The Cold Road (Book 1)

Chapter Ten

Cindy stared at James in complete silence, her eyes wide and mouth gaping. 'But –what- how?' she stuttered. Finally, she glared at him. 'You just let me carry on saying all those bad things about them while you knew perfectly well what had happened to them. How could you? If I had known something had happened to their daughter I would never have said anything!'

'I know, Cindy, that's exactly why I let you talk about them. Now there can be no lies, and no need to watch your words. I know what you think of them now.'

'Their daughter has been kidnapped, how can you act so calm?' Cindy demanded, angrily.

'I've had all morning to think about it,' replied James. 'I'm not as calm as I look,' he admitted after a moment. 'There's more to this than I can say, okay? But, mainly, I just need to know what kind of people the Perette's are. I need to know what non-biased people think of them. People aren't honest when they know their words are being taken and memorised, especially if something has happened to the person they're describing.'

'Well now I don't know what to say! I would have told you the truth before, but now it sounds horrible of me to criticise them in anyway. The poor girl. How are they?'

James threw his mind back to the way the couple had acted that morning. Irene in tears, Paul cold and the both of them arrogant. 'They'll survive. I'll get Lindsey back. But come on, Cindy, if you were being truthful to me before, continue to do so. Changing what a person is like just because something tragic has happened to them will not bring their daughter back. Telling the truth of what you thought of them will help me find who did this.'

'Well of course I'll tell you the truth,' snapped Cindy, indignantly. 'It's just, it feels bad to speak ill of them knowing the hard time they're going through. It doesn't matter how much you may dislike the person, a personal tragedy will always make you forget it.'

Not sure whether he agreed or not, James encouraged her to continue. If he disliked a person, no amount of tragedy to them would cause him to regret hating them or cause him to pity them.

'It's not really that the Perette's aren't nice people, I just find them hard to talk to,' said Cindy after a moment's thought. 'Paul doesn't say much, he's very distant to most people but if you know him he seems to be very open. I've spent more time with Irene. We see each other a lot at work, but the topic generallyalwaysturns to how good Lindsey has been.'

'So Irene is a proud mother?'

'Well, I guess. All mothers are proud of their children, but there's a time and place to talk about them. If they crop up then sure, then talk about them. But Irene continually pulls the conversation over to Lindsey.' Cindy frowned, gently. 'It's almost as if she's trying to prove to everyone that her daughter is normal.'

James perked up. 'Normal? Are there indications that Lindsey is not?' Mrs Perette accused Catherine White of talking to Lindsey and wanting to know the little girl's thoughts. Perhaps, mused James, Catherine White was concerned that Irene was hiding something about her daughter.

'Uh, not that I could see. She always seemed normal to me. Very quiet for her age, but happy. She always played with the other children during school recess every time I walked past in the afternoon.'

'So what makes you think Irene's hiding something?'

'It's not that I think she's hiding anything,' Cindy quickly interjected. 'She just always has to talk about Lindsey. Maybe I just misunderstood her tone. Maybe she really does feel her daughter is better than everyone else's and just wants to brag. That's what annoys me. She doesn't seem to realise that to every mother, their child is the apple of their eye, and while they may approve of other children, to them their own will always be the better one.'