L01   1 <#FLOB:L01\>He had a similar small apartment in Nice under yet 
L01   2 another name.<p/>
L01   3 <p_>As soon as he was unpacked he rang Dickie Ashton's number. A 
L01   4 maid answered and he put down the receiver straight away. He took 
L01   5 the replacement Steyr from behind a refrigerator, left the 
L01   6 apartment, and took a bus to the West End and meandered around 
L01   7 Piccadilly finding the town heat unbearable after the openness of 
L01   8 Ireland. It was so sticky and oppressive and filled with petrol 
L01   9 fumes and noise that he caught a cab back to the apartment.<p/>
L01  10 <p_>Jacko picked up Gorley's trail in a situation that could so 
L01  11 easily have been reversed. Jacko had mastered the rules of 
L01  12 observation on the Belfast streets - no better place to learn about 
L01  13 survival. Following someone could mean that someone else was 
L01  14 following you. And Gorley was more out of practice than Jacko.<p/>
L01  15 <p_>Ashton climbed out of his Rolls, the chauffeur holding the door 
L01  16 open for him. Jacko was at the end of the street which was quite 
L01  17 busy, and as he watched Ashton mount the steps to his town house, 
L01  18 on his peripheral vision he noticed a big man, leaning over a 
L01  19 parked car as if to open a door, swing his head round to watch 
L01  20 Ashton disappear into the house.<p/>
L01  21 <p_>From then on Jacko was interested in the big man who he could 
L01  22 see now was fairly old, but sharp and fit. Jacko took two careful 
L01  23 shots with a pocket camera then sank further back, but the old man 
L01  24 seemed to be fully occupied with Ashton's house as if he did not 
L01  25 care if he was seen. There was a moment when Jacko thought he would 
L01  26 walk down towards the house but he obviously thought better of it. 
L01  27 Yet even when the chauffeur drove past him in the Rolls to the mews 
L01  28 garages at the back, he made no attempt to hide his interest in the 
L01  29 house.<p/>
L01  30 <p_>It was one of those times when Jacko, because of parking 
L01  31 problems, had used a cab to get to Ashton's town house and now he 
L01  32 wished he had a car readily available.<p/>
L01  33 <p_>Jacko swung round the corner, crossed the road, and walked 
L01  34 towards Gorley who was some fifty yards away. There were plenty of 
L01  35 people about and he weaved in and out increasing his pace, hopping 
L01  36 round people until he bumped into Gorley.<p/>
L01  37 <p_>Jacko struck Gorley quite hard, grabbed him, and in a stronger 
L01  38 cockney twang than usual, said, <quote_>"I'm sorry, mate. My fault; 
L01  39 in too much of a bloody hurry."<quote/> He held on to Gorley's arm 
L01  40 and added, <quote_>"You all right?"<quote/><p/>
L01  41 <p_>Gorley straightened himself; Jacko had winded him but not 
L01  42 enough to prevent him saying, <quote_>"You young sods are always in 
L01  43 a hurry. I'm all right. Now piss off and watch where you're 
L01  44 going."<quote/><p/>
L01  45 <p_><quote|>"Sorry," said Jacko again, and continued on to search 
L01  46 for a cab. So the old boy was armed. Well, well. It was the only 
L01  47 lead he had right then. It took time to find a cab and he thought 
L01  48 he had lost his man but when the cab rounded the corner Gorley was 
L01  49 still there, hailing a passing taxi. Jacko told his cabbie to wait 
L01  50 - and bugger the traffic - and promised a bonus. When Gorley 
L01  51 finally found a cab, Jacko followed.<p/>
L01  52 <p_>As Jacko sat back he considered it a strange episode; it was as 
L01  53 if the old man had not cared whether he was seen by Ashton or not. 
L01  54 Perhaps Ashton did not know him but anyone as open as the old boy 
L01  55 had been must arouse suspicion. Just who the hell was he?<p/>
L01  56 <p_>The journey back to Highbury was not easy and Jacko's cabbie 
L01  57 complained all the way. When Gorley's taxi eventually pulled up 
L01  58 Jacko shouted to his cabbie to drive on and take the first corner. 
L01  59 When his cab pulled up Jacko shoved some notes into the driver's 
L01  60 hand and hurried back.<p/>
L01  61 <p_>Gorley was not in sight but the cab was just pulling away. 
L01  62 Jacko marked the spot and walked slowly towards the house where the 
L01  63 cab had stopped.<p/>
L01  64 <p_>There was a display panel of tenants. He chose a name at random 
L01  65 and there was no reply. He tried the next and a woman's voice 
L01  66 answered. He apologised and told her he had pressed the wrong 
L01  67 buzzer. Two more tries and a voice he recognised answered 
L01  68 irritably. In spite of the voice distortion through the poor 
L01  69 quality speaker he knew that it was his man. <quote_>"Mr West? This 
L01  70 is the police. Can I come up?"<quote/><p/>
L01  71 <p_>Jacko expected an argument but instead the man called West 
L01  72 released the door catch and Jacko pushed his way in. There was a 
L01  73 small elevator in the hall but Jacko took the stairs; elevators 
L01  74 were bad places to be trapped in. The apartment was on the top 
L01  75 floor, the sixth, and he stood for a while to regain his breath 
L01  76 before ringing the bell.<p/>
L01  77 <p_>While he waited he recalled that the man had been quite well 
L01  78 dressed, while this small block was verging on the run-down 
L01  79 middle-class.<p/>
L01  80 <p_>A voice called out, <quote_>"It's open."<quote/> That was 
L01  81 trusting. Jacko pushed the door so that it was flat against the 
L01  82 wall. There was no sign of anybody. Jacko stood just inside the 
L01  83 hall and in front of him was a partially open door through which he 
L01  84 could see part of a settee.<p/>
L01  85 <p_><quote_>"Come in. And close the door behind you."<quote/><p/>
L01  86 <p_>It was the old man's voice all right, but he was still out of 
L01  87 sight. Jacko touched the Browning in his pocket, slipped off the 
L01  88 safety catch and moved further down the tiny hall. He pushed the 
L01  89 living-room door open with the back of his hand and kept the other 
L01  90 near his hip pocket.<p/>
L01  91 <p_><quote_>"What's the matter with you? Afraid of an old man? Come 
L01  92 right in."<quote/><p/>
L01  93 <p_>Gorley was against the door wall and had the Steyr in his 
L01  94 hand.<p/>
L01  95 <p_><quote_>"You got a licence for that thing?"<quote/> Jacko asked 
L01  96 knowing it was too late to draw his own gun. He went in and sat 
L01  97 down to face Gorley.<p/>
L01  98 <p_><quote_>"I'm not sure. I might have one somewhere. But that 
L01  99 won't matter to you. Have you got one for yours?"<quote/>
L01 100 <p_>Jacko had to admire the man; he had checked on Jacko as Jacko 
L01 101 had checked on him. He could see that the man was completely 
L01 102 familiar with the gun and hard to the core; not a man to compromise 
L01 103 or hesitate. <quote_>"Are you going to top me in your own pad? You 
L01 104 haven't even got a silencer on the damned thing. If you put it away 
L01 105 I'll introduce myself."<quote/><p/>
L01 106 <p_><quote_>"You already have, sonny, so what's your 
L01 107 game?"<quote/><p/>
L01 108 <p_><quote_>"My identity card is in my inside pocket. May I take it 
L01 109 out?"<quote/> As Gorley hesitated Jacko added sharply, <quote_>"You 
L01 110 know damn fine that my gun is in my hip pocket. I can't get at it 
L01 111 without standing up."<quote/><p/>
L01 112 <p_><quote_>"You might have moved it. Okay, go ahead. You know the 
L01 113 rules."<quote/><p_>
L01 114 <p_>Jacko took out his police card and handed it over.<p/>
L01 115 <p_>The man he knew as West kept his distance and his gun hand 
L01 116 steady while he studied the identity card. He crossed to the 
L01 117 telephone, put the open card beside the instrument and lifted the 
L01 118 receiver. He dialled without the Steyr moving and said, 
L01 119 <quote_>"Put me through to Detective Sergeant Willis of Special 
L01 120 Branch."<quote/> He did it as if he had done it many times before. 
L01 121 After quite a long wait he said, <quote_>"Out? No message, I'll 
L01 122 ring back later."<quote/><p/>
L01 123 <p_>Gorley tossed the warrant card over to Jacko who hid his 
L01 124 relief; if Willis had been in it would have been more difficult. 
L01 125 <quote_>"I've seen better forgeries than that. You're no cop. Who 
L01 126 sent you after me?"<quote/><p/>
L01 127 <p_><quote_>"Nobody. I've seen or heard of you before though in 
L01 128 view of you having a gun I very much doubt that your real name is 
L01 129 West. Don't you think it's time you put that thing away. I mean, 
L01 130 look at it, it's antique; you could hurt yourself with 
L01 131 it."<quote/><p/>
L01 132 <p_>Gorley smiled, but from affection for the gun. <quote_>"Put 
L01 133 your hands on the arms of the chair and keep them there."<quote/> 
L01 134 When Jacko had complied Gorley sat opposite him at the same time 
L01 135 facing the door. He put the Steyr down on the phone table beside 
L01 136 him within instant reach.<p/>
L01 137 <p_><quote_>"You're in serious trouble,"<quote/> said Jacko. 
L01 138 <quote_>"Holding a police officer at gun point could get you 
L01 139 life."<quote/><p/>
L01 140 <p_><quote|>"Balls," Gorley responded. <quote_>"Let's get down to 
L01 141 it; I know who sent you to kill me but I want to hear it from you. 
L01 142 I just want to be sure."<quote/><p/>
L01 143 <p_><quote_>"No one has sent me to kill you. I say again, I don't 
L01 144 even know who you are."<quote/><p/>
L01 145 <p_>Gorley glanced at the Steyr; his thin lips tightened. 
L01 146 <quote_>"I'm not going to give too much time to this. And don't kid 
L01 147 yourself I won't hit you here. This place is unoccupied for most of 
L01 148 the year. I hardly ever use it. Nobody comes but me. I could leave 
L01 149 you here until a safe time to move you. Just bear it in mind when 
L01 150 you give the answers."<quote/><p/>
L01 151 <p_>Jacko was quite sure he was not dealing with a nutter; but who 
L01 152 was this man who was confident he could get away with murder? It 
L01 153 appeared to be no new game to him. <quote_>"I still haven't been 
L01 154 sent to kill you or anyone else for that matter."<quote/><p/>
L01 155 <p_><quote_>"You mean it was a coincidence you bumped into 
L01 156 me?"<quote/> Gorley's attitude had hardened, his tone dangerous.<p/>
L01 157 <p_><quote_>"No. Not bumping into you; I did that deliberately. But 
L01 158 we were both watching the same man. I noticed you. Had you been 
L01 159 doing a better job I might not have seen you. I decided to find out 
L01 160 if you are armed and followed you here to ask your interest in 
L01 161 Richard Ashton. I was on surveillance."<quote/><p/>
L01 162 <p_><quote_>"So you are sticking to the cop story. Okay; why were 
L01 163 you watching him?"<quote/><p/>
L01 164 <p_><quote_>"That was my question. I asked first."<quote/><p/>
L01 165 <p_><quote_>"But I have the gun. And this is my apartment, and you 
L01 166 are my unwelcome guest."<quote/><p/>
L01 167 <p_><quote_>"He's had threats on his life. I was keeping an eye on 
L01 168 him. When I discover someone else doing the same, and is armed, I 
L01 169 am apt to draw conclusions. It is not me who is out to kill you but 
L01 170 you who are out to kill him."<quote/><p/>
L01 171 <p_><quote_>"That's a dangerous thing to say in your present 
L01 172 situation."<quote/> And far too near the truth. For once Gorley was 
L01 173 not quite so comfortable.<p/>
L01 174 <p_><quote_>"My situation hasn't changed since I came through the 
L01 175 door."<quote/><p/>
L01 176 <p_><quote_>"Hands on your head and down on your knees."<quote/> 
L01 177 Gorley picked up the Steyr.<p/>
L01 178 <p_>Jacko knew what would happen next. He was dealing with a pro 
L01 179 and could see no way out. He placed his hands on his head and 
L01 180 slipped to the floor on to his knees.<p/>
L01 181 <p_><quote_>"Lie flat and keep your hands where they 
L01 182 are."<quote/><p/>
L01 183 <p_><quote_>"There's not enough room."<quote/><p/>
L01 184 <p_>Gorley removed a small table and stood well clear.<p/>
L01 185 <p_>Jacko lay prone, his hands still on his head. Gorley stepped 
L01 186 round him and then straddled him, still standing.<p/>
L01 187 <p_>Jacko could not actually see Gorley but he knew what was going 
L01 188 on and he frantically sought a way out. He knew the worst when he 
L01 189 felt the barrel of the Steyr press against the nape of his neck and 
L01 190 a hand groping for his gun.<p/>
L01 191 <h|>9
L01 192 <p_>Piero Cirillo motored along the Irish country roads hating 
L01 193 every minute of it. He rarely saw another car which would normally 
L01 194 have pleased him, but with his bad sense of direction and few road 
L01 195 signs he was not really sure if he was going the right way.<p/>
L01 196 <p_>He stopped from time to time to study the map on the seat 
L01 197 beside him, but the distances were surprising and the high 
L01 198 hedgerows, and often narrow lanes, were another kind of prison. 
L01 199 When cars came from the opposite direction and, as often as not, 
L01 200 the driver raised a finger in token greeting, Cirillo was left with 
L01 201 the unreasonable sensation of being recognised.<p/>
L01 202 <p_>It all came back to his uncertainty on country roads and his 
L01 203 reluctance to ask other motorists for directions.
L01 204 
L02   1 <#FLOB:L02\><h|>3
L02   2 <p_>Colin knew that Felicity's suggestion about going ex-directory 
L02   3 was a good one but he had always prided himself on being 
L02   4 accessible, and until now it had not been a problem.<p/>
L02   5 <p_>The possibility of further annoyance should be prevented if 
L02   6 Adams could not get through on the telephone. He would not dare 
L02   7 approach the house, for if he attempted any personal aggravation he 
L02   8 would be arrested instantly, and would know that the word of a 
L02   9 judge would prevail in any argument against that of a convicted 
L02  10 man.<p/>
L02  11 <p_>Had he been in touch with Mrs Kent, started annoying her? It 
L02  12 was possible, though the judge must be his target. It seemed he 
L02  13 bore a grudge which might have lain dormant but for their 
L02  14 accidental meeting and the chance it gave Adams to exploit what he 
L02  15 had stumbled on.<p/>
L02  16 <p_>He might try writing letters.<p/>
L02  17 <p_>Felicity would tell him, if any came addressed to her. Wouldn't 
L02  18 she? He frowned, not certain. What if there had been other calls, 
L02  19 apart form the one referring to Mr Baxter?<p/>
L02  20 <p_>He dared not ask her, for if it had been an isolated incident, 
L02  21 she would be curious and wonder what had provoked his question.<p/>
L02  22 <p_>How easy it would be to dismiss all this if the call had been, 
L02  23 in fact, meaningless. As it was, he couldn't.<p/>
L02  24 <p_>Meanwhile Felicity, too, was wondering at her own reticence. 
