Hawke's Tor by E. V. Thompson Page A

of the horse, commenting on the fact that the pasteboard file had once protected a book of poetry.
    â€˜Yes, it’s my favourite reading,’ Zillah said. ‘I’ve read the book so often that the cover became worn – as you can see – and Dado rebound it with pigskin. He’s very clever with things like that.’

    â€˜Isn’t it unusual for a girl living a gypsy life to be reading poetry?’
    Zillah shrugged, ‘Perhaps, but one of the women in the camp at Sharptor had been teaching at a school before marrying a gypsy. She and my mother were friends and I was taught by her. It was she who gave me the poetry book, among others. I think she must have been a very good teacher because when we moved here I went to school at North Hill for a while, but found I knew more than the teacher, so I left!’
    Tom was impressed, but he had other things on his mind. He was aware that he was very attracted to Zillah, but there was the nagging suspicion that the absence of Jed Smith was somehow tied in with the murder of Kerensa Morgan and the disappearance of baby Albert. He hoped it was not true for Zillah’s sake, but there were a number of questions that needed to be asked before he left the gypsy girl and Slippery Hill.

Chapter 14
    O N THE WAY from Slippery Hill Tom met up with the man who delivered letters to the area and learned that he had delivered letters to the Ring o’ Bells landlord postmarked Laverstock, Wiltshire. It was a name he would pass on to Verity.
    The nurse had spent less time than expected at the village school. Only two of the girl pupils came even remotely close to the standards expected of Florence Nightingale’s nurses and neither was interested in taking up such a career. One was already unofficially engaged to the son of a farmer and the other’s ambition was also directed towards an early marriage and a life of domesticity in the area where she had been brought up.
    It was disappointing, but Verity was not particularly surprised. Florence Nightingale set extremely high standards and only girls with a burning ambition to nurse were likely to succeed in meeting them.
    However, the day had not been a waste of time for the two policemen. Tom had found an address for Alfie Kittow’s wife and Amos was delighted that his sergeant had also struck up an acquaintanceship with Jed Smith’s daughter. He was deeply suspicious of the fact that the gypsy had not been seen since the night of Kerensa Morgan’s murder and the mysterious disappearance of her baby.

    â€˜I agree it looks bad for him,’ Tom said, ‘but it sounds as though Jed Smith was asleep in his wagon at the time we believe Kerensa was murdered. Zillah said they were woken up in the early hours of the morning by someone who persuaded her father to go off with him. Unfortunately, she never saw the man and has no idea who he was.’
    â€˜Do you believe her story?’
    â€˜Yes, I do. She is basically an honest and straightforward girl.’
    â€˜She is also very talented … and extremely pretty!’ This from Verity who had untied the ribbon around the photographs and sketches of Zillah and her father, handed over by Tom from his saddle-bag. ‘Where did she learn to sketch like this?’
    â€˜I should imagine she taught herself. She is a bright girl – but very defensive about her background. Her mother was not a gypsy, but came from a remote farm in the heart of Bodmin Moor. She died some years ago, although Zillah’s grandmother still lives there. That’s where she was coming from when I met her, she had been to see whether her father had been there … and, yes, she is a very pretty young girl. For that reason alone I’m worried about her being on her own in that gypsy wagon; it’s in a very remote place and there is a killer on the loose….’
    Tom left the sentence unfinished but the others were aware of his