Diamonds in the Dust Read Free Page A

expressions at his response tugged at him. He must be mad, but what else did he have to do? ‘Wait! Why don’t you come in and tell me all about it?’
    Lily rushed in without hesitation, pulling her brother and sister behind her, declaring, ‘There, I told you he was nice.’
    He ushered them into the front room and waited asthey all sat close together on the settee, clearly nervous. Then he eased himself into a chair. ‘First of all tell me your names.’
    ‘I’m Dora, this is Tom and Lily, my brother and sister.’
    He nodded. ‘What’s the problem, and how do you think I can help you?’
    ‘We need to find someone and we don’t know how to do it.’ He leant forward, intrigued. Dora had said someone, not something. ‘Do you know where they live?’
    Tom nodded. ‘They’re not there.’
    ‘If they’ve got a job you could check with their employers.’
    ‘We’ve done that, sir,’ Tom said. ‘We was told they worked at Grant’s on the night shift, but they haven’t got a night shift, and they told Dora that sh … this person’s never worked there.’
    He sat bolt upright as a picture came into his head of their mother leaving the house every evening around six o’clock. ‘Are you talking about your mother?’
    ‘Blimey, sir, you soon worked that one out.’ Tom was impressed.
    Lily’s face had drained of all colour at the mention of her mother. ‘You mustn’t tell anyone, Mr Crawford. Dora said that people might not like us being on our own, but she takes good care of us, always has.’
    For a moment he was speechless. Then it began to dawn on him the predicament these youngsters now found themselves in. He didn’t know how old Dora was, but her suitability for caring for her siblings might well be questioned.
    ‘Please!’ Lily had scrambled off the settee and was now standing in front of him, her eyes pleading. ‘I don’t want no one to take me away. Dora’s eighteen soon. We’ll be all right then.’
    ‘I promise not to mention it. Whatever you tell me is between us only.’ He smiled reassuringly at Lily, noting that Dora was older than he had first thought. ‘Don’t you worry. We’ll sort this out.’
    A little colour seeped back into Lily’s face, and she returned to her seat.
    Stan could feel his mind beginning to work, just like the old days. It was odd that the children believed their mother worked nights when she clearly didn’t. He was intrigued – no, more than that, he was excited by the mystery. ‘Let’s deal with the practical things first. Are you renting the house you live in?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘Right, then don’t tell the landlord your mother isn’t there. Dora, can you afford to pay the rent, and who usually gives him the money?’
    ‘I have a little put by. It’ll last for a couple of weeks, and I’ve got a job. I usually pay the rent collector when he calls.’
    ‘Good, then he won’t be suspicious if he doesn’t see your mother. Now you’d better tell me the whole story. Don’t leave anything out even if it seems trivial to you. I need every detail.’
    As he listened to Dora explain about their missing mother, Stan felt the back of his neck begin to tingle. He didn’t like what he was hearing. This woman obviouslythought a lot of her children, and they of her. She would not have walked out on them without a word. The lie about the kind of work she was doing was worrying. He rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. He hoped he was wrong, but his instinct was telling him that something bad had happened here.
    By the end of the story he knew that he was going to help them. To get involved in an investigation like this was just what he needed to put the life back in him. But more than that, he wanted to do what he could for these children. They were showing great courage, and he admired them for that. However, before he began the search he felt honour-bound to suggest the obvious, although he already knew they didn’t want to do this. ‘You should