L02  25 Why had she not told Colin everything, shown him the letters? Was 
L02  26 it because she knew he was being evasive and that the anonymous 
L02  27 correspondent and caller might reveal something in Colin's life to 
L02  28 his discredit? Either it was all nonsense or Colin knew a Mrs Kent, 
L02  29 a Mr Baxter, and a Willow House which, most probably, was in 
L02  30 Witherstone. She had looked the town up on a map; it was a little 
L02  31 way off the route Colin would take when he went to his trustee 
L02  32 meetings and stayed with Peter.<p/>
L02  33 <p_>Or did he stay with Peter?<p/>
L02  34 <p_>She could not telephone Peter to enquire; she knew neither his 
L02  35 surname nor the name of his firm. It would be difficult to track 
L02  36 him down, impossible without asking Colin about him and why should 
L02  37 she do that now, so suddenly, after all this time? Besides, the 
L02  38 idea of spying on her husband was repellent.<p/>
L02  39 <p_>She decided to keep her secret. With the telephone number 
L02  40 changed, they would be protected from more calls, so the man would 
L02  41 have to write, if he meant to make more mischief. If another letter 
L02  42 came, she would think about telling Colin.<p/>
L02  43 <p_>The next few days were uneventful. Colin came and went to court 
L02  44 as usual, leaving home early to attend meetings with probation 
L02  45 officers before the court sat, never back before six because he was 
L02  46 not one of those judges who rushed off at the official closing hour 
L02  47 of four o'clock; if a case could be wound up, witnesses sent home 
L02  48 instead of staying overnight, under Colin's jurisdiction, it was 
L02  49 done.<p/>
L02  50 <p_>Mrs Turner had to be told about the telephone and given the new 
L02  51 number. She was pleased about the arrangement; anonymous calls were 
L02  52 unpleasant, even when not lewd. Felicity had explained that there 
L02  53 had been others besides the cryptic one about Mr Baxter.<p/>
L02  54 <p_><quote_>"You can't be too careful,"<quote/> Mrs Turner said as 
L02  55 they sat together at the kitchen table cleaning the silver. This 
L02  56 was a monthly session they both enjoyed when Mrs Turner would 
L02  57 relate the latest gossip from the town, and the news of Betty in 
L02  58 her salon. An actress who appeared in a television comedy series 
L02  59 had become a regular client, which was good for business; she wore 
L02  60 her hair cropped short at present, rinsed a brilliant copper 
L02  61 colour, and came in each week.<p/>
L02  62 <p_><quote_>"She used to live on a council estate not far from 
L02  63 where they are, until she hit the big time,"<quote/> said Mrs 
L02  64 Turner, polishing away. <quote_>"You never know your 
L02  65 luck."<quote/><p/>
L02  66 <p_><quote_>"Up one minute, down the next, isn't it, in that 
L02  67 world?"<quote/> Felicity said.<p/>
L02  68 <p_><quote_>"Unles you're that Meryl Streep,"<quote/> said Mrs 
L02  69 Turner. <quote_>"She's always up."<quote/><p/>
L02  70 <p_>Felicity was not sure if she had seen her perform. She seldom 
L02  71 went to the cinema, and never with the judge. Mrs Turner thought it 
L02  72 was dreadful that there was no video in Waite House, but neither 
L02  73 was there a microwave, and only a small freezer on top of the 
L02  74 fridge. And no dishwasher, either, though if they had one of those, 
L02  75 Mrs Turner would not be asked to help on dinner party nights, and 
L02  76 that would be a sad deprivation for her. All the same, the judge 
L02  77 must earn a lot of money and should be able to provide his wife 
L02  78 with these modern assets, all of which Betty and Zoe had in their 
L02  79 flat.<p/>
L02  80 <p_>Mrs Turner thought that there would be every modern aid in the 
L02  81 Queen's various residences, though she would hardly need a personal 
L02  82 microwave, unless she and the Duke had cosy snacks together on an 
L02  83 informal evening. It was unlikely, she supposed.<p/>
L02  84 <p_>She was sorry for Felicity, and yet wondered at her pity, for 
L02  85 the judge's wife lacked nothing you could call essential. She wore 
L02  86 nice clothes; they ate good food; she had a lovely house and pretty 
L02  87 garden in which Joe Green, with whom Mrs Turner had walked out 
L02  88 before meeting Mr Turner, worked for a day a week and more when it 
L02  89 was needed. In winter he was paid a retaining wage, and sometimes 
L02  90 washed the car or swept the yard.<p/>
L02  91 <p_>Mrs Turner came to help when Felicity had to take her turn at 
L02  92 entertaining groups of ladies to luncheon, and always admired how 
L02  93 calmly her employer took these occasions; in her turn, Felicity was 
L02  94 fortified by the knowledge that she had the support of Mrs Turner 
L02  95 in the background, and because of her early training, she knew that 
L02  96 the food would be as good as any produced by rival hostesses. Mrs 
L02  97 Turner enjoyed hearing the conversation as she bustled round 
L02  98 collecting plates. She had been known to wait at table in the 
L02  99 evening, when the guests were those the judge had wanted asked. 
L02 100 Then she had worn a plain black dress and a muslin apron, and had 
L02 101 looked extremely grand.<p/>
L02 102 <p_><quote_>"Your help's so regal, Felicity. Aren't you terrified 
L02 103 of her?"<quote/> one of Felicity's acquaintances, married to a 
L02 104 marketing executive, had enquired.<p/>
L02 105 <p_><quote_>"Not in the least,"<quote/> Felicity had answered, with 
L02 106 some hauteur.<p/>
L02 107 <p_>Her questioner shrugged. Felicity was an odd woman, rather 
L02 108 prickly and very reserved. She never joined in gossip about people 
L02 109 they all knew - who was ill, whose child was not doing well at 
L02 110 school, who had moved in with a lover or was getting divorced, 
L02 111 whose husband was suspected of an affair - which formed much of 
L02 112 their conversation. Political discussion often led to argument, and 
L02 113 mention of incomes was taboo, but they discussed local planning 
L02 114 decisions, which were often incomprehensible, plays they had seen, 
L02 115 who was building a conservatory and whose parents were ill, 
L02 116 requiring care. It seemed to Mrs Turner that Felicity never had 
L02 117 people to the house because she liked them and enjoyed their 
L02 118 company; there was always some purpose behind these gatherings.<p/>
L02 119 <p_><quote_>"Who would you be friends with, if you choose?"<quote/> 
L02 120 Mrs Turner asked her one day. She knew that after so much time 
L02 121 together in their working relationship, this was not a liberty.<p/>
L02 122 <p_><quote_>"What a strange question!"<quote/> Felicity looked in 
L02 123 surprise at Mrs Turner, who sat rubbing away a silver box which 
L02 124 Colin had been given when he left his chambers to become a judge. 
L02 125 <quote_>"Who would you?"<quote/> she countered.<p/>
L02 126 <p_><quote_>"Oh, I do choose my friends,"<quote/> said Mrs Turner 
L02 127 comfortably. Her hair was looking particularly smooth and even 
L02 128 today, waved symmetrically back from her forehead. She had told 
L02 129 Felicity that Betty was always trying to persuade her to have it 
L02 130 restyled in a more modern manner, but she would not agree. The 
L02 131 Queen and she had both chosen this style in their youth and both 
L02 132 were sticking with it now. <quote/>"There's Doris Jones, for 
L02 133 instance, who I go away with, and Mary Plumb, and the Fosters 
L02 134 -"<quote/> She ran off a list of people she had known for years. 
L02 135 <quote_>"Some of us were at school together,"<quote/> she said. 
L02 136 <quote_>"That's what comes of staying in the same neighbourhood 
L02 137 most of your life. There's plenty of folk about. You don't have to 
L02 138 bother with those you've got nothing in common with - not unless 
L02 139 they're family. You can't choose them, of course."<quote/><p/>
L02 140 <p_><quote|>"True," said Felicity.<p/>
L02 141 <p_><quote_>"You and the judge don't get that freedom,"<quote/> Mrs 
L02 142 Turner observed. <quote_>"Seeing who you are. You can't be having 
L02 143 just anybody in for a meal."<quote/><p/>
L02 144 <p_><quote_>"Why not if I liked them?"<quote/> Felicity challenged, 
L02 145 smiling.<p/>
L02 146 <p_><quote|>"Well," Mrs Turner contemplated a silver photograph 
L02 147 frame surrounding a picture of the judge's mother. <quote_>"Pretty, 
L02 148 wasn't she?"<quote/> she said, at a tangent, and then went on, 
L02 149 <quote_>"Oil and water can't be mixed."<quote/><p/>
L02 150 <p_><quote_>"Well, I don't suppose the judge would be too pleased 
L02 151 if I asked a few ex-prisoners in,"<quote/> said Felicity. 
L02 152 <quote_>"But you wouldn't be doing that, either."<quote/><p/>
L02 153 <p_><quote_>"Not knowingly,"<quote/> agreed Mrs Turner. 
L02 154 <quote_>"But who's to say what folk have done long ago? I wouldn't 
L02 155 have any of your murderers and that, but we've all scrumped apples 
L02 156 in our time, haven't we? And you've got to start trusting them some 
L02 157 time, if they're ever to go straight. The thieves, I mean, the 
L02 158 petty criminals."<quote/> She told Felicity about some cases she 
L02 159 knew of in the town, a man who had failed to pay a fine and so was 
L02 160 gaoled, and another who was a bigamist. <quote_>"He couldn't bring 
L02 161 himself to upset either of them by telling them about the 
L02 162 other."<quote/> She was laughing as she spoke. <quote_>"One lived 
L02 163 here, and the other one lived in Dorset, where he went for 
L02 164 weekends."<quote/><p/>
L02 165 <p_><quote_>"How complicated,"<quote/> said Felicity. 
L02 166 <quote_>"You'd think they'd get suspicious."<quote/><p/>
L02 167 <p_><quote_>"Yes, you would. He was a commercial traveller, a rep 
L02 168 they call them nowadays. I suppose that was how he got about. He 
L02 169 was caught by some tax check, I think,"<quote/> said Mrs Turner. 
L02 170 <quote_>"We've all got so many numbers now, no one can get really 
L02 171 lost."<quote/><p/>
L02 172 <p_>She enjoyed making Felicity laugh during their conversations; 
L02 173 she laughed too little, Mrs Turner thought. Yet how could she be 
L02 174 unhappy, with so much to enjoy and the judge, though a bit stiff, 
L02 175 always polite. Mrs Turner thought he could never have been very 
L02 176 dashing, even when young - not a patch on the Duke, for instance, 
L02 177 who was still a fine-looking man - and you'd never take him for 
L02 178 what he was if you met him just anywhere. You'd think he was a bank 
L02 179 manager, perhaps; something responsible, but hardly someone 
L02 180 important.<p/>
L02 181 <p_>After Mrs Turner left, Felicity thought about the bigamist she 
L02 182 had mentioned, with the wife in Dorset and the one in Rambleton.<p/>
L02 183 <p_>Colin couldn't have a wife in Witherstone, but Mrs Kent could 
L02 184 be a mistress. Unlikely as it seemed, such things were possible. 
L02 185 But who was Mr Baxter? And who was the mysterious caller?<p/>
L02 186 <p_>If she could drive and had a car, she'd go to Witherstone and 
L02 187 investigate. The place itself was real enough. Perhaps Directory 
L02 188 Enquiries would tell her if a Mrs Kent lived in Witherstone.<p/>
L02 189 <p_>What would she do, if that proved to be the case?<p/>
L02 190 <p_>She decided to put it to the test.<p/>
L02 191 <p_>First, she asked for a Mr Baxter in the area. She could provide 
L02 192 no address apart from Witherstone, and Enquiries came up with two 
L02 193 Baxters, one a butcher and one a private person. Felicity wrote 
L02 194 down the details. Then she tried asking for Mrs Kent, possibly of 
L02 195 Willow House, and straight away Enquiries gave her J. Kent, of that 
L02 196 address. Procrastinating, because amazed, her heart thudding, blood 
L02 197 pounding in her temples, Felicity asked if there were any others, 
L02 198 and was told of M. W. Kent. She dialled the number for Willow House 
L02 199 but there was not reply.<p/>
L02 200 <p_>Having got so far, she could not leave it there. She dialled 
L02 201 the other number, and a man replied.<p/>
L02 202 <p_><quote_>"Is Mrs Kent in?"<quote/> she asked calmly.<p/>
L02 203 <p_><quote_>"Yes,"<quote/> said the voice.
L02 204 
L03   1 <#FLOB:L03\>And there would have been no point in doing that, 
L03   2 unless the somebody in question had wanted to use the truck. The 
L03   3 forklift certainly hadn't been used to shift any stock, but it had 
L03   4 been used to crush the girl.<p/>
L03   5 <p_>What had Dayna been doing there, anyway? Why on earth should a 
L03   6 girl dressed up to look her best on camera go scrabbling behind a 
L03   7 pile of dirty pallets?<p/>
L03   8 <p_>Charles decided that, while he was on Delmoleen premises, he 
L03   9 should try to have a little look round the warehouse, see if there 
L03  10 was anything hidden between the pallets and the wall that Dayna 
L03  11 might have been searching for.<p/>
L03  12 <p_>Though anything that had been there would probably have been 
L03  13 tidied up in the course of the investigations into her death.<p/>
L03  14 <p_>These investigations, Charles had gathered that morning from 
L03  15 Ken Colebourne, had now been completed. The in-house enquiry had 
L03  16 come up with recommendations that Delmoleen staff restrict their 
L03  17 movements to the works areas where they had business to be - which 
L03  18 was tantamount to saying that, if Dayna hadn't been where she 
L03  19 shouldn't have been, the accident wouldn't have happened. Or, in 
L03  20 other words, that her death had been her own fault.<p/>
L03  21 <p_>There had also been an investigation from the Environmental 
L03  22 Health Department, whose findings had been quoted at the girl's 
L03  23 inquest. They echoed the strictures of the in-house enquiry, and 
L03  24 made other specific safety recommendations for application in the 
L03  25 warehouse.<p/>
L03  26 <p_>The police had not been involved, but then, in a case of 
L03  27 industrial accident why should they be?<p/>
L03  28 <p_>Charles wondered if the situation would have been different had 
L03  29 the girl been killed outright. If he had discovered a corpse rather 
L03  30 than a fatally injured person maybe the police would have been 
L03  31 summoned.<p/>
L03  32 <p_>But somehow he doubted it. The whole business gave off a smell 
L03  33 of cover-up. Within the Delmoleen site, the company seemed to do 
L03  34 its own policing. The 'accident' having happened, it had been dealt 
L03  35 with quickly and efficiently, in a way that caused minimum 
L03  36 publicity and minimum disruption to company business. If anyone 
L03  37 other than Charles Paris had had a suspicion of murder, he got the 
L03  38 feeling they would have suppressed it - or perhaps been persuaded 
L03  39 to suppress it - in the cause of Delmoleen.<p/>
L03  40 <p_>Or was he getting paranoid?<p/>
L03  41 <p_><quote_>"That one's the actor, is it?"<quote/> he heard a loud, 
L03  42 crackly voice say as he was leaving the canteen.<p/>
L03  43 <p_>Half-turning to the source of the noise, he saw an elderly 
L03  44 woman in a fur-collared overcoat sitting at a table with Heather 
L03  45 from the Dispatch Office. The elderly woman's lips moved 
L03  46 continuously, softly smacking against each other, as if she was 
L03  47 talking all the time.<p/>
L03  48 <p_>If the similarity in the set of the two women's eyes had not 
L03  49 informed him, then Heather's reaction would have given away the 
L03  50 fact that the older woman was her mother. There is a distinctive, 
L03  51 atavistic, excruciating form of embarrassment that only parents can 
L03  52 engender, and evidence of it glowed on Heather's cheeks. 
L03  53 <quote_>"There's no need to be so loud. He'll hear you,"<quote/> 
L03  54 she hissed.<p/>
L03  55 <p_>Her mother was not a whit perturbed. Seeing Charles looking in 
L03  56 their direction, she immediately addressed him. <quote_>"Hello. My 
L03  57 daughter says you're in this film they're making."<quote/><p/>
L03  58 <p_>He admitted that he was. Heather blushed even deeper as her 
L03  59 mother said, <quote_>"Would you like to sit down with us? There's 
L03  60 still tea in the pot."<quote/><p/>
L03  61 <p_>He was unsure whether the pain in Heather's eyes would be 
L03  62 aggravated more by his acceptance or by his refusal, but, seeing a 
L03  63 possible opening for further investigation, he drifted across to 
L03  64 join them.<p/>
L03  65 <p_><quote_>"Get the gentleman a cup."<quote/><p/>
L03  66 <p_>Heather seemed relieved to have somewhere to take her blushes 
L03  67 and moved obediently across to the beverage counter.<p/>
L03  68 <p_><quote_>"My name's Charles Paris."<quote/> He proferred<&|>sic! 
L03  69 his hand.<p/>
L03  70 <p_>The old woman shook it. Hers was dry and scaly. <quote_>"Mrs 
L03  71 Routledge. I'm Heather's mother."<p/>
L03  72 <p_><quote_>"I thought you must be."<quote/><p/>
L03  73 <p_><quote_>"She's a good girl, my daughter. Every Wednesday she 
L03  74 gives me lunch here in the canteen. Gets me out of the house, you 
L03  75 know, gives me a chance to see people a bit."<quote/><p/>
L03  76 <p_><quote|>"Yes."<p/>
L03  77 <p_>Heather returned wordlessly and put a Pyrex cup and saucer down 
L03  78 in front of Charles. Mrs Routledge, as was appropriate, acted as 
L03  79 'Mother' and poured in milk and tea. She had the sugar-shaker 
L03  80 poised before he managed to stop her.<p/>
L03  81 <p_><quote_>"I was just telling Mr Paris what a good daughter you 
L03  82 are to me, Heather."<quote/><p/>
L03  83 <p_>The younger woman almost imperceptibly cringed. Mrs Routledge 
L03  84 was using that distinctive kind of parental commendation which is 
L03  85 infinitely more diminishing than insults. <quote_>"I'm such a lucky 
L03  86 old lady to have a daughter who looks after me so well. We live 
L03  87 together, you know ..."<quote/><p/>
L03  88 <p_>Charles just managed to interpose an <quote|>"Ah" into this 
L03  89 stream of consciousness.<p/>
L03  90 <p_><quote_>"Always have done. I encouraged Heather to get away 
L03  91 when she was younger, but she never seemed to have the will really, 
L03  92 did you, love?"<quote/> It was clear that most of Mrs Routledge's 
L03  93 questions were rhetorical, as she steamrollered on, <quote_>"So 
L03  94 it's just the two of us. Heather's father died ... ooh, how many 
L03  95 years ago is it now, Heather?"<quote/> But again she supplied her 
L03  96 own answer. <quote_>"Twenty-seven, it is. Twenty-seven years ago. 
