Page 117 of Strangers in Time

“Both, of course.”

“Why do you ask about the letters?”

“It might have been something for us to go on,” he said.

“They were just the usual things that a father writes to his daughter.”

“Right,” he said with a suspicious glance aimed at her.

“Did you also open my nanny’s letter? She told me that—”

“Standard operating procedure,” interjected Bryant. He opened the file and looked through it with a nonchalance that was severely grating on Molly. “We’ve been following you, did you know that?”

“Yes, or at least I suspected. But then Mr. Oliver confirmed it.”

“Oh, he did, did he?”

Molly was suddenly fearful that she had gotten Oliver into trouble, but Bryant pushed on.

“We also talked to the Coopers in the village where you lived outside of Leiston.”

“Why?”

“To see if your father had visited you there.”

“I could have told you that he hadn’t,” replied Molly.

“But he might have told younotto tell us.”

“I would not lie on behalf of anyone, even my father.”

Molly knew she had done so on Charlie’s behalf with Mrs. Macklin and Inspector Willoughby, but, to her mind, that didn’t count.

He scrutinized her. “Well, that’s quite nice to hear, but we can’t take chances.”

“Why do you think he committed a crime?”

Bryant glanced at the file. “Your mother is at the Beneficial Institute in Cornwall.” It wasn’t a question.

“I haven’t been, but I was told she was there.”

“Told by whom?”

“My nanny, Mrs. Pride. She was killed in the bombing that destroyed my home. But I have read the letters the doctor there sent my father.”

“Were those letters lost in the bombing as well?”

“Yes,” replied Molly.

“Do you remember the contents? Anything at all?”

“I… I remember they said she had social phobias and neurosis. They are mental diseases, I’ve come to understand.”

“You may as well know that we have been to the Institute.”

“What? Why?”

“To see if your father had visited there after he disappeared.”

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