"Winter Frost" - читать интересную книгу автора (Wingfield R D)

Prologue

He had the photographs spread out on the table in front of him and was savouring them once again. Behind him the local television news was droning away unheeded.

Vicky… Vicky Stuart.

He froze. God! Someone was whispering her name. Heart hammering, he swung round. There, on the screen, was her picture. The little girl, eight years old, smiling, showing the gap in her teeth. He turned up the volume.

'… Demon police are holding a man in connection with the disappearance of eight-year-old Vicky Stuart who has not been seen since she left Denton Junior School for her home some nine weeks ago. According to a spokesman for Denton CID the man, who is in his early forties, is helping the police with their inquiries and no charges have yet been made…'

The picture on the TV screen, enlarged from a school group photograph, was not a good one, nowhere as clear and sharp as the photographs on the table before him where Vicky was staring at the camera, her terror shown in sharp focus.

A tapping at the front door. He frowned. He'd told her to use the back way. If anyone saw her coming…

He scooped up the photographs and stuffed them in the sideboard drawer, turning the key and testing to make sure it was firmly locked. Excitement made him sweat. He rubbed the palms of his hands down his trouser legs then opened the door. 'You look frozen,' he said. 'Come on in, I've got the fire on. We'll soon warm you up.'

She was seven years old, a few months younger than the other girl.