L03  97 And since then there's just been the two of us. You're an actor, 
L03  98 you say?"<quote/><p/>
L03  99 <p_>Assuming that, despite this sudden change of direction, Mrs 
L03 100 Routledge's conversational method would not alter, Charles said 
L03 101 nothing.<p/>
L03 102 <p_>His tactics were proved to be correct. <quote_>"Yes, Heather 
L03 103 said you were. And you've been here working on this film they're 
L03 104 making all about Delmoleen, isn't that right? I thought so. You 
L03 105 know, they wanted Heather to be in the film. Yes, they did. They 
L03 106 wanted to film her in her office. She didn't have to say anything, 
L03 107 just sit there and be filmed. But she didn't want to. I said she 
L03 108 was being silly. I said, there's no harm in just sitting there, the 
L03 109 camera won't bite you, it's silly to be so shy. I've always said 
L03 110 she should push herself forward a bit more. But you wouldn't do it, 
L03 111 would you, Heather?"<quote/><p/>
L03 112 <p_>In the course of this monologue, Charles caught its subject's 
L03 113 eye. Beneath Heather's embarrassment gleamed an undercurrent of 
L03 114 sheer blind anger. He gave her a half-smile; she responded with a 
L03 115 wry tightening of her lips.<p/>
L03 116 <p_>Now he looked closely at her, he saw that Heather Routledge was 
L03 117 not an unattractive woman. The grey eyes were flecked with blue, 
L03 118 and her skin had a tactile sheen. It was only the anonymous 
L03 119 dowdiness of her clothes and awkwardness of her stance that created 
L03 120 the image of ugliness. Illuminated by a little self-confidence, she 
L03 121 would actually have been rather attractive.<p/>
L03 122 <p_><quote_>"Still, there's no way I'm criticising my daughter. Oh 
L03 123 no, I'm very lucky, and I'm not one of those old ladies who doesn't 
L03 124 appreciate her good fortune. I'm extremely grateful for everything 
L03 125 my daughter does for me. Do you know, Mr Paris, except for 
L03 126 Wednesdays when she invites me in here, Heather rings me from work 
L03 127 every single lunchtime."<quote/><p/>
L03 128 <p_>He managed to slip in an appreciative nod at this point.<p/>
L03 129 <p_><quote_>"Yes, I'm very lucky. Every lunchtime. And she talks 
L03 130 for a long time."<quote/><p/>
L03 131 <p_>Given Mrs Routledge's taste for monologue, this sounded 
L03 132 unlikely, but neither of them questioned it. Years of experience 
L03 133 had dissuaded Heather from taking issue with anything her mother 
L03 134 said, and Charles found that he was subsiding into the same 
L03 135 mesmerised acceptance.<p/>
L03 136 <p_><quote_>"Every lunchtime,"<quote/> Mrs Routledge repeated. 
L03 137 Then, confident of the total subjugation of her audience, she 
L03 138 allowed herself a slurp of tea. <quote_>"Ooh, this is getting very 
L03 139 stewed. Go and get us some more hot water, Heather, 
L03 140 love."<quote/><p/>
L03 141 <p_>Her daughter, an obedient automaton, went back to the beverage 
L03 142 counter and tried to attract the attention of one of the impassive 
L03 143 women in pale blue housecoats.<p/>
L03 144 <p_>Charles may have been sinking under the hypnosis of Mrs 
L03 145 Routledge's endless talk, but he had enough will left to recognise 
L03 146 an opening for his investigation. <quote_>"You say Heather rings 
L03 147 you every lunchtime?"<quote/><p/>
L03 148 <p_><quote_>"Every lunchtime, without fail."<quote/><p/>
L03 149 <p_><quote_>"So I dare say she's told you a bit about the video 
L03 150 we've been doing?"<quote/><p/>
L03 151 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes, all the details."<quote/><p/>
L03 152 <p_><quote_>"And I expect she rang you the day we were filming in 
L03 153 the warehouse a few weeks back ...?"<quote/><p/>
L03 154 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes, she did. She was on for a long time. I 
L03 155 remember the day, because it was later that I heard about the 
L03 156 dreadful accident to the poor girl who was in the film. Do you 
L03 157 know, she was playing the part Heather would have been doing?<p/>
L03 158 <p_><quote_>"Well, yes, I - "<quote/><p/>
L03 159 <p_><quote_>"And I kept thinking afterwards, if Heather had 
L03 160 actually been doing it, then she would have been the one who had 
L03 161 the accident."<quote/><p/>
L03 162 <p_><quote_>"I'm not sure that - "<quote/><p/>
L03 163 <p_><quote_>"But wasn't it dreadful for that girl? A lot of that 
L03 164 machinery they use isn't properly tested, you know. They've had 
L03 165 other accidents here. There was a young man in one of the hoppers 
L03 166 who ..."<quote/><p/>
L03 167 <p_>Heather had made contact with an impassive young woman in a 
L03 168 pale blue housecoat. The hot water was being procured. Charles 
L03 169 hadn't got long.<p/>
L03 170 <p_><quote_>"That day, Mrs Routledge,"<quote/> he interrupted 
L03 171 firmly, <quote_>" - the day of the accident - do you remember what 
L03 172 time Heather rang you?"<quote/><p/>
L03 173 <p_>The old woman was so unused to being asked direct questions 
L03 174 that she replied instinctively. <quote_>"Yes, I do. It was just 
L03 175 before half-past twelve. I know, because I'd been listening to 
L03 176 <tf_>You and Yours<tf/> on Radio Four - it's a good programme, that 
L03 177 - and then they'd started with one of these new shows they keep 
L03 178 trying to do with young comedians and bad language, and I don't 
L03 179 hold with that - there's enough muck in the world without putting 
L03 180 it on the wireless - and just after I'd switched off, Heather 
L03 181 phoned."<quote/><p/>
L03 182 <p_><quote_>"And how long were you on the phone?"<quote/><p/>
L03 183 <p_>The direct questioning really seemed to be working. Mrs 
L03 184 Routledge replied, <quote_>"Oh, a good half-hour, because they'd 
L03 185 just done the news headlines at one when I switched the wireless 
L03 186 back on again."<quote/><p/>
L03 187 <p_><quote_>"And did Heather say whether there was anyone with her 
L03 188 while she was talking to you?"<quote/><p/>
L03 189 <p_><quote_>"Anyone with her?"<quote/><p/>
L03 190 <p_><quote_>"Anyone else in the office?"<quote/><p/>
L03 191 <p_><quote_>"Well, Brian - that's Mr Tressider - he came in, about 
L03 192 one it must've been, because Heather said he'd come in and that's 
L03 193 why she had to ring off. We've known Brian a long time, you know. 
L03 194 He used to work here in Stenley Curton and at one time I hoped - 
L03 195 "<quote/><p/>
L03 196 <p_>Heather was moving back towards them with a pot of hot water, 
L03 197 so Charles cut short Mrs Routledge's reminiscence. <quote_>"But 
L03 198 Heather didn't say there was anyone there during the rest of the 
L03 199 conversation?"<quote/><p/>
L03 200 <p_><quote_>"No, no, of course not."<quote/> The old woman was only 
L03 201 momentarily puzzled by this. Sensing a silence to be filled, she 
L03 202 launched off again into her monologue. <quote_>"No, we've known 
L03 203 Brian Tressider since he was a boy. He went to a school near here 
L03 204 which ..."<quote/><p/>
L03 205 <p_>Heather looked at Charles curiously as she put the pot down. He 
L03 206 looked equally curiously back at her.<p/>
L03 207 <p_>What she was thinking he couldn't know. What he was thinking 
L03 208 changed the whole premise of his investigation.<p/>
L03 209 <p_>Mrs Routledge may have confirmed her daughter's alibi for the 
L03 210 time of the murder, but she had virtually destroyed Trevor's. 
L03 211 Heather had said the operator had been in her office at the 
L03 212 relevant time, but surely he wouldn't have stood there for half an 
L03 213 hour listening to Heather's minimal reactions to her mother 
L03 214 maundering on.<p/>
L03 215 <p_>So, if Trevor hadn't been in her office, where had he been? 
L03 216 And, more importantly, why had she said he was there?<p/>
L03 217 <p_>What possible motive could Heather Routledge have for lying to 
L03 218 protect Trevor?<p/>
L03 219 <h_><p_>Chapter 9<p/><h/>
L03 220 <p_>Charles felt heavily ballasted with Jam Roly-Poly as he walked 
L03 221 out of the canteen. Spending much time round Delmoleen, he 
L03 222 realised, would have a devastating effect on his waistline (though, 
L03 223 actually, these days it was more a general area than a precise 
L03 224 line). Presumably, most of the people who used the canteen were 
L03 225 manual workers who'd burn it all off pretty quickly; for actors the 
L03 226 task might be more difficult.<p/>
L03 227 
L03 228 
L04   1 <#FLOB:L04\>And because that's how we saw you, unflappable, that's 
L04   2 what we've demanded of you. It's been an increasing strain for you 
L04   3 because it's an increasing load. Patterson says you've carried us - 
L04   4 emotionally - and have left yourself with no one to share your 
L04   5 worries. It's too easy to become selfish. Now, all that makes sense 
L04   6 to me, darling, but there's more,"<quote/> Duncan warned, pleased 
L04   7 to see that Beth was receptive. <quote_>"In fact, we had a long 
L04   8 talk because I convinced him I needed to know of any way I could 
L04   9 help. I couldn't guarantee you'd see him yourself,"<quote/> he 
L04  10 explained.<p/>
L04  11 <p_><quote_>"The <tf|>timing's so significant, Beth. Patterson 
L04  12 suspects that the wedding's causing you real distress. However much 
L04  13 you want it for Jennetta, you don't want it for yourself. You don't 
L04  14 want to lose her."<quote/> Sudden tears prickled her eyelids and 
L04  15 Beth froze into a monument of self-control. Duncan saw her stiffen 
L04  16 but he had to go on. <quote_>"That makes you feel guilty, so you 
L04  17 can't talk about it. Patterson wonders whether subconsciously, this 
L04  18 is all an expression of your <tf|>hope,"<quote/> Duncan took Beth's 
L04  19 hands, <quote_>"not fear, that something will stop the 
L04  20 wedding."<quote/><p/>
L04  21 <p_>Beth snatched her hands away and her mouth opened in protest 
L04  22 but Duncan forestalled her.<p/>
L04  23 <p_><quote_>"I know - I <tf|>know what you're going to say. I've 
L04  24 already said it all to Patterson. But when I told him that even 
L04  25 Penny'd had a rough time, and that this morning you accused <tf|>me 
L04  26 of being in the conspiracy against you, he wasn't surprised. He 
L04  27 explained that your fear for Penny was an expression of your dread 
L04  28 of losing Jennetta, and as for me - well, I'm your 'transferred 
L04  29 guilt object',"<quote/> Duncan smiled bleakly. <quote_>"Your 
L04  30 whipping-boy. When I said your behaviour seemed more to me like a 
L04  31 persecution complex, he said, 'Self-persecution. She's looking for 
L04  32 sticks to beat herself with'."<quote/> <quote_>"Mother-love's a 
L04  33 funny thing,"<quote/> Patterson had added, and Duncan had no 
L04  34 intention of mentioning it to Beth. <quote_>"We think of it as a 
L04  35 virtue, but in its perverted form it's the most destructive poison 
L04  36 a woman has access to. It cripples far more than the object of her 
L04  37 mother-love."<quote/><p/>
L04  38 <p_>Beth sat thoughtfully, trying to apply Duncan's half-familiar 
L04  39 phrases to herself and feel comfortable in them; but in one 
L04  40 essential respect they simply didn't fit.<p/>
L04  41 <p_><quote_>"So no wonder your control's slipping,"<quote/> he went 
L04  42 on, encouraged by Beth's silence. <quote_>"You've had a terrible 
L04  43 life - by my standards, anyway - and it's amazing that you've 
L04  44 emerged unscathed. I realise now that's the result of conscious 
L04  45 effort as well as your strength of character. I've abused that 
L04  46 strength.<p/>
L04  47 <p_>"I didn't realise at first that you were actually fearful of 
L04  48 meeting anyone from your past - and no wonder that you were - but 
L04  49 even Nick's crooks are 'transferred guilt objects' now. You thought 
L04  50 you had good reason then, no doubt, but it's a mistake to cut off 
L04  51 all your roots. If you do, you have to be very certain of your 
L04  52 support, and I'm afraid your support wasn't as strong as it 
L04  53 might've been. It even leaned on you. It must've helded, marrying 
L04  54 me - I hope it did - but I never knew how much <tf|>I needed to 
L04  55 help. I should've encouraged you to screech like a 
L04  56 fishwife,"<quote/> Duncan smiled fleetingly at an image that once 
L04  57 would have been unthinkable, <quote_>"and throw things. Instead of 
L04  58 which I've sat around admiring your courage or being impatient now 
L04  59 because the strain <tf|>I've helped to impose on you is finally 
L04  60 beginning to tell. Believe me, Patterson told me a few 
L04  61 home-truths!<p/>
L04  62 <p_>"Well, there you are,"<quote/> Duncan raised his hands and let 
L04  63 them fall as he sat back in his chair. <quote_>"You've been very 
L04  64 patient and civilised, but so you usually are. I can't tell whether 
L04  65 you've accepted any of this. I hope some of it's made sense and you 
L04  66 feel better for understanding yourself. But anyway I wish you'd see 
L04  67 Patterson. It's the - involuntary aspect that's so upsetting, isn't 
L04  68 it? But it won't be any less involuntary merely for understanding 
L04  69 the cause. You need his help to cope, darling."<quote/><p/>
L04  70 <p_>Duncan looked so worried and so loving that impulsively Beth 
L04  71 reached towards him.<p/>
L04  72 <p_><quote_>"I won't have you blaming yourself for any of this! 
L04  73 It's shameful of Patterson to put such an idea into your head, 
L04  74 Duncan. I couldn't have married a more unselfish, understanding man 
L04  75 - and if I haven't said that before,"<quote/> Beth added with a wry 
L04  76 smile, <quote_>"then I should be beaten soundly. But some of what 
L04  77 you've said <tf|>sounds logical enough to provoke thought - though 
L04  78 of course I deny that I'm hoping Jennetta's wedding falls through. 
