:48:18
How long do they go back, these records?
:48:20
lve kept them ever since l came.
Ever since Miss Ford retired.
:48:25
The parent fills out the entry form
and returns it with the fees.
:48:28
Just the first months.
:48:30
Then the childs name is put on a card
which records its progress...
:48:33
health, absences,
dental treatment, and conduct.
:48:36
And the ledger?
:48:38
Every penny received
over the last 1 2 months.
:48:41
Mr. Newhouse,
l think this might interest you.
:48:44
My sister bought it this morning for Bunny.
:48:46
What time did she buy it?
:48:48
Before the child was missing,
if thats what you mean.
:48:50
Yes, thats exactly what l mean, Mr. Lake.
:48:53
lt would have been more useful
if it had turned up earlier.
:48:55
She hid it for a game of Hot and Cold
and forgot all about it until now.
:48:59
-Hot and Cold?
-lts a sort of treasure hunt.
:49:02
Ann and l used to play when we were little.
Now she plays it with Bunny.
:49:06
Odd how the most improbable things
suddenly seem quite reasonable.
:49:10
Then youd agree with me shed scarcely
buy playthings for a nonexistent child?
:49:15
Nonexistent? Did l say that?
:49:18
You suggested to her perhaps
Bunnys things were never in the apartment.
:49:22
You also asked her for a list of everyone
who had seen the child.
:49:25
Yes, l did want that.
:49:26
Then find the conductor and passengers
on the 13 bus that left Frogmore End...
:49:30
around 9:15 this morning...
:49:32
and stopped at Finchley Road tube station
and let Ann and Bunny off.
:49:35
Passengers are difficult to trace,
and bus conductors are rarely observant.
:49:39
They tend to be dreamers, philosophers,
that sort of thing.
:49:42
Self-protection, l suppose.
:49:43
Youre not going to check it out?
:49:45
We have checked every bus
that passed Frogmore End...
:49:48
between 8:45 and 9:30 this morning.
:49:50
The fact that none of the conductors can
recall our mother and child is not unusual.
:49:55
Neither does it invalidate your sisters
statement that she was on board.
:49:59
However, l think weve found something
of greater importance...