’

      ‘You sound like you know them quite well.’

      ‘Oh, only to say hello to really. I see Laura – the mother – at parents’ evenings and they don’t live too far from where my parents live so I’ve seen them around. Jasmine’s dad, Finn, drinks in the King’s Arms and I think he’s practically living there these days.’

      Thinking how the troubled girl could have more disappointment in store when the Wishing Tree failed to deliver her heart’s desire made Sam lose his appetite. He didn’t want to hear any more and began playing with his food, a curry that was so hot it had made his eyes water.

      Anna watched him chase the same piece of lamb around his plate until she stabbed at it with her fork. ‘Sorry, you’ll have to get used to this,’ she said. ‘If I see something I like, I go for it.’

      Sam waited for her eyes to start watering but Anna dealt with the spiced heat better than he had. ‘I’m impressed,’ he said.

      ‘That was the plan,’ she confessed.

       6

       Sam’s flat: Wednesday 7 October 2015

      ‘It was through Anna that I got to know the family,’ Sam told Harper.

      ‘And Anna would be Jasmine’s teacher?’

      Pursing his dried lips, the skin tore when Sam opened his mouth to speak. He was tiring of the cat-and-mouse game Harper was playing and said, ‘You already know she is.’

      ‘Yes, of course, Anna Jenkins. The girlfriend,’ Harper said and then began leafing through his notebook, although Sam suspected it was more for effect than to check any particular facts.

      The silence that followed made Sam uncomfortable, as Harper no doubt intended. Sam was becoming impatient for a drink to quench his thirst and was ready to stand up to get it himself, when the uniformed policeman reappeared with his long-awaited glass of water. Jasper had been following him, but stopped at the doorway when he saw Harper standing over Sam. The puppy looked to his master for comfort then shivered nervously.

      ‘Go lie down, boy,’ Sam told him softly but firmly.

      Jasper took a hesitant step forward as if he were going to ignore the command but then, dipping his head, he disappeared back into the kitchen. There was the brief sound of scratching as the puppy settled into his bed.

      ‘I couldn’t help notice that all your cupboards are bare, Mr McIntyre,’ the police officer said as he handed Sam the glass.

      Harper looked up from his notes. ‘Really?’ he asked and shared a look with the other man before writing something down. When he looked up again, he said, ‘Right, Mr McIntyre, back to this morning. You left the house when?’

      Sam had been expecting a whole new set of questions but relaxed a little. After taking a long drink, he said, ‘About ten o’clock, maybe ten thirty.’

      ‘Not before?’

      ‘I’ve already told you. No.’

      ‘And is there anyone who can corroborate your story?’

      ‘It’s not a story, and no, I can’t.’

      ‘Not your landlady?’

      ‘I haven’t seen Selina this morning. I heard her leave, maybe an hour before me.’

      ‘And do you know where she is now?’

      Sam craned his neck to look out of the window. The parking space next to his Land Rover remained empty. ‘No,’ he said.

      ‘And no one else lives in the house?’

      ‘No.’

      Harper was looking around the room again. ‘No offence, but it hardly looks like even you live here. Has Jasmine ever visited?’

      ‘No, never.’

      ‘You met her quite often in the park, though.’

      ‘A few times, yes.’

      ‘And the last time you saw her was …’ Harper said, pausing to consult his notes, ‘two weeks ago. Where was that?’

      ‘At the park,’ Sam said.

      ‘Where in the park?’

      ‘By the—’ Sam went to say Wishing Tree and only just stopped himself. ‘By the Allerton Oak.’

      Harper tapped a pen against his notepad and then took a quick breath as if a thought had only just occurred to him. ‘Ah, yes, I’d almost forgotten about the Wishing Tree. Is there a reason why you haven’t yet mentioned that you knew about Jasmine’s wish to find a job for her dad, Mr McIntyre? Or why you felt compelled to fulfil it?’

       7

       Friday 29 May 2015

      Heading away from the Mansion House, Sam and Jack looked up at the same time as the sun made a late appearance through the slate grey cloud that had hung over Calderstones all day. Lifted from the shadows, the park came to life; the verdant greens of the lawns and foliage took on a new vibrancy and the late spring blooms were dazzling.

      Sam shook his head. ‘Now the sun decides to come out! If they’d hung around a bit longer, they would have seen the gardens in all their glory,’ he muttered, referring to the group of councillors who had been touring the city’s parks to help decide how best to use some recently acquired European funding. Sam had helped Jack put together a project for Calderstones that, amongst other things, would reinstate the full-time role of park ranger.

      ‘Oh, I don’t think a bit of sunshine would change anything,’ Jack said. ‘You mentioning how you volunteer your time out of hours – now that didn’t help our cause. Why pay for a ranger when there’s someone daft enough to do it for free?’

      ‘They have to know the service is still needed, still used.’

      ‘Sorry, I know it’s your baby and good on you for keeping it going,’ Jack said. When he saw Sam’s jaw clench, he put his hand on his shoulder. ‘You need to find something else in your life, mate. No one should love their job as much as you do. It’s not natural!’

      Sam tried to look offended but then smiled. ‘Someone has to keep this place going while there are so many others leaving like rats from a sinking ship.’

      Jack bowed his head a little. ‘I never thought I’d be one of them, but I would have been mad not to take