L04  79 Good heavens, I can't begin to tell you how much I want it. Even 
L04  80 subconsciously that suggestion's horrible!"<quote/><p/>
L04  81 <p_><quote_>"Quite. And that's Patterson's point,"<quote/> Duncan 
L04  82 was ready. <quote_>"Because you find it horrible you're flaying 
L04  83 yourself. But it's understandable, darling. Your whole life and 
L04  84 behaviour were geared to Jennetta for so long that your 
L04  85 subconscious is saying now, 'What kind of a person shall I revert 
L04  86 to when she's gone? Shall I still be the Me I've become and know 
L04  87 better than any other self?' It's a sort of identity crisis 
L04  88 Patterson sometimes sees in widows - but they're <tf|>expected to 
L04  89 mourn their loss and take time to readjust, while you, poor love, 
L04  90 have to put on a happy face."<quote/><p/>
L04  91 <p_><quote_>"But I <tf|>am happy, Duncan. Truly. And Jennetta's 
L04  92 certainly not the only person in my life."<quote/><p/>
L04  93 <p_><quote_>"You don't need to tell me that, darling. But she is 
L04  94 your oldest root, the only real root. In a sense she was your mould 
L04  95 too, and now the mould's breaking. Don't be afraid. I'm longing to 
L04  96 meet the butterfly that emerges from the chrysalis. A whole new 
L04  97 voyage of discovery with you. For a start, I've never been to bed 
L04  98 with a mother-in-law."<quote/><p/>
L04  99 <p_><quote|>"Idiot!" Beth snorted with sudden laughter.<p/>
L04 100 <p_>But she recognised the truth of much of what Duncan said about 
L04 101 her close relationship with Jennetta. In some ways it had perhaps 
L04 102 been too close. It was a measure of Duncan's generosity that he'd 
L04 103 never been jealous. He was a truly <tf|>good man, Beth acknowledged 
L04 104 remorsefully to herself.<p/>
L04 105 <p_><quote_>"All right, then, I'll go and see Patterson - but it 
L04 106 sounds very much as though you two've put your heads together to 
L04 107 set me up with a Catch-22 situation. If I deny his suggestion it's 
L04 108 because my subconscious won't let me admit it, even to myself, 
L04 109 because it's irrational. But if I express other fears, then they're 
L04 110 unreasonable and again I'm being irrational."<quote/><p/>
L04 111 <p_><quote_>"No, you can't win,"<quote/> Duncan laughed as he stood 
L04 112 up to go. <quote_>"Just try and be your usual honest self with 
L04 113 Patterson, that's all I ask. I know he can help."<quote/><p/>
L04 114 <p_>Duncan took Beth's letter with him to the post; considerate, 
L04 115 but more precipitate than she'd intended. After some thought she 
L04 116 phoned Jane, whose school run it was that afternoon.<p/>
L04 117 <p_><quote_>"Why don't you and Jonquil stay on for an hour or so 
L04 118 when you drop Penny off?"<quote/> Beth invited, first clearing a 
L04 119 few perfunctory civilities out of the way.<p/>
L04 120 <p_><quote_>"Why, Beth, of course!"<quote/> Jane's voice soared 
L04 121 with surprise at this change of tack after the polite brush-offs 
L04 122 during the past weeks. They hadn't met since a day or two after the 
L04 123 Mallinsons' return from holiday, Beth realised. <quote_>"It's been 
L04 124 ages!"<quote/> Jane echoed her thoughts. <quote_>"I've been 
L04 125 expecting to hear more about our <tf_>haute couture<tf/> 
L04 126 crawl."<quote/><p/>
L04 127 <p_><quote_>"Yes, we must discuss that,"<quote/> Beth murmured 
L04 128 vaguely, remembering the suggestion that Jane should help her 
L04 129 choose her wedding outfit. <quote_>"See you after school, 
L04 130 then."<quote/><p/>
L04 131 <p_>Jane's readiness to rally round was gratifying. Beth worked off 
L04 132 her relief by preparing a picnic feast for the girls to guzzle out 
L04 133 of earshot in the grounds, and a cake and an iced pitcher for Jane. 
L04 134 It's a mistake to cut off your roots, she reminded herself of what 
L04 135 Duncan had said, and she'd been in danger of doing just that again. 
L04 136 Beth saw belatedly that whereas her retreat had once seemed to be 
L04 137 the only route to self-preservation, now it would be a suicidal 
L04 138 cutting of communications that could leave her out in the cold, 
L04 139 socially, and out of touch. Intimacy with Jane had brought 
L04 140 unexpected embarrassments in the undelicious shape of her aunt 
L04 141 Grace, but only their continued intimacy could provide an antidote 
L04 142 to the far greater embarrassments looming between the lines of 
L04 143 David Morgan's letter.<p/>
L04 144 <p_><quote_>"Make a stranger of Jane,"<quote/> Beth warned herself 
L04 145 aloud, <quote_>"and you simply won't know what's going on behind 
L04 146 your back."<quote/><p/>
L04 147 <p_><quote_>"Seems to me you could do with a let-up."<quote/> Jane 
L04 148 gazed clinically into Beth's face as later they settled themselves 
L04 149 on the patio. <quote_>"Gamboge around the gills, my dear - An iced 
L04 150 drink? What a heavenly idea!"<quote/> She took the frosted glass 
L04 151 Beth held out to her and drank gratefully. <quote_>"My 
L04 152 God!"<quote/> she gasped, awed. <quote_>"What <tf|>is 
L04 153 this?"<quote/><p/>
L04 154 <p_><quote_>"My mother-in-law's recipe,"<quote/> Beth smiled. 
L04 155 <quote_>"She calls it Singapore Swamp, on account of the floating 
L04 156 vegetation."<quote/> She poured a glass for herself. <quote_>"It's 
L04 157 reasonably innocuous."<quote/><p/>
L04 158 <p_><quote_>"It's <tf_>ab<tf/>solute ambrosia, Beth - and not all 
L04 159 that innocuous. What's under the cover?"<quote/><p/>
L04 160 <p_><quote_>"Your cake,"<quote/> Beth murmured, uncovering the 
L04 161 plate.<p/>
L04 162 <p_><quote_>"Not - <tf|>my cake? <tf|>How I've missed you!"<quote/> 
L04 163 Jane laughed. <quote_>"So. Last lap? Only just in time, I'd say. 
L04 164 Aren't you sleeping?"<quote/><p/>
L04 165 <p_><quote_>"Much better now the heat's less,"<quote/> Beth tried 
L04 166 not to sound irritated. Why did people imagine they showed their 
L04 167 concern best through bossy personal remarks? <quote_>"But I had - 
L04 168 rather a shock today,"<quote/> she admitted, <quote_>"and I suppose 
L04 169 I'm tired enough for it to show."<quote/><p/>
L04 170 <p_>Jane looked away towards the paddock where the girls could be 
L04 171 heard.<p/>
L04 172 <p_><quote_>"Anything you can talk about?"<quote/> she asked 
L04 173 quietly.<p/>
L04 174 <p_><quote_>"Oh, it's nothing private,"<quote/> Beth assured her. 
L04 175 <quote_>"Just - unexpected. I had a letter from a solicitor asking 
L04 176 about a friend I was at school with in Fulham. There's a legacy, 
L04 177 apparently. Unfortunately I lost touch with her when I was 
L04 178 seventeen so I can't help. What stunned me, though, was how he'd 
L04 179 found <tf|>me after all this time."<quote/> She glanced 
L04 180 uncomfortably at Jane.<quote_>"You know - a sort of Big Brother 
L04 181 sensation. Well, good heavens - I've changed my name twice since 
L04 182 then."<quote/><p/>
L04 183 <p_><quote_>"Hell, how unnerving!"<quote/> Jane sympathised. 
L04 184 <quote_>"But I'm sure you've the right to ask how he managed 
L04 185 it."<quote/><p/>
L04 186 <p_><quote_>"Well, he did say in passing - Are you ready for some 
L04 187 cake?"<quote/><p/>
L04 188 <p_><quote_>"<tf|>Need you ask?"<quote/> Jane grinned.<p/>
L04 189 <p_>Beth helped her to cake and sat back with her own plate while 
L04 190 Jane moaned appreciation.<p/>
L04 191 <p_><quote_>"So what did the solicitor say?"<quote/> she prompted 
L04 192 thickly.<p/>
L04 193 <p_><quote_>"Oh, he'd traced my friend to a hostel in south London, 
L04 194 a place called High Bank."<quote/> Beth munched tidily on and 
L04 195 ignored Jane's quiet exclamation. <quote_>"That's where I last knew 
L04 196 of her myself. He turned up the woman in charge at the time and she 
L04 197 put him on to me. You see, my friend - she was rather a live-wire - 
L04 198 just upped and left, so after a bit this woman returned my letters 
L04 199 with a note to say what'd happened. I wrote to her a couple of 
L04 200 times in case there was any news, but there never was. It seems 
L04 201 she'd filed away my letters, signed in my maiden name, and 
L04 202 <tf|>they were enough for the solicitor to work on. Amazing, 
L04 203 really."<quote/> Beth picked up the cake-knife and looked 
L04 204 enquiringly at Jane; but Jane merely replaced her half-eaten cake 
L04 205 on the table.<p/>
L04 206 <p_><quote_>"When was it you lost touch with your friend?"<quote/> 
L04 207 she asked in a strained voice.<p/>
L04 208 <p_><quote_>"About - about twenty years ago,"<quote/> Beth gave her 
L04 209 a puzzled stare. <quote_>"Jane, is something wrong with the 
L04 210 cake?"<quote/><p/>
L04 211 <p_><quote_>"No, - Just let me think a minute. I mean - it's 
L04 212 lovely. About 1969?"<quote/> she muttered, calculating. 
L04 213 <quote_>"Did this solicitor mention the Warden's name?"<quote/> 
L04 214 Beth shook her head wonderingly. <quote_>"Can you remember what she 
L04 215 told you about your friend?"<quote/><p/>
L04 216 <p_><quote_>"Er - that she'd gone to find work in East Anglia, as I 
L04 217 recall. Look -"<quote/><p/>
L04 218 <p_><quote_>"Did she tell you that your friend left with just the 
L04 219 clothes on her back - after hitching a lift while she was visiting 
L04 220 away from the hostel?"<quote/> Jane leaned forward, her eyes 
L04 221 intent.<p/>
L04 222 <p_><quote_>"She was seeing her foster-sister,"<quote/> Beth 
L04 223 nodded, wondering how much detail Jane knew to fill in that outline.
L04 224 
L04 225 
L05   1 <#FLOB:L05\><p_>The Widow Fourie came out of the kitchen, carrying 
L05   2 a glass of water, just as Kramer opened her front door at a quarter 
L05   3 past midnight, doing his best to make not a sound.<p/>
L05   4 <p_><quote|>"Hello," she said. <quote_>"You're up late 
L05   5 ..."<quote/><p/>
L05   6 <p_><quote_>"And you."<quote/><p/>
L05   7 <p_><quote_>"Ach, no. I was fast asleep until a minute ago - little 
L05   8 Piet woke up, wanting a drink."<quote/><p/>
L05   9 <p_><quote_>"I could bloody do with one,"<quote/> muttered Kramer, 
L05  10 before adding: <quote_>"Good night, hey?"<quote/><p/>
L05  11 <p_><quote_>"Top shelf, pantry,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"Behind 
L05  12 where the box of birthday-cake candles is kept."<quote/><p/>
L05  13 <p_>Kramer watched her go down the corridor. She looked tired, but 
L05  14 walked with none of the unsteadiness normally associated with 
L05  15 someone just roused from slumber, which intrigued him.<p/>
L05  16 <p_>Then he found, behind the box of birthday-cake candles, a 
L05  17 large, untouched bottle of Oude Meester brandy, its seal still 
L05  18 intact. There was a holly-leaf label attached to the neck of the 
L05  19 bottle which read: <quote_>"To my beloved Pik, Happy Christmas! 
L05  20 XXX."<quote/><p/>
L05  21 <p_>Kramer poured a good measure into a tumbler and sat down at the 
L05  22 kitchen table, propping his feet up. He saw no harm in drinking a 
L05  23 dead man's booze. He had read somewhere that people did this to 
L05  24 Napoleon's brandy all the time - and then boasted to their friends 
L05  25 about it.<p/>
L05  26 <p_><quote_>"So you found the bottle OK,"<quote/> said the Widow 
L05  27 Fourie, returning to the kitchen with an empty glass.<p/>
L05  28 <p_><quote_>"Like some?"<quote/><p/>
L05  29 <p_><quote_>"No, not for me, thanks."<quote/><p/>
L05  30 <p_><quote_>"Have just a drop,"<quote/> he insisted. <quote_>"One 
L05  31 tiny drop! It'll help you get straight back to sleep 
L05  32 again."<quote/> And he looked at her in the eye.<p/>
L05  33 <p_><quote_>"No, honest,"<quote/> she said, turning quickly 
L05  34 away.<p/>
L05  35 <p_><quote_>"Suit yourself!"<quote/><p/>
L05  36 <p_><quote_>"You sound upset,"<quote/> she said, rinsing the glass 
L05  37 at the sink. <quote_>"Why's that?"<quote/><p/>
L05  38 <p_><quote_>"All right if I have another?"<quote/><p/>
L05  39 <p_><quote_>"It's there to be drunk."<quote/><p/>
L05  40 <p_><quote_>"So am I,"<quote/> said Kramer.<p/>
L05  41 <p_>She sat silently with him, sorting the children's freshly 
L05  42 laundered clothes into four neat piles on the table top, while he 
L05  43 sank that first tumblerful. His gaze kept returning to her and 
L05  44 especially to that wide, generous mouth with its bracketing of 
L05  45 laughter-lines.<p/>
L05  46 <p_><quote_>"If you're staring at these spots,"<quote/> she said, 
L05  47 <quote_><}_><-|><+|>"<}/>it's my time of the month, that's all. You 
L05  48 don't have to be so blatant about it."<quote/><p/>
L05  49 <p_>Kramer dug out a Lucky. <quote_>"Ach, 
L05  50 no!<}_><-|><+|>"<}/><quote/> he said. <quote_>"I was thinking of 
L05  51 something else entirely: Short-arse."<quote/><p/>
L05  52 <p_><quote_>"I beg your pardon!"<quote/><p/>
L05  53 <p_><quote_>"Hell, not you, hey? Just some kaffir."<quote/><p/>
L05  54 <p_><quote_>"What kaffir?"<quote/><p/>
L05  55 <p_>So he told her, speaking freely, too freely maybe, but he'd 
L05  56 hardly eaten all day and the brandy was coursing strong through his 
L05  57 veins. He let slip that he had a hunch about this kaffir that made 
L05  58 the hairs at the back of his neck stand up - a sort of destiny 
L05  59 thing.<p/>
L05  60 <p_><quote|>"Oh," she said, and became silent again.<p/>
L05  61 <p_><quote_>"Don't just sit there - talk!"<quote/> he said. 
L05  62 <quote_>"Keep on talking. Tell me how bloody stupid I'm 
L05  63 being!"<quote/><p/>
L05  64 <p_><quote_>"I can't,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"The day that Pik 
L05  65 got killed, he kissed me goodbye at the door, same as usual, then 
L05  66 he came back and kissed me and the kids again, a second time. There 
L05  67 seemed to be no reason."<quote/><p/>
L05  68 <p_>They were both quiet after that, while the kitchen clock kept 
L05  69 up its ponderous loud ticking.<p/>
L05  70 <p_><quote_>"This native,"<quote/> said the Widow Fourie, abruptly 
L05  71 brisk and businesslike, pouring herself a small tot of brandy. 
L05  72 <quote_>"You'll just have to look for him, find him, see for 
L05  73 yourself how plain and ordinary he is, and put an end to - 
L05  74 "<quote/><p/>
L05  75 <p_><quote_>"Look for him?"<quote/> echoed Kramer. <quote_>"What 
L05  76 the hell else do you think Hans and me have been doing half the 
L05  77 night?"<quote/><p/>
L05  78 <p_><quote_>"You didn't tell me that. How am I supposed to 
L05  79 know?"<quote/><p/>
L05  80 <p_><quote_>"We searched everywhere, high and low. Gone! Vanished, 
L05  81 just like that ..."<quote/><p/>
L05  82 <p_>The Widow Fourie downed her brandy in one, grimacing at the 
L05  83 taste, then placed the glass very carefully on the table top. 
L05  84 <quote_>"You say,"<quote/> she said, <quote_>"that he's probably 
L05  85 changed by now into the suit of clothes he stole from the kitchen 
L05  86 boy at Fynn's Creek. Were you able to give people a good 
L05  87 description of them?"<quote/><p/>
L05  88 <p_><quote_>"Oh, ja,"<quote/> said Kramer. <quote|>"Excellent."<p/>
L05  89 <p_><quote_>"You're sure?"<quote/><p/>
L05  90 <p_><quote_>"Cassius got it directly off the kitchen boy. One black 
L05  91 jacket, black pants with shiny seat, and a white shirt that has a 
L05  92 patch on the left shoulder made out of the shirt tail. A belt 
L05  93 that's black on the outside, grey on the inside, and the buckle has 
L05  94 a five<?_>-<?/>pointed star on it, real trading-store. Also, a pair 
L05  95 of size eleven, black imitation leather lace-up shoes. Thick soles 
L05  96 with a crisscross pattern, a nick in the left toecap from a falling 
L05  97 penknife, and a blemish on the right shoe that's an area of 
L05  98 roughness in the shape of a half-moon. Oh, and the shoes hadn't 
L05  99 been dyed evenly: the left one had a bit of purple in the black, 
L05 100 when you held it to the light."<quote/><p/>
L05 101 <p_><quote|>"Yirra," said the Widow Fourie, <quote_>"that really is 
L05 102 a description! The cook boy told you all that? He must've been in 
L05 103 love with those blessed shoes of his!"<quote/><p/>
L05 104 <p_>Kramer nodded. <quote_>"My reaction was the same,"<quote/> he 
L05 105 said. <quote_>"Only Cassius pointed out that there are over 300 
L05 106 words in Zulu you can use to describe the different colours of a 
L05 107 cow. On top of which, there were even more words for every kind of 
L05 108 horn, hoof, etc. I think what he meant was, when a coon around here 
L05 109 is too poor to own any cattle, then a shoe - even one that's not 
L05 110 real hide - just has to do, hey?"<quote/><p/>
L05 111 <p_><quote|>"Hmmm," said the Widow Fourie. <quote_>"So this native 
L05 112 hasn't been seen since - can't he just have gone? Y'know, back to 
L05 113 wherever you think you first saw him?"<quote/><p/>
L05 114 <p_><quote_>"Ja, outside the magistrate's court,"<quote/> muttered 
L05 115 Kramer, then realized what he had just said.<p/>
L05 116 <p_>And he was back in Trekkersburg, on his very first morning, in 
L05 117 the alley beside the courthouse, which had been thronged so solid 
L05 118 with worried kaffir wives and their families that you had to force 
L05 119 your way through them. Then, all of a sudden, the crowd had parted 
L05 120 of its own volition, and through it had come a coon version of 
L05 121 Frank Sinatra making with the jaunty walk. The snap-brim hat, 
L05 122 padded shoulders and zoot suit larded with glinting thread were all 
L05 123 secondhand ideas from a secondhand shop. Yet with them went the 
L05 124 feeling that here was an original, even if someone, somewhere else, 
L05 125 had thought it all up before. The man walked that way because he 
L05 126 thought that way, and the crowd had sensed this - just as it had 
L05 127 sensed that something special, perhaps even deadly, walked with 
L05 128 him.<p/>
L05 129 <p_><quote|>"Tromp?" said the Widow Fourie, sounding very 
L05 130 concerned. <quote_>"Trompie, are you all right?"<quote/><p/>
L05 131 <p_><quote_>"Ach, fine!"<quote/> he said, blinking, reaching for 
L05 132 more brandy. <quote_>"You think the kaffir's gone back? Why the 
L05 133 bloody change of clothes if he was going to do that? No, my feeling 
L05 134 is that he's still around, lying low, still keeping a watch on what 
L05 135 we're - "<quote/><p/>
L05 136 <p_><quote_>"But why?"<quote/> asked the Widow Fourie. 
