Free Who is Sarah Lawson: A Captivating Psychological Thriller by K.J. Rabane Page A

hold a vital clue to your past. We all have photos of relatives and friends hanging about the place. What do you think?”
    Uncomfortably aware that this was not always the case and that he’d left his family album in London with his sister, he waited for her reply.
    “That’s possible,” she said slowly. “The only problem is they might have beaten me too it. They do seem to have been extraordinarily thorough. Besides, for a few years now, I’ve kept most of my photos on computer file. Although where my laptop has got to is anyone’s guess.”
    “Do you still have a key to the house?”
    “I do, although I haven’t used it since the day I arrived home and found they’d taken up residence.”
    Richie put his cutlery down on his plate. “That seems strange. You could have gone in at any time, taken over the place, established residency.”
    She sighed. “Easier said than done. They are a family, there are children involved, and besides the police already think I’m slightly demented. The thing is, I can’t prove the house is mine.”
    “ Why not? That should be easy to establish via the deeds of ownership, plus there’s your aunt’s will.”
    Richie waited. Finally she said, “Again, easier said than done. I rang my solicitor in London soon after it happened and he told me that the firm who dealt with my aunt’s estate, Rawson and Hodge, are no longer in existence. There was a fraud case brought against one of the partners soon after my aunt died, the business folded and by then the papers concerning the will had been transferred back to Rawson and Hodge.”
    “The documents must still be on file somewhere.” He was sceptical. The excuse was too convenient and he distrusted coincidence.
    “I rang the liquidators of the company and they told me that once the case had been heard they’d be able to release the papers. They apologised and said that it was impossible to isolate the file relating to my aunt’s will at the moment but assured me that it would be available at a later date.”
    “The land registry would have a record of ownership,” Richie said, wiping his mouth with his napkin. “Although I suspect that it would still be registered in your aunt’s name.” He sucked in his bottom lip, a sign that something was bothering him. “That’s it!”
    “What is?”
    “If the house is still registered to your aunt – it can’t belong to the Lawsons – we just might have cracked it.”
    “You think so?”
    She was smiling. He could see that she was beginning to hope.
    “Mm, just in case this is another dead end, what do you think about my suggestion that you try to find your photograph album?”
    She looked doubtful. “I’ll certainly try. Perhaps I could offer to babysit one evening and when the children were in bed I could start my search.”
    “Right.” Richie stood up.
    “And you’ll ring the land registry?”
    “Of course. I’ll be in touch as soon as get an answer.”

Chapter 18
     
    Things were moving far too slowly for his liking. Every avenue seemed to lead to a dead end. Richie paced the floor. Sandy was doing the lunchtime run at the school. She’d be taking Chloe back about now. She’d managed to persuade the child that lunch with her aunt was a better option than the school canteen. A week had passed and she seemed to still be no nearer to befriending Hannah Lawson.
    He stood at the window and looked down on the High Street then saw a flash of red hair and Sandy’s trim figure hurrying towards the office. He was never sure which image she would project when she arrived for work. Sometimes it was the dizzy schoolgirl or sometimes the competent career woman; today it was the busy aunt on the school run. Her hair was now auburn and swung to her shoulders, she was wearing a skirt of flowing material in muted tones, flat shoes, and carried a bulging leather shoulder bag.
    He heard her footsteps on the stairs and put the kettle on. “Well, Miss Smith, any developments?”