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“Red hair,” Toby said. “The mother had red hair?”
Dr. Smethers smiled at the memory. “A real redhead,” he confirmed.
“What about her friend?”
“What do you mean?”
“The friend who was with her. What did she look like?”
Smethers gave Toby a look of long-suffering patience. “I wasn’t looking at her friend. I’ve delivered hundreds of four-legged creatures, you get used to seeing ears and snouts, or a couple of legs if it’s a breach, and if it all goes wrong, well, it’s just a farm animal, just a question of buying a new one. This was different. I had a human life in my hands, two lives really, because the mother was struggling. I didn’t have time to look at her friend.” He clasped his hands together as if giving himself a congratulatory handshake. “I was just glad it came right in the end.”
“So you can’t tell me anything about the friend?”
“Dark hair. That’s all I can tell you. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to my meeting.”
Toby’s thoughts were racing. He was no longer in the comforting surroundings of the registrar’s office with daylight streaming through the tall windows. He was in a barn lit only by the light of a kerosene lantern, where three people crouched on the floor. He imagined Dr. Smethers in overalls, called in from attending a sick animal. He saw two women, one a shadowy figure with dark hair and the other a familiar figure; red curls, a spray of freckles across her nose, her brown eyes wide with pain.
Somewhere in the distance, a telephone jangled, and then he felt a touch on his arm.
“Mr. Whitby.”
Why? Why had she given her name as Vera Malloy? Why?
“Mr. Whitby.”
Was Carol the mother of Anita Malloy?
“Telephone, Mr. Whitby.”
The registrar’s touch on his arm pulled Toby back into the present.
“You have a telephone call from your office.”
Toby stared uncomprehendingly at the telephone receiver in the registrar’s hand and the long cord stretched from the desk.
“For me?”
“Yes, it’s a Miss Clark, from your office. She said that she knew you were coming here this morning.”
Red hair and freckles.
“Mr. Whitby.” The registrar was becoming impatient. “I would be obliged if you would answer your telephone call.”
“Oh, yes, of course.”
Toby held the receiver to his ear, and Miss Clark’s authoritarian tones jerked him closer to the present reality.
“You are needed at Southwold Hall, Mr. Whitby.”
“I’m sorry, what did you say?”
“You are needed at Southwold Hall. You should go there at once. Apparently, Vera Malloy is here, and they wish you to draw up a document regarding the parentage of the child.”
Toby gathered his scattered wits and settled on the only thing he could state with certainty. “Vera Malloy can’t be here. They’ve only just contacted her. She won’t be here for a week or more.”
Miss Clark allowed a note of awe to creep into her voice. “She came in an aeroplane. She has landed at London airport and is on her way to Southwold Hall. I have informed Mr. Champion.”
“An aeroplane,” Toby repeated.
“Yes,” said Miss Clark. “Mr. Harrigan would like to have this matter settled immediately. He doesn’t like to be kept waiting, so I suggest that you do not keep him waiting.”
Toby heard his own voice coming from somewhere far away. “I have to do something else first. I have to ...”
“Mr. Whitby, is something the matter? Has something happened?”
Toby remembered the romance magazines on Miss Clark’s desk, and her unexpected kindness to Vera’s mother. He would have to trust her.
“I need you to help me, Miss Clark.”
“Yes?”
“I think I know who the child’s mother is, but I need time to prove it. I need you to say that you were unable to find me.”
“But I have found you.”
“Please, Miss Clark, this is really important.”
Miss Clark’s voice dropped to a whisper. “What have you found, Mr. Whitby?”
“A web of lies,” said Toby softly. “Everyone is lying, Miss Clark. Everyone! I need time to find out why.”
“Very well, I will say that you could not be reached.”
“Thank you.”
Miss Clark’s whisper was still conspiratorial. “Where are you going?”
“To find the real mother,” Toby replied, and he replaced the receiver before Miss Clark could ask any more questions.