L05 137 <quote_>"That's the part I don't get. I can't see how a native 
L05 138 could possibly have been mixed up in - "<quote/><p/>
L05 139 <p_><quote_>"Then I'll have to just bloody ask him!"<quote/> said 
L05 140 Kramer, testily, needing time to think, feeling the pressure. 
L05 141 <quote_>"Find a way to get my cuffs on him, and ask him lots of 
L05 142 things - ask the two-faced bastard what the hell's going 
L05 143 here!"<quote/><p/>
L05 144 <p_><quote_>"I know a way,"<quote/> she said.<p/>
L05 145 <p_><quote|>"Pardon?"<p/>
L05 146 <p_><quote_>"I know a way of catching him, if he's still in the 
L05 147 area,"<quote/> said the Widow Fourie. <quote_>"It's what my Uncle 
L05 148 Koos did, that time he had all the trouble with the leopard. You 
L05 149 know what sly, cunning creatures leopards are, hiding away so you 
L05 150 never see them - leaving you just to find another of your flock has 
L05 151 been taken in the morning? Well, Uncle Koos knew the leopard was 
L05 152 out there somewhere, hiding in the foothills, and so he just got a 
L05 153 goat and - "<quote/><p/>
L05 154 <p_><quote_>"Ja, ja, set a trap!"<quote/> said Kramer, nodding.<p/>
L05 155 <p_>He did not sleep much after that. Every time his eyes closed, 
L05 156 and his mind lost its grip on the day, slipping into strange 
L05 157 half<?_>-<?/>dreams, mostly seascapes, it took only the slightest 
L05 158 sound to jolt him wide awake again. Then he would lie staring at 
L05 159 the ceiling, trying to grasp the actual implications of Short-arse 
L05 160 and Zoot-suit being one and the same bastard, until eventually his 
L05 161 eyelids drifted shut once more, restarting the cycle.<p/>
L05 162 <p_><quote_>"Can Dingaan have your fat, please?"<quote/> Piet asked 
L05 163 him at the breakfast table.<p/>
L05 164 <p_><quote_>"I'd sooner he had my head,"<quote/> said Kramer, 
L05 165 waving aside the milk that the maid had been about to add to his 
L05 166 coffee. <quote_>"Ja, of course he can - he can have the whole of my 
L05 167 bacon, if he likes. I'm not in the mood for it."<quote/><p/>
L05 168 <p_><quote_>"Ja, my ma warned me,"<quote/> said Piet, forking the 
L05 169 bacon over on to his bread plate.<p/>
L05 170 <p_><quote_>"Warned you about what?"<quote/><p/>
L05 171 <p_><quote_>"She said you'd probably be like a bull who had backed 
L05 172 into a big cactus this morning."<quote/><p/>
L05 173 <p_><quote_>"That ma of yours ..."<quote/><p/>
L05 174 <p_><quote_>"She's nice, isn't she?"<quote/> said Piet. 
L05 175 <quote_>"Sometimes I think Fanie Kritzinger's got a better one, but 
L05 176 not always."<quote/><p/>
L05 177 <p_><quote_>"Oh, ja? Any views on his pa then?"<quote/><p/>
L05 178 <p_><quote_>"He's dead. Kicked the bucket. Everyone knows 
L05 179 that."<quote/><p/>
L05 180 <p_><quote_>"Who told you, hey?"<quote/><p/>
L05 181 <p_><quote_>"I don't know - one of the kids, down by the 
L05 182 river."<quote/><p/>
L05 183 <p_><quote_>"Was his pa a nice man?"<quote/><p/>
L05 184 <p_>Piet shrugged.<p/>
L05 185 <p_><quote_>"Come on,"<quote/> said Kramer. <quote_>"What was he 
L05 186 like?"<quote/><p/>
L05 187 <p_><quote_>"He wasn't like that other policeman who used to come 
L05 188 and see my ma a lot, Herman's uncle. He was like ... Well, a bit 
L05 189 like you, I suppose, and they didn't let <tf|>him have a uniform 
L05 190 either."<quote/><p/>
L05 191 <p_>Kramer wasn't sure why, but as he drove to Jafini police 
L05 192 station shortly before nine, he kept thinking about that little 
L05 193 conversation.<p/>
L05 194 <p_>Then he became preoccupied by other things, and in particular 
L05 195 by the trap he would set that day for Short-arse. Try as he might, 
L05 196 he had not been able to improve on the trick that the Widow 
L05 197 Fourie's uncle had played on the leopard, and had finally decided 
L05 198 there was probably no need to. Just as the leopard had been 
L05 199 attracted by the sheep fold, Short-arse had his own known centre of 
L05 200 interest: the Fynn's Creek murder scene. Granted, now that all the 
L05 201 activity had died down there, most of its appeal must have gone, 
L05 202 too, but some form of tethered goat could soon change this.<p/>
L05 203 <p_><quote_>"Goat, goat, goat ..."<quote/> Kramer murmered, trying 
L05 204 to think of something simple.<p/>
L05 205 <p_>Simplest of all, would be to renew police activity at Fynn's 
L05 206 Creek and then make a mystery of what exactly they were up to. But 
L05 207 how? Now that Field Cornet Dorf had been over the site with such 
L05 208 care, it was difficult to see what there was left to act as a fresh 
L05 209 focus of attention. Hell, the whole place had been scrutinized and 
L05 210 every last morsel of possible evidence had - no, wait! There was 
L05 211 still one part of the scene as yet unexamined: the hut of Moses the 
L05 212 cook boy, where Short-arse himself had come calling!<p/>
L05 213 <p_><quote|>"Perfect," said Kramer.<p/>
L05 214 <p_>Terblanche had on his harassed look. <quote_>"Morning, 
L05 215 Tromp!"<quote/> he said, scraping a splash of maize porridge from 
L05 216 his tie. <quote_>"Goodness, what a start to the day ..."<quote/><p/>
L05 217 <p_><quote_>"You should try eating slower, Hans."<quote/><p/>
L05 218 <p_><quote_>"No, no, not this! I've just had the station commander 
L05 219 at Nkosala on the phone, reminding me I've got to be in court there 
L05 220 at ten in the middle of all else! And if I don't find my statement 
L05 221 soon to memorize, I won't know what to say! I did try for an 
L05 222 adjournment on account of assisting you in this matter, but - 
L05 223 "<quote/><p/>
L05 224 <p_><quote_>"That's fine, man! I'll see you after. I just need to 
L05 225 borrow one of your blokes and a boy."<quote/><p/>
L05 226 <p_><quote_>"Take Malan - I prefer Sarel to be in charge of the 
L05 227 station whenever I'm away - and any Bantu that's going. What's this 
L05 228 in aid of?"<quote/><p/>
L05 229 <p_><quote_>"To help me find Short-arse."<quote/><p/>
L05 230 <p_><quote_>"Ach, I'm sorry, of course! Just shows what a muddle 
L05 231 I'm getting myself into. Let's hope today our luck changes, 
L05 232 hey?"<quote/><p/>
L05 233 <p_><quote_>"Man, I know it will."<quote/><p/>
L05 234 
L06   1 <#FLOB:L06\><p_>Something like that. How else can I explain how my 
L06   2 heart still leaped (though a trifle wearily) in response to this 
L06   3 long-suspect look? <tf|>This time it's going to be all right, I 
L06   4 found myself thinking, my evidence-defying mechanisms springing 
L06   5 into automatic action, so that I found myself responding as if for 
L06   6 the first time ever to this doomed euphoria.<p/>
L06   7 <p_><quote_>"If I bring it off- and I <tf|>will bring it off, I 
L06   8 know I will- it'll be the biggest scoop of the season. How long... 
L06   9 ? As long as it takes, is all I can tell you. I'm sorry, Clare, I'd 
L06  10 tell you more if I could, but... well... there's top-level stuff 
L06  11 involved. Just don't ask me about it."<quote/><p/>
L06  12 <p_>I hadn't asked him about it, actually; I'm not such a fool, but 
L06  13 I knew he liked to feel as if I had, so I didn't argue. I didn't 
L06  14 argue about <tf|>anything, in fact, during that final day or two- 
L06  15 not even the fact that we should have started for the airport a 
L06  16 good hour earlier than we did, to allow for the hold-up of traffic. 
L06  17 Edwin loved starting late for things, working himself up, cursing 
L06  18 the lumbering lines of vehicles ahead, hurling shafts of vindictive 
L06  19 will-power at the traffic lights which only resulted (it seems to 
L06  20 me) in making the green one red. He loved the sense of battling 
L06  21 through, of getting there by the skin of his teeth- <tf|>my teeth 
L06  22 on this occasion, since I was the one driving- and then, once at 
L06  23 the airport, he would create a tight cocoon of urgency around him, 
L06  24 pushing through queues, grabbing at luggage-trolleys, barking 
L06  25 questions at passing airline staff, glaring suspiciously at 
L06  26 announcement boards, checking them against his watch, and finally 
L06  27 racing and pushing to beat the Last Call to Gate 
L06  28 Something-or-other. He loved the feeling of having just made it, of 
L06  29 having come off best in a battle with Time itself; of having caught 
L06  30 the plane just before it managed to take off without him. A 
L06  31 tycoonish, film star kind of a feeling, I suppose.<p/>
L06  32 <p_>Of course, these days, more often than not, the ploy was 
L06  33 frustrated by the plane being two or three hours late: and 
L06  34 difficult though it may be for any of us to get through these 
L06  35 frustrating hours, it is even more difficult to <tf|>hurry through 
L06  36 them, which is what Edwin was always trying to do.<p/>
L06  37 <p_>Can you wonder, then, that I was almost dancing towards the car 
L06  38 park after seeing him off? Singing, too, as I wove my way among the 
L06  39 snarls of traffic in blessed solitude- singing in my heart, and 
L06  40 even aloud occasionally, as the sheer joy of Edwin not being there 
L06  41 overcame me. Not there now, and not for days and days to come- a 
L06  42 fortnight at least, from the look of things. A whole fortnight of 
L06  43 not being nagged and criticised; of being able to do the hoovering 
L06  44 without complaints about the bloody noise; of being able to 
L06  45 <tf|>not do the hoovering without remarks about crumbs on the 
L06  46 carpet and the place looking like a pigsty!<p/>
L06  47 <p_>And Jason, too, able to come and go at will, to bring friends 
L06  48 in or not bring friends in... to invite them to stay for a meal... 
L06  49 to stay overnight... to play records up in his room... to laugh 
L06  50 loudly at silly jokes on the radio... to come out with off-the-cuff 
L06  51 opinions about the Common Market or the ozone layer...<p/>
L06  52 <p_>And me? I was going to have a once-in-a-lifetime holiday from 
L06  53 endlessly pouring oil on eternally troubled waters.<p/>
L06  54 <p_>What bliss!<p/>
L06  55 <p_>That was all I thought, in those first euphoric hours: what 
L06  56 bliss!<p/>
L06  57 <p_>It was hard to believe, but the whole thing had taken little 
L06  58 more than a week, from Edwin's departure at the airport to the 
L06  59 dramatic news bulletins: first of his capture along with his two 
L06  60 companions, then of his release.<p/>
L06  61 <p_>It had been a strange week. Where there should have been 
L06  62 emotions, there had been phone calls, interviews and news 
L06  63 bulletins. Did you know that there are seventy news programmes a 
L06  64 day, if you add the radio and all the TV channels together? And on 
L06  65 top of this, I seemed to spend a lot of time agreeing bemusedly 
L06  66 with well-wishers who kept telling me that it would be all right in 
L06  67 the end.<p/>
L06  68 <p_>And how right they were. Well, depending on what you mean by 
L06  69 'all right', of course. Anyway, Edwin was now on his way home, safe 
L06  70 and sound after his ordeal. He would be here, all being well, some 
L06  71 time tomorrow.<p/>
L06  72 <p_>One last evening of peace. I tried not to think of it that way, 
L06  73 I really did. But what can you do?<p/>
L06  74 <p_>Anyway, there could be no harm in treating the occasion as a 
L06  75 festive one. We lit candles, we brought in cider, we invited in a 
L06  76 couple of Jason's closest friends; and whether what we were 
L06  77 celebrating was Dad's miraculous escape, or our last evening of 
L06  78 freedom, who could say? Who <tf|>need say?<p/>
L06  79 <p_>Anyway, I remember the occasion with peculiar vividness partly 
L06  80 because it was such fun, and partly because of the slightly 
L06  81 disconcerting phone call that come in the middle of it. It came 
L06  82 about nine o'clock, just as the boys were spreading greasy cartons 
L06  83 from the Indian takeaway all over the kitchen table, their recently 
L06  84 broken voices ricocheting from wall to wall, and setting the very 
L06  85 crockery on the dresser ringing. The mounting din was music in my 
L06  86 ears; the sheer joy of not having got shut them up was coursing 
L06  87 through my veins like wine.<p/>
L06  88 <p_><quote_>"What?" I shouted into the receiver, <quote_>"Excuse 
L06  89 me, hang on a moment, I must go to the other phone..."<quote/><p/>
L06  90 <p_>And so it was in the relative quiet of the sitting-room that I 
L06  91 took the call, well out of hearing of Jason and his friends. 
L06  92 Naturally, during the last few hours since the good news broke, we 
L06  93 had been getting numerous congratulatory calls, and, picking up the 
L06  94 phone, I was assuming that this was another one: but it wasn't. At 
L06  95 first, I didn't recognise the voice, and it was several moments 
L06  96 before I realised that the person I was talking to was Hank Armour, 
L06  97 assistant editor of <tf_>International Focus<tf/>, the paper 
L06  98 destined to be the recipient of Edwin's 'biggest scoop of the 
L06  99 season'.<p/>
L06 100 <p_>He sounded bothered rather than congratulatory. Had Edwin 
L06 101 arrived home yet? Had he phoned me from anywhere? Had I had any 
L06 102 further news? No, and no, and no, I had to say. The only news I'd 
L06 103 had was the same as he'd presumably had, from radio and television. 
L06 104 Still, such as it was, I summarised it as best I could: how Edwin 
L06 105 and the two other journalists with him on the trip had been 
L06 106 ambushed on a rough desert road and had been taken into captivity 
L06 107 by an as yet unnamed group of terrorists, no ransom had been 
L06 108 demanded, and the motive for the kidnapping was as yet unclear. 
L06 109 Police were examining the abandoned jeep for clues...<p/>
L06 110 <p_>I could hear the man's boredom and impatience right down the 
L06 111 length of the wire. Well, naturally, <}_><-|>These<+|>these<}/> 
L06 112 bare facts were just as well known to him as to me, and indeed to 
L06 113 half the world by now; so I changed tack, and began to ask <tf|>him 
L06 114 a few questions. Did <tf|>he know where Edwin was right now? Had he 
L06 115 had any sort of report from him yet?<p/>
L06 116 <p_><quote_>"Yes... That's the trouble, really, Mrs Wakefield. We 
L06 117 <tf|>have had a report... he was phoning it from Stuttgart, so he 
L06 118 said..."<quote/><p/>
L06 119 <p_><quote_>"Why 'so he said'?"<quote/> I demanded; but the answer 
L06 120 was evasive; and something in the man's tone warned me not to press 
L06 121 the matter. You see, I am always very careful not ever to say 
L06 122 anything that might queer Edwin's pitch- Edwin's pitches so often 
L06 123 proving so sadly queerable- and thus, after a few meaningless 
L06 124 pleasantries, the conversation was allowed to grind to a halt.<p/>
L06 125 <p_>Looking back , I realise that this abortive and unsatisfactory 
L06 126 exchange should have left me feeling more uneasy than it did. But 
L06 127 at the time my mind was elsewhere. How far away is Stuttgart, I was 
L06 128 asking myself? Jolly close, I expect, by air. <tf|>Everywhere is 
L06 129 jolly close nowadays. Soon, no one will be able to get away from 
L06 130 anyone else at all, ever. Thank God Hotol is still only on the 
L06 131 drawing-board, otherwise Edwin might be here within twenty minutes, 
L06 132 with the boys still creating this hell of a racket and the smell of 
L06 133 the Indian takeaway permeating the entire house. Edwin can't bear 
L06 134 takeaways, and he hates them even more when he's not eating them 
L06 135 himself than when he is.<p/>
L06 136 <p_><quote_>"Yes, well, I'll let you know if I hear 
L06 137 anything,"<quote/> I said, scribbling down the number that was 
L06 138 being dictated to me. <quote_>"Yes, I'll tell him as soon as he 
L06 139 arrives... Yes, of course... Yes, I'm sure he will... Yes, thank 
L06 140 you so much... Goodbye..."<quote/><p/>
L06 141 <p_>Jason received the news appropriately though slightly 
L06 142 off-handedly. <quote_>"Great."<quote/> I think was what he said, 
L06 143 and his friends echoed the sentiment with hurried politeness- they 
L06 144 were all longing to get back to the much more enthralling topic 
L06 145 which had been raising such gales of laughter when I came into the 
L06 146 kitchen. Anyway, we poured another round of cider, all the mugs 
L06 147 were filled to the brim, and soon the decibels were satisfactorily 
L06 148 rising again, making a good recovery from my interruption.<p/>
L06 149 <p_>There were several more phone calls, of course, as the evening 
L06 150 went on, all of them congratulatory.<p/>
L06 151 <p_><quote_>"Yes, isn't it thrilling!"<quote/> I kept saying, and 
L06 152 <quote_>"Yes, I'm sure he'd love you to ring."<quote/><p/>
L06 153 <p_>He would, too. Normally, Edwin hates the telephone; he can't 
L06 154 see why people should imagine they have the right to interrupt his 
L06 155 work- or his cup of tea or his newspaper or whatever- just whenever 
L06 156 they choose; but he won't mind being rung up to be told how 
L06 157 marvellous he is, of that I feel sure.<p/>
L06 158 <p_>It was past midnight when the last call came. Jason and his two 
L06 159 friends had gone to bed- they were both staying the night, their 
L06 160 last chance to do so for goodness knows how long- and I was 
L06 161 wandering around downstairs, vaguely tidying up and putting things 
L06 162 to rights. Really I prefer to leave this sort of chore for the 
L06 163 morning, but that 'just in case' feeling was upon me, and I knew I 
L06 164 wouldn't sleep until the worst of it was coped with.<p/>
L06 165 <p_><quote_>"Hullo?" I said, a little perfunctorily, I fear; I'd 
L06 166 already said it so many times, you see, the <quote_>"Yes, isn't it 
L06 167 thrilling!"<quote/> bit. <quote_>"Hullo, Clare Wakefield 
L06 168 speaking..."<quote/><p/>
L06 169 <p_>The voice was strange to me: young, eager, and with a quality 
L06 170 of lightness which was instantly endearing.<p/>
L06 171 <p_><quote_>"Oh, Mrs Wakefield- or may I call you Clare? I feel we 
L06 172 know each other <tf_>so well<tf/> already, though of course we 
L06 173 don't, if you see what I mean."<quote/><p/>
L06 174 <p_>I didn't see, but it seemed best not to interrupt. You know how 
L06 175 it is with people who ring up and don't give their names: if you 
L06 176 interrupt to ask who they are, they may be mortally offended, 
L06 177 having assumed that they were among your nearest and dearest and 
L06 178 you would recognize their voices anywhere. However, if you lie low 
L06 179 and let them run on, light usually dawns: sooner or later they will 
L06 180 mention Uncle Robert, or the mix-up at the tennis-club lunch, and 
L06 181 you will know where you are.<p/>
L06 182 <p_><quote_>"Thanks goodness I've got you at last!"<quote/> the 
L06 183 voice continued. <quote_>"Your line's been engaged the <tf|>entire 
L06 184 evening... I was getting quite frantic! That is to say, my 
L06 185 mother-in-law was... still is, actually, she's making wild signs to 
L06 186 me (It's <tf_>all right<tf/>, Mother! I've <tf|>got her! Yes- I 
L06 187 told you- it's <tf|>her!) Listen, Clare, I'm sorry to be ringing so 
L06 188 late, but like I told you... Besides, I guess you're too excited to 
L06 189 go to bed anyway, I know I would be. It's marvellous news, isn't 
L06 190 it, about your husband? Just super! I'm really thrilled for you.
L06 191 
L07   1 <#FLOB:L07\><p_>Drewitt left them still squabbling and went up to 
L07   2 Harkness's office. He knocked.
L07   3 <quote_>"Come!"<quote/>
L07   4 Harkness was back. He sat behind the desk, dark lines under his 
L07   5 eyes, a mug of coffee in his hand. He looked tired. 
L07   6 Detective-Sergeant Stevens was standing at the side of the desk. 
L07   7 Harkness looked up at Drewitt.
L07   8 <quote_>"I'll get to you,"<quote/> he said, and turned back to 
L07   9 Stevens. <quote_>"I want the incident wagon back in Calderon. Six 
L07  10 DCs and maybe a couple of uniforms. And yourself. We go through 
L07  11 everything again, from the start."<quote/>
L07  12 Stevens said: <quote_>"We did a pretty thorough job last week. All 
L07  13 the statements are there and..."<quote/>
L07  14 Harkness cut in incisively: <quote_>"And you found nothing. All 
L07  15 right, I'm not getting at you or Chief Inspector Blakelock, but I'm 
L07  16 in charge now and we have to crack this one."<quote/>
L07  17 <quote_>"Excuse me, sir, but we have one lead. The gypsies were 
L07  18 only a few miles south..."<quote/>
L07  19 Harkness's glare silenced him. <quote_>"Gypsies. Travelling people. 
L07  20 Whenever you've no lead, blame the travelling people. The nearest 
L07  21 of them were in camp ten miles away."<quote/>
L07  22 <quote_>"I suppose they could have come over to Calderon..."<quote/>
L07  23 <quote_>"Why? Motive? Let's go to Calderon and stick a pitchfork in 
L07  24 somebody? And put wee corn dolls around the body, for fun? I know 
L07  25 travelling people. They don't go looking for more trouble than 
L07  26 they've got. There's nothing to connect them. Also, everybody in 
L07  27 both the Calderons has gone dead stum! Why? Because they know one 
L07  28 of their people did it, that's why. So we start looking for that 
L07  29 character. And for his tie-up with... witchcraft."<quote/>
L07  30 <quote_>"All right, sir, you're probably right about the gypsies. 
L07  31 But don't you think this witchcraft business is a lot of 
L07  32 nonsense?"<quote/> said Stevens. <quote_>"Maybe to confuse us. I 
L07  33 mean, nobody believes in witchcraft today."<quote/>
L07  34 Harkness kept glaring at him. <quote_>"You don't believe in 
L07  35 witchcraft Stevens. I don't believe in witchcraft. But it doesn't 
L07  36 matter a tuppenny toss, Sergeant, whether or not <tf|>we believe. 
L07  37 What matters if the character who stuck that pitchfork into 
L07  38 Gideon's throat, <tf|>he believes! Now, get everything organised. 
L07  39 We're going into Calderon again this afternoon."<quote/>
L07  40 Eyes averted, Stevens went out.
L07  41 Harkness turned to Drewitt.
L07  42 <quote_>"My report's on your desk, sir."<quote/>
L07  43 <quote_>"I've read it. Good. Worthwhile. Background stuff. 
L07  44 Interesting about Professor Carew's death. Have to check that one. 
L07  45 Also confirms they believe in the old witchcraft business. 
L07  46 Important. As I said to Stevens... <tf|>they believe, that's what 
L07  47 counts. And this Agram woman..."<quote/>
L07  48 <quote_>"You want I should go and see her, sir?"<quote/>
L07  49 <quote_>"No, think I'll do that myself."<quote/>
L07  50 Drewitt had not mentioned the anonymous phone call he'd received 
L07  51 the previous night. He did so now. Harkness frowned.
L07  52 <quote_>"Does it worry you, lad?"<quote/>
L07  53 <quote_>"No, not really."<quote/> He couldn't conceal the hesitancy 
L07  54 in his voice.
L07  55 <quote_>"Well, it worries me. They know you in that place. In 
L07  56 Calderon. And they know where you and your mother live. I don't 
L07  57 like that. I think it's time you went back on the beat."<quote/>
L07  58 <quote_>"But sir. I do know Calderon."<quote/>
L07  59 <quote_>"And I'm getting to know it. After two nights."<quote/> He 
L07  60 stared straight ahead and, it seemed to Drewitt, he shivered. Then 
L07  61 he seemed to pull himself together with some kind of effort.
L07  62 <quote_>"Aye, you've been useful but you're off the case now. Oh, 
L07  63 don't worry, I'll put in a good report for you. But I don't want 
L07  64 the liability of worrying about one of my own men being got at. 
L07  65 Thanks, lad."<quote/>
L07  66 Drewitt hesitated. <quote_>"I would like to go on."<quote/>
L07  67 <quote_>"I wouldn't like you to. So that's it! Better get your 
L07  68 uniform on and report to the duty sergeant. <quote_>"Bye."<quote/>
L07  69 It was as quick as that. One minute he was on the case, the next he 
L07  70 wasn't.
L07  71 That was Constable Drewitt's experience of the Calderon murder case.
L07  72 <h_><p_>Chapter Twelve<p/><h/>
L07  73 They'd finished half a bottle of Scotch, sitting facing each other 
L07  74 in Braden's room. Drewitt had of course done most of the talking, 
L07  75 his voice growing hoarse and small droplets of perspiration 
L07  76 gathering on his brow.
L07  77 He'd told his story, Braden reckoned, as truthfully as he could. 
L07  78 All the events. Excluding, in the main, his own feelings and 
L07  79 emotions. These Braden could only guess at. Though draining the 
L07  80 last dregs of whisky from his tumbler, he believed those guesses 
L07  81 would be valid.
L07  82 There was something feminine in Drewitt's manner, a precision, a 
L07  83 neatness of gesture, an uncertainty, not usual in a police 
L07  84 inspector. Also, he moved with a lightness surprising in so tall a 
L07  85 man. He'd lived with his mother until he'd reached the rank of 
L07  86 sergeant and then determinedly had moved into his own apartment. 
L07  87 And come out of the closet? As far as a police officer could come 
L07  88 out of the closet. Which wouldn't be very far. And everything, of 
L07  89 necessity, with the utmost discretion. None of this had been said, 
L07  90 of course, but it was there to be seen by the perceptive. And 
L07  91 Braden had always considered himself perceptive. Not that all this 
L07  92 mattered. It had no obvious link with the twelve-year-old murder.
L07  93 <quote_>"Could I have a glass of water?"<quote/> Drewitt said. He'd 
L07  94 finished his whisky. <quote_>"Too much alcohol seems to lead to a 
L07  95 kind of dehydration."<quote/>
L07  96 Braden brought him a glass of water which he drained. When he had 
L07  97 finished, he looked wearily across at the journalist.
L07  98 <quote_>"I've told you everything I know. I hope you'll not bother 
L07  99 my mother again?"<quote/>
L07 100 <quote_>"I'm sure I won't. And you've been a great help,"<quote/> 
L07 101 Braden replied.
L07 102 <quote_>"I don't see how. I was taken off the case. And... and a 
L07 103 few weeks later Harkness had his breakdown, and he was off the 
L07 104 case. Oh, Blakelock tried to carry on, but there were no real 
L07 105 leads. The case died."<quote/>
L07 106 Braden forced a grin. <quote_>"I suppose I wouldn't be writing this 
L07 107 article if it hadn't."<quote/>
L07 108 Drewitt didn't return the grin. His face assumed, if anything, a 
L07 109 mournful look. <quote_>"It's all so long ago. I sometimes think, 
L07 110 what does it matter? And then I remember something else Harkness 
L07 111 said, that last day."<quote/>
L07 112 <quote_>"What was that?"<quote/>
L07 113 Drewitt rubbed his left hand over his eyes, trying to remember. 
L07 114 <quote_>"He... he asked me what I thought the law was. I told him, 
L07 115 the rules for running society. He said, maybe, but it's something 
L07 116 else too. A mouth, a great maw, always wide open to consume the 
L07 117 breakers of the law. And our job was to feed that mouth. It was 
L07 118 always hungry for felons, law<?_>-<?/>breakers... sometimes even 
L07 119 innocents who accidentally got in the way. And he said, that was 
L07 120 just their hard luck. That's why, once a man has been convicted, 
L07 121 it's so difficult to get him out of prison, even when you find it's 
L07 122 certain he's innocent. It's just his bad luck, and if he does 
L07 123 manage to prove he's innocent and gets out, we pay him money to 
L07 124 stop him howling."<quote/>
L07 125 <quote/>"Cynical way of looking at it,"<quote/> Braden said.
L07 126 <quote_>"That was Harkness. Better, he said, that ten innocent men 
L07 127 go to jail that one villain goes free."<quote/>
L07 128 <quote_>"He should have been the Chief Constable of Manchester! Or 
L07 129 some other big city. They get away with saying things like 
L07 130 that."<quote/>
L07 131 <quote_>"Anyway, what does it matter? He's gone now."<quote/>
L07 132 <quote_>"Harkness is dead then?"<quote/>
L07 133 <quote_>"He was very ill just after. I'm supposing he's dead. 
L07 134 Something happened to him in Calderon..."<quote/>
L07 135 <quote_>"What happened to him?"<quote/>
L07 136 <quote_>"Oh, his strength was just... just sapped. Drained away. 
L07 137 You know, they found him sitting at his desk, weeping. Complete 
L07 138 nervous breakdown. Of course the other business before Calderon... 
L07 139 the Swanson business... that couldn't have helped."<quote/>
L07 140 Drewitt stood up and looked at his watch. <quote_>"Better go. Just 
L07 141 as well I'm off duty, I'm pissed as a newt. Got enough for your 
L07 142 story now then?"<quote/>
L07 143 <quote_>"Some of it. Need more."<quote/> Deliberately casual.
L07 144 Drewitt, swaying slightly at the door, said: <quote_>"Not many more 
L07 145 placed to go. Could look up that old stuff I found at the 
L07 146 university. Leaver is still Professor there."<quote/>
L07 147 <quote_>"I'll bear that in mind. Of course, there is somebody else 
L07 148 I could talk to..."<quote/>
L07 149 <quote_>"Who would that be?"<quote/>
L07 150 <quote_>"Jennet Agram."<quote/>
L07 151 He'd found the address in the phone book. After Drewitt had 
L07 152 departed, he ordered a pot of black coffee. He drank two cups and, 
L07 153 settling on the bed, slept for two hours. It was late afternoon 
L07 154 when he drove to the address in the book.
L07 155 Darkness was falling but the street was still alive with children. 
L07 156 Running, shouting, playing out their games, they ignored the few 
L07 157 passing cars, recklessly risking life, limb and the nerves of the 
L07 158 drivers. It was a council estate, good of its kind, with green 
L07 159 spaces between the houses. Each contained four separate flats of 
L07 160 four or five small rooms. The estate had the usual drawbacks: an 
L07 161 amount of sprayed graffiti on bare wall - youths' gang symbols, 
L07 162 exhortations to impossible sexual activities, and personal messages 
L07 163 and name calling; an amount of refuse on the streets, though not in 
L07 164 excess; and some unkempt small lawns between others that were minor 
L07 165 miracles of the art of the amateur gardener. Not too far away, on 
L07 166 the horizon, stood a gasometer.
L07 167 The door was at the side of a house halfway along the street. Which 
L07 168 meant she occupied the upper floor. There was a neat plastic sign 
L07 169 under the doorbell: 'Agram'.
L07 170 No initial, no indication of whether or not there was a Mr 
L07 171 whatever. He rang the bell.
L07 172 There was a heavy thumping sound, footsteps on wooden stairs. The 
L07 173 door opened and a small female child stared up at Braden. Perhaps 
L07 174 not so much stared as glared. Ten or eleven years of age, with very 
L07 175 blonde hair, she was neatly dressed in a skirt and woollen pullover.
L07 176 Braden said: <quote_>"Hello."<quote/>
L07 177 The child did not respond to him but, steadily gazing on him, 
L07 178 called <quote_>"It's a man, Mum!"<quote/>
L07 179 <quote_>"Coming!"<quote/> A woman's voice from above. Then more 
L07 180 footsteps on the stairs, and Jennet Agram faced him.
L07 181 <quote_>"Yes?"<quote/> she said, not unpleasantly.
L07 182 He explained he was from the <tf|>Comet. She was in shadow, but he 
L07 183 could make out she was a tall, well-built woman.
L07 184 <quote_>"The <tf|>Comet?"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"Oh, I never 
L07 185 read it. I don't take out subscriptions to papers, nor do I have 
L07 186 anything to advertise in them. However, if I have been chosen as 
L07 187 the winner in some competition with a large financial reward, I'll 
L07 188 be glad to accept the winnings gracefully."<quote/>
L07 189 She had a sense of humour, he decided and was pleased. So far no 
L07 190 one he'd interviewed had a sense of humour.
L07 191 <quote_>"I'm afraid you haven't won any competition,"<quote/> he 
L07 192 said. <quote_>"Actually, I wonder if I could talk to you?"<quote/>
L07 193 <quote_>"You are talking to me."<quote/> She spoke in quiet, almost 
L07 194 cultured tone, with only a bare suggestion of an accent, and that 
L07 195 suggestion more of Somerset than Warwickshire.
L07 196 <quote_>"My name is Braden. Eric Braden. I'm writing an article on 
L07 197 the Calderon murder,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"I believe you knew 
L07 198 the victim, and was hoping you might talk about it to me."<quote/>
L07 199 She showed no sign of surprise.<quote_>"That was twelve years ago. 
L07 200 Hardly news today."<quote/>
L07 201 <quote_>"It's for a series on unsolved murders."<quote/>
L07 202 <quote_>"I don't think I want to be involved in sensational 
L07 203 journalism,"<quote/> she said.
L07 204 <quote_>"I hope it won't be particularly sensational,"<quote/> 
L07 205 Braden persisted. <quote_>"Although it could become that if I 
L07 206 discovered the identity of the murderer."<quote/>
L07 207 <quote_>"Indeed it could,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"You would 
L07 208 undoubtedly be hailed as the new Sherlock Holmes. Well, I suppose 
L07 209 you're only doing your job. You'd better come up."<quote/>
L07 210 She turned to the child. <quote_>"Go and see if Isabel's in, and 
L07 211 ask her mother if you can stay there and play for a while."<quote/>
L07 212 Pleased, the child nodded and ran around to the front of the 
L07 213 building.
L07 214 <quote_>"Pretty girl,"<quote/> said Braden. <quote_>"Yours?"<quote/>
L07 215 <quote_>"One and only,"<quote/> she said, and indicated that he 
L07 216 should follow her up the stairs. Halfway up, she stopped.
L07 217 <quote_>"I suppose I should ask you for identification. What do 
L07 218 they tell you on television? Never let a strange man into your 
L07 219 house?"<quote/>
L07 220 At the top of the stairs, a solitary electric bulb hung from the 
L07 221 ceiling. Braden presented his Press pass to her.
L07 222 
L08   1 <#FLOB:L08\><p_><quote_>"Because I'm a little old lady? It's easier 
L08   2 than you'd think. You'd be surprised."<quote/><p/>
L08   3 <p_><quote_>"Would I? How little you know me..."<quote/><p/>
L08   4 <p_>They stared at each other in silence. They both began to smile 
L08   5 together.<p/>
L08   6 <p_><quote_>"You're a dark horse, Philip Fletcher."<quote/><p/>
L08   7 <p_>It seemed a pretty accurate observation. Perhaps the outside 
L08   8 rail was his natural habitat. His smile became broader, as hers 
L08   9 grew thinner.<p/>
L08  10 <p_><quote_>"What now?"<quote/> she asked wanly. <quote_>"I suppose 
L08  11 you're going to call the police."<quote/><p/>
L08  12 <p_>He took a moment to think about it, and then he pulled a face 
L08  13 suggestive of mild disgust and said, <quote_>"Now whyever would I 
L08  14 want to do that?"<quote/><p/>
L08  15 <p_>He got up and walked to the door. He stuck his head out and 
L08  16 called upstairs.<p/>
L08  17 <p_><quote_>"Kate! Would you come down now, please?"<quote/><p/>
L08  18 <p_>He went to the sideboard and took out another glass.<p/>
L08  19 <p_><quote_>"You've an eye for an accomplice, I'll say 
L08  20 that,"<quote/> Martha commented wryly.<p/>
L08  21 <p_><quote_>"She gets the job purely on merit,"<quote/> he 
L08  22 replied.<p/>
L08  23 <p_>Kate came in, looking calm but very pale. Philip indicated for 
L08  24 her to sit beside him on the sofa. He poured her a whisky and 
L08  25 pressed it into her hand.<p/>
L08  26 <p_><quote|>"Cold?"<p/>
L08  27 <p_>She nodded. He turned back to Martha.<p/>
L08  28 <p_><quote_>"She's a very special girl, Kate. Very trustworthy too, 
L08  29 knows how to keep her mouth shut I should think. And a damned fine 
L08  30 actress into the bargain."<quote/><p/>
L08  31 <p_>Martha didn't say anything. She looked at them both keenly. Her 
L08  32 eyes were alive again and Philip detected a dash of her old 
L08  33 sparkle.<p/>
L08  34 <p_>He continued: <quote_>"I'm touched that you would have found it 
L08  35 so difficult to shoot me, Martha. Had our positions been reversed I 
L08  36 can assure you that I would have been equally troubled. But as you 
L08  37 say, I'm one thing, the others another. It's possible that you have 
L08  38 done the state some service. I can hardly bring myself to believe 
L08  39 that Richie Calvi is a great loss to the human race, and as for 
L08  40 Klampit, personally I regard his removal as a positive gain. In 
L08  41 fact, if you should come to feel that early retirement doesn't suit 
L08  42 you, then I can think of a number of other critics whose premature 
L08  43 exits would benefit the profession. If you were worried about 
L08  44 expenses I'm sure we could get Equity to organise a whip-round. I 
L08  45 don't think you'd find our colleagues ungenerous. Don't you agree, 
L08  46 Kate?"<quote/><p/>
L08  47 <p_>If she did she wasn't letting on. She stared at him blankly 
L08  48 with huge wide-open eyes. He rather liked her expression. It was 
L08  49 kind of cute.<p/>
L08  50 <p_><quote_>"Of course,"<quote/> he said, returning to Martha, 
L08  51 <quote_>"it's a great deal easier keeping one's mouth shut when one 
L08  52 has something juicy on which to chew. I shall undoubtedly suffer 
L08  53 further inconveniences at the hands of the police. Some recompense 
L08  54 would appear to be in order, do you not agree?"<quote/><p/>
L08  55 <p_><quote_>"So I was right. You do intend to blackmail 
L08  56 me."<quote/><p/>
L08  57 <p_><quote_>"The thought hadn't entered my head until you put it 
L08  58 there. But let's not use that word, it's so ugly. Let's just say 
L08  59 we're aiming to arrive at an amicable confluence of interests. I'm 
L08  60 not after money."<quote/><p/>
L08  61 <p_><quote_>"What then?"<quote/><p/>
L08  62 <p_><quote_>"Oh, just the usual: success, fame and fulfilment, 
L08  63 life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Maybe even domestic 
L08  64 bliss and in time the patter of tiny feet. Who knows? Stranger 
L08  65 things have happened."<quote/><p/>
L08  66 <p_><quote_>"Not many,"<quote/> Kate murmured under her breath. 
L08  67 Philip gave her an affectionate smile; he was glad to see she'd 
L08  68 recovered her equilibrium.<p/>
L08  69 <p_>He went on: <quote_>"Of course I'll be disappointed if I don't 
L08  70 become comfortably off along the way, but not by virtue of an 
L08  71 outright cheque. Far too crude, my dear, and far too dull. No, I 
L08  72 merely wish you to reconsider your future plans. More than wish, I 
L08  73 should say in fairness; I categorically insist on it. When 
L08  74 <tf|>Macbeth opens on Broadway, I will of course be appearing in 
L08  75 the title role."<quote/><p/>
L08  76 <p_><quote_>"I see. Is that all?"<quote/><p/>
L08  77 <p_><quote_>"No, it is not. Two other things: firstly, it will be 
L08  78 in a new production. I'm prepared to suffer this one for the London 
L08  79 run, faute de mieux, but after that Tony Elliott goes. London and 
L08  80 New York are full of talented directors, it shouldn't be too hard 
L08  81 to find one."<quote/><p/>
L08  82 <p_><quote_>"Tony won't like it."<quote/><p/>
L08  83 <p_><quote_>"No, but I think you'd like prison less. These 
L08  84 conditions are non-negotiable, I'm afraid."<quote/><p/>
L08  85 <p_><quote_>"Then what can I say? Tony's out. I have to admit it 
L08  86 won't be a great loss. I'd already come to the conclusion he's 
L08  87 overrated."<quote/><p/>
L08  88 <p_><quote_>"Gets my vote for understatement of the year... My 
L08  89 third and final condition concerns <tf_>Twelfth Night<tf/>. You can 
L08  90 stop looking for an Olivia right away. Kate gets the 
L08  91 part."<quote/><p/>
L08  92 <p_>He squeezed Kate's hand. She seemed to have gone numb. Martha 
L08  93 appeared scarcely less shell-shocked.<p/>
L08  94 <p_><quote_>"I must say, Philip, for an apprentice blackmailer 
L08  95 you're pretty quick off the mark."<quote/><p/>
L08  96 <p_><quote_>"Yes, I know, I'm a loss to the criminal profession... 
L08  97 It's a good deal though, Martha. Most blackmail victims live with 
L08  98 the threat that they'll be forced to cough up again, but in our 
L08  99 case the settlement will be full and final. Once I accept your 
L08 100 shilling, I am implicated. Silence makes me an accessory, so I'd 
L08 101 hardly be in a position to make demands at a future date and 
L08 102 threaten to go to the police if you refused to meet them. The price 
L08 103 is steep, I grant you, but there are no hidden extras."<quote/><p/>
L08 104 <p_><quote_>"Yes. Yes, I see what you mean..."<quote/><p/>
L08 105 <p_>She gave him the benefit of a long hard stare. And then she 
L08 106 threw back her head and laughed.<p/>
L08 107 <p_><quote_>"You're a cynical, ruthless, unscrupulous bastard, 
L08 108 Philip!"<quote/><p/>
L08 109 <p_><quote_>"Coming from you, my dear, I can only take that as a 
L08 110 compliment."<quote/><p/>
L08 111 <p_>Martha shook her head wisely. She got to her feet, affecting 
L08 112 weariness but unable quite to conceal relief.<p/>
L08 113 <p_><quote_>"Is it a deal?"<quote/> he asked.<p/>
L08 114 <p_><quote_>"Of course it's a deal, you've got me by the 
L08 115 balls."<quote/> She turned to Kate. <quote_>"Stick with him, honey, 
L08 116 and you'll make out OK. Can I offer you two a ride?"<quote/><p/>
L08 117 <p_><quote_>"No thanks, we've got a car. I hope you haven't kept 
L08 118 your chauffeur waiting all this time?"<quote/><p/>
L08 119 <p_><quote_>"No, I thought I'd give him the night off... OK, I'll 
L08 120 see you tomorrow then. Onstage if not before."<quote/><p/>
L08 121 <p_><quote_>"I'll be there."<quote/><p/>
L08 122 <p_>She walked over to the french windows.<p/>
L08 123 <p_><quote_>"Oh, Martha!"<quote/><p/>
L08 124 <p_>She stopped. He went over to her, taking the gun out of his 
L08 125 pocket.<p/>
L08 126 <p_><quote_>"You can have this back. It's not my style."<quote/><p/>
L08 127 <p_>She extended a hand, but just before he passed it to her he 
L08 128 whipped out his handkerchief and wiped the handle.<p/>
L08 129 <p_><quote_>"Sorry, force of habit."<quote/><p/>
L08 130 <p_>He held the french windows open for her, and when she had gone 
L08 131 out, closed and locked them.<p/>
L08 132 <p_><quote_>"It's late,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"We'd better 
L08 133 think about getting back too."<quote/><p/>
L08 134 <p_>Kate stirred on the sofa. She didn't seem quite with it.<p/>
L08 135 <p_><quote_>"Yes, I suppose so..."<quote/><p/>
L08 136 <p_><quote_>"OK. Well, if you tidy a bit in here I'll pack up in 
L08 137 the bedroom."<quote/><p/>
L08 138 <p_>He went upstairs. The telephone and the answering machine were 
L08 139 on the bed, the latter under a pillow. The coverlet still bore the 
L08 140 faint impression of Kate's body. He unplugged the answer-phone from 
L08 141 the wall and wrapped up the leads. He stuffed the machine back into 
L08 142 the box in which it had been bought. The box was on the floor by 
L08 143 the bed, and next to it the pile of unused answering tapes, all 
L08 144 methodically labelled in Philip's neat handwriting so that Kate 
L08 145 should have had not trouble in picking out the right one. Idly, for 
L08 146 his own amusement, he picked one at random, replaced Martha's tape 
L08 147 with it and turned on the machine.<p/>
L08 148 <p_><quote_>"Hello, this is Philip Fletcher speaking. In case you 
L08 149 were wondering where I'd got to, I'm with Seymour Loseby. If you 
L08 150 want to know anything about my unfortunate demise-"<quote/><p/>
L08 151 <p_>Philip switched off the machine and laughed softly to 
L08 152 himself.<p/>
L08 153 <p_><quote_>"Seymour Loseby! The thought!"<quote/><p/>
L08 154 <p_>Better safe than sorry, though, he reflected. As it happened, 
L08 155 Martha's had been one of the last tapes he'd recorded. He piled 
L08 156 them all into the box and closed it up. Kate entered just as he was 
L08 157 finishing.<p/>
L08 158 <p_><quote|>"Philip?"<p/>
L08 159 <p_>She sounded awkward. The frown on her face was etched deep.<p/>
L08 160 <p_><quote_>"Philip, what you told Martha at the end... does that 
L08 161 mean I'm an accessory too?"<quote/><p/>
L08 162 <p_>He sat down on the bed and pushed the box away with his 
L08 163 feet.<p/>
L08 164 <p_><quote_>"No, my dear. An accessory is an extra. You're Olivia. 
L08 165 That's a leading part."<quote/><p/>
L08 166 <p_>She smiled with him. Her smile was a little on the coy side, 
L08 167 and he found it very appealing.<p/>
L08 168 <p_><quote_>"You're not frightened, are you?"<quote/><p/>
L08 169 <p_>She thought about it for a moment.<p/>
L08 170 <p_><quote_>"No. No, I don't think I am really. Should I 
L08 171 be?"<quote/><p/>
L08 172 <p_><quote_>"I was rather hoping that you might be just the tiniest 
L08 173 bit. Last time you were you made me give you a hug."<quote/><p/>
L08 174 <p_>The look she was giving him now had lost none of its appeal; 
L08 175 only the coyness content appeared to be a moveable feast.<p/>
L08 176 <p_><quote_>"Well, perhaps I could be a little bit..."<quote/><p/>
L08 177 <p_>She sat down on the bed next to him. He took her hand.<p/>
L08 178 <p_><quote_>"There's no need to hurry back into town, is 
L08 179 there?"<quote/><p/>
L08 180 <p_>She shook her head. She whispered softly, <quote_>"I almost 
L08 181 called the police, you know, when I realised she had a 
L08 182 gun."<quote/><p/>
L08 183 <p_><quote_>"Well, it's a jolly good thing you didn't, or it would 
L08 184 have been Bolton rep for you. I think you'll like Broadway 
L08 185 better."<quote/><p/>
L08 186 <p_><quote_>"Are you sure it's going to be all right? She did 
L08 187 threaten to kill you."<quote/><p/>
L08 188 <p_><quote_>"Oh, that was just professional etiquette. She didn't 
L08 189 mean it personally."<quote/><p/>
L08 190 <p_><quote|>"Philip!" She laughed. <quote_>"God though, I can 
L08 191 hardly believe it... Martha! You do realise what we're doing - 
L08 192 we're perverting the course of justice."<quote/><p/>
L08 193 <p_><quote_>"Oh that. Well justice is such an elastic concept, 
L08 194 don't you think? And it would be a crime if the world never got to 
L08 195 see your Olivia. Besides, putting Martha away isn't going to bring 
L08 196 anybody back, is it? So let's not talk in abstract legal terms. 
L08 197 Let's just say we're turning a blind eye to another naughty deed, 
L08 198 in a naughty world."<quote/><p/>
L08 199 <p_><quote_>"You're a very wicked man, aren't you?"<quote/><p/>
L08 200 <p_><quote_>"If you say so. Does it turn you off?"<quote/><p/>
L08 201 <p_><quote|>"No."<p/>
L08 202 <p_>He thought not. He could see it in her eyes. She looked quite 
L08 203 refreshingly wicked herself.<p/>
L08 204 <p_><quote_>"Aren't you going to hug me then?"<quote/><p/>
L08 205 <p_>He put his arms around her and gently laid her down upon her 
L08 206 back, stretching out his own body beside her. He parted the skirts 
L08 207 of her coat and let his fingers travel softly over her belly and 
L08 208 breasts, tracing the cobweb patterns of her Spiderwoman suit and 
L08 209 feeling the warmth of her through the thin material.<p/>
L08 210 <p_><quote_>"You know,"<quote/> he said softly, <quote_>"I think 
L08 211 this is the most ridiculous costume I've ever seen."<quote/><p/>
L08 212 <p_><quote_>"I could take it off, if you like."<quote/><p/>
L08 213 <p_><quote_>"Yes, I think I'd like that very much."<quote/><p/>
L08 214 <p_>He kissed her first, passionately and at considerable length. 
L08 215 And then he assisted her with the zips and fasteners, because it 
L08 216 was a one-piece costume and difficult to remove. He liked being 
L08 217 helpful like that, in small ways.<p/>
L08 218 <p_>The bed was a great deal smaller and far less suggestive than 
L08 219 the one back in his hotel room. It sufficed.<p/>
L08 220 <h|>Seventeen
L08 221 <p_>The small dressing room in the Phoenix was filled to capacity. 
L08 222 Bodies jostled for space and stray elbows constantly disordered the 
L08 223 elaborate floral arrangements. Philip, whose dressing room it was, 
L08 224 and who was naturally the centre of attention, bore it all 
L08 225 magnanimously. It was a first night, after all.<p/>
L08 226 <p_><quote_>"Simply knockout, darling!"<quote/> Seymour roared 
L08 227 above the chatter, giving him a hug and a kiss. <quote_>"Have you 
L08 228 met my son Nigel?"<quote/><p/>
L08 229 <p_>He grabbed the arm of an apparently nervous, 
L08 230 conventional-looking young man in a three-piece suit and pulled him 
L08 231 over.<p/>
L08 232 <p_><quote_>"He's an MP, you know!"<quote/> Seymour added with a 
L08 233 wink, as if the initials stood for something altogether 
L08 234 risqu<*_>e-acute<*/>.<p/>
L08 235 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes,"<quote/> said Philip, offering his hand. 
L08 236 <quote_>"Pleased to meet you."<quote/><p/>
L08 237 <p_>Nigel Loseby murmured something shyly about his performance. 
L08 238 Philip looked modest, inasmuch as he was able.<p/>
L08 239 <p_><quote_>"We're very lucky to have him, you know!"<quote/> 
L08 240 Seymour boomed.
L08 241 
L09   1 <#FLOB:L09\><p_><quote_>"Then what has happened to it?"<quote/><p/>
L09   2 <p_><quote|>"Perhaps," suggested the corporal, <quote_>"the river 
L09   3 has washed it away?"<quote/><p/>
L09   4 <p_>Owen looked up and down the river. It stretched, broad and 
L09   5 placid, to the horizon on both sides. Further on down, near to the 
L09   6 city, a single felucca was gliding gracefully in towards the bank. 
L09   7 It came to rest and then there was nothing else moving in the 
L09   8 intense heat of the late morning Egyptian sun.<p/>
L09   9 <p_>He scanned the water's edge carefully. At this time of year, 
L09  10 with the flood still some weeks off, the Nile had shrunk back into 
L09  11 its bed, uncovering a wide strip of mud, now baked hard and dry and 
L09  12 cracked like crazy paving. Far away he thought he could see some 
L09  13 goats grazing. But there was no suspicious heap lying grounded in 
L09  14 the shallows, no flotsam or jetsam at all. Anything that came 
L09  15 ashore would be snatched up at once by thrifty beachcombers.<p/>
L09  16 <p_>Under his feet a little floating clump of Um Suf, Mother of 
L09  17 Wool, papyrus reed, torn loose from its moorings hundreds of miles 
L09  18 to the south, nestled along the bank and came to rest against the 
L09  19 shoal. Nestled and stuck. The current was not even sufficient to 
L09  20 tug it loose again.<p/>
L09  21 <p_><quote_>"It can't have!"<quote/> said the watchman angrily. 
L09  22 <quote_>"It was lying right up on the shoal."<quote/><p/>
L09  23 <p_><quote_>"How did it get there, then?"<quote/> asked the 
L09  24 corporal. <quote_>"Did it jump up there like a fish?"<quote/><p/>
L09  25 <p_>This was exactly the kind of non-issue that Owen didn't want to 
L09  26 get involved in. In fact, he didn't want to get involved in any of 
L09  27 this at all.<p/>
L09  28 <p_><quote_>"This isn't anything to do with me,"<quote/> he said. 
L09  29 <quote_>"This is not for the Mamur Zapt."<quote/><p/>
L09  30 <p_><quote_>"Quite right, effendi!"<quote/> said the corporal 
L09  31 smartly. <quote_>"Only a woman."<quote/><p/>
L09  32 <p_>That was not what he had meant.<p/>
L09  33 <p_><quote_>"This is a matter for the Parquet,"<quote/> he said.<p/>
L09  34 <p_>This was an ordinary crime if ever he'd seen one. And ordinary 
L09  35 crimes were handled by the Parquet, the Department of Prosecutions 
L09  36 of the Ministry of Justice. The Egyptian legal system was like the 
L09  37 French. Conduct of a criminal investigation was the responsibility 
L09  38 of a prosecuting lawyer, not of the police. The police worked under 
L09  39 his direction. And, of course, when a crime was reported they were 
L09  40 the ones who had to notify the Parquet in the first place.<p/>
L09  41 <p_><quote_>"Has the Parquet been notified?"<quote/> he said 
L09  42 sternly.<p/>
L09  43 <p_>The corporal scratched his head.<p/>
L09  44 <p_><quote_>"I expect so,"<quote/> he said.<p/>
L09  45 <p_><quote_>"<tf_>Expect so?<tf/>"<quote/> Owen boiled over with 
L09  46 fury. <quote_>"I should bloody well expect so, too. And I'd expect 
L09  47 them to be here. I'd expect them to be wasting their time on this 
L09  48 foolish nonsense and not me. Whose idea was it to send for the 
L09  49 Mamur Zapt anyway?"<quote/><p/>
L09  50 <p_><quote_>"I don't know anything about it,"<quote/> said the 
L09  51 corporal hurriedly.<p/>
L09  52 <p_><quote_>"One said that you were near, effendi,"<quote/> said 
L09  53 the watchman forlornly, <quote_>"and the Chief thought 
L09  54 -"<quote/><p/>
L09  55 <p_>Owen knew damned well what the District Chief had thought. He 
L09  56 had thought, here was somebody senior he could pass responsibility 
L09  57 to without having to do anything about it himself. Right on the 
L09  58 spot, too! He wouldn't even have to stir out of the cool of his 
L09  59 office. While he, Owen, was tearing around all over the place like 
L09  60 a bloody lunatic!<p/>
L09  61 <p_><quote_>"Tell the Chief,"<quote/> he said ominously, 
L09  62 <quote_>"that I'll be wanting a word with him."<quote/><p/>
L09  63 <p_>This was ridiculous. He couldn't afford to be spending his time 
L09  64 here. He had a dozen men on the other side of town waiting for him. 
L09  65 They had been about half way through when the message had come from 
L09  66 the District Chief. He had dropped everything and left. And you 
L09  67 could bet that the moment he'd left they'd sat down in the 
L09  68 shade.<p/>
L09  69 <p_>He set off back up the bank.<p/>
L09  70 <p_>After a moment's hesitation the other two ran after him.<p/>
L09  71 <p_><quote_>"Effendi! Effendi!"<quote/><p/>
L09  72 <p_><quote_>"You stay here. Wait for the Parquet. You can tell it 
L09  73 all to them."<quote/><p/>
L09  74 <p_>He reached the top of the bank, lizards scattering out of the 
L09  75 way in front of him. He was just about to plunge back into the 
L09  76 streets when he saw someone running towards him. It was one of the 
L09  77 men he had left.<p/>
L09  78 <p_><quote|>"Effendi!" he gasped. <quote_>"A message! From the 
L09  79 Bimbashi!"<quote/><p/>
L09  80 <p_><quote|>"Yes?"<p/>
L09  81 <p_><quote_>"You are to go to the river."<quote/><p/>
L09  82 <p_>Owen looked round. Behind him the river sparkled placidly in 
L09  83 the sun. Apart from the corporal and the watchman, there wasn't a 
L09  84 soul in sight. Nothing moved on the bank or out on the water. The 
L09  85 mud shoal and its hump dozed tranquilly in the heat.<p/>
L09  86 <p_><quote|>"Well," said Owen, <quote_>"I'm at the river. But why 
L09  87 on earth ...?"<quote/><p/>
L09  88 <p_>The Bimbashi arrived shortly afterwards.<p/>
L09  89 <p_>He was in a motor-car. This was impressive since there were 
L09  90 relatively few cars in Cairo in 1909 and the police force itself 
L09  91 did not boast one. Normally it went about its business either on 
L09  92 foot or in an arabeah, the horse-drawn cab distinctive to the city. 
L09  93 If it needed a car it borrowed the Army's one.<p/>
L09  94 <p_>But that was battered and sober: this one was new and, well, 
L09  95 spectacular.<p/>
L09  96 <p_><quote|>"Green," said the driver of the car, noting with 
L09  97 satisfaction Owen's interest. <quote_>"There was a bit of a fuss 
L09  98 about that. The Mufti complained. But I said: 'It's almost the 
L09  99 family colour, isn't it?'"<quote/><p/>
L09 100 <p_>The Bimbashi, McPhee, pink and fair and anxious, rushed 
L09 101 forward.<p/>
L09 102 <p_><quote_>"This is Captain Owen, Prince. Owen, Prince 
L09 103 Narouz."<quote/><p/>
L09 104 <p_><quote|>"Ah!" said the Prince. <quote_>"The Mamur Zapt. You got 
L09 105 here quickly. Efficient of you. But then -"<quote/> he smiled 
L09 106 ambiguously - <quote_>"we know the Mamur Zapt to be efficient, 
L09 107 don't we?"<quote/><p/>
L09 108 <p_>He was perhaps in his late, perhaps in his early thirties. All 
L09 109 the males of the Khedive's family tended to thicken out and age 
L09 110 suddenly as they approached middle age. Owen knew from the title 
L09 111 that this was a member of the Egyptian Royal Family but which of 
L09 112 the Khedive's numerous progeny it was escaped him for the 
L09 113 moment.<p/>
L09 114 <p_>The third person in the car was another Egyptian, definitely 
L09 115 about thirty, slim and dressed, like the Prince, in a smart, 
L09 116 European-style suit but with the usual pot-like tarboosh of the 
L09 117 Egyptian professional on his head.<p/>
L09 118 <p_>Owen knew who this one was. His name was Mahmoud el Zaki and he 
L09 119 was one of the Parquet's rising stars. They embraced warmly in the 
L09 120 Arab fashion. They had worked together often and got on well.<p/>
L09 121 <p_>The Prince and McPhee had walked on to the top of the bank and 
L09 122 were standing looking down at the river.<p/>
L09 123 <p_><quote_>"What's all this about?"<quote/> whispered Owen.<p/>
L09 124 <p_><quote_>"Don't know. Someone else was going to do this one and 
L09 125 then they suddenly switched me on to it."<quote/>"
L09 126 They joined the others.
L09 127 <p_><quote_>"What's going on?"<quote/> Owen asked.
L09 128 <p_>McPhee turned a concerned face towards him.<p/>
L09 129 <p_><quote_>"Something absolutely frightful has happened,"<quote/> 
L09 130 he said. <quote_>"The Prince was on a dahabeeyah last night coming 
L09 131 back from Karnak and someone fell overboard."<quote/><p/>
L09 132 <p_><quote_>"A woman?"<quote/><p/>
L09 133 <p_>McPhee nodded.<p/>
L09 134 <p_><quote_>"As soon as we got the report we suspected - well, we 
L09 135 knew, I suppose. She couldn't swim."<quote/><p/>
L09 136 <p_><quote_>"<tf|>You got the report?"<quote/><p/>
L09 137 <p_><quote_>"The Prince phoned Garvin first thing this 
L09 138 morning."<quote/><p/>
L09 139 <p_>Garvin was the Commandant of the Cairo Police force. McPhee was 
L09 140 his deputy.<p/>
L09 141 <p_><quote_>"What about the Parquet?"<quote/><p/>
L09 142 <p_><quote_>"We got the report in the ordinary way,"<quote/> said 
L09 143 Mahmoud. <quote_>"At that stage it was just that a body had been 
L09 144 found. I imagine,"<quote/> he said to the Prince, <quote_>"that you 
L09 145 yourself rang up later?"<quote/><p/>
L09 146 <p_><quote_>"After I had spoken to Garvin."<quote/> The Prince 
L09 147 hesitated.<p/>
L09 148 <p_><quote_>"You see, I didn't want this to be ... clumsily 
L09 149 handled."<quote/><p/>
L09 150 <p_><quote_>"Oh, of course not!"<quote/> said McPhee 
L09 151 sympathetically. <quote_>"The poor girl! And the family, of 
L09 152 course!"<quote/><p/>
L09 153 <p_><quote_>"Yes. And the Khedivial connection."<quote/><p/>
L09 154 <p_><quote_>"Of course. Of course."<quote/><p/>
L09 155 <p_><quote_>"It could be embarrassing, you see. Politically, I 
L09 156 mean."<quote/><p/>
L09 157 <p_><quote_>"For you?"<quote/> asked Owen.<p/>
L09 158 <p_>The Prince looked at him coolly.<p/>
L09 159 <p_><quote_>"For the Khedive. There is no particular reason why it 
L09 160 should be. There is nothing, shall I say, to be embarrassed 
L09 161 <tf|>about. But you know what the Press is and people are. It could 
L09 162 be used. Turned against the Khedive. Used to discredit him. Would 
L09 163 the British Government want that, Captain Owen?"<quote/><p/>
L09 164 <p_><quote_>"Assuredly not. The Khedive is a valued friend and 
L09 165 ally."<quote/><p/>
L09 166 <p_>Not only that. He was the fa<*_>c-cedille<*/>ade which 
L09 167 concealed the realities of British power in Egypt.<p/>
L09 168 <p_>For while the Khedive was an apparent ruler of Egypt, the 
L09 169 country's real ruler, in 1909, was the British Consul-General. His 
L09 170 rule was indirect and unobtrusive. The Khedive had his Prime 
L09 171 Minister, his Ministers and his Ministries. But at the top of each 
L09 172 Ministry, alongside each Minister, was a British 'Adviser' and all 
L09 173 the key public posts were occupied by Englishmen.<p/>
L09 174 <p_>Like the Commandant and Deputy Commandant of the Cairo 
L09 175 Police.<p/>
L09 176 <p_>Like the Mamur Zapt.<p/>
L09 177 <p_><quote_>"That's what the Consul-General thought too,"<quote/> 
L09 178 said the Prince. <quote_>"I spoke to him this morning."<quote/><p/>
L09 179 <p_><quote_>"We are to give whatever help we can,"<quote/> McPhee 
L09 180 told Owen.<p/>
L09 181 <p_><quote_>"How far does the help extend?"<quote/> asked Owen.<p/>
L09 182 <p_>The Prince smiled.<p/>
L09 183 <p_><quote_>"Not as far as you are evidently supposing,"<quote/> he 
L09 184 said. <quote_>"I appreciate that someone has died. The matter must 
L09 185 be investigated and will be most ably, I am sure, by Mr el Zaki, 
L09 186 here. If a crime has been committed - oh, negligence, say - those 
L09 187 responsible must be punished. It's all straight and aboveboard, 
L09 188 Captain Owen, and Mr el Zaki's involvement should be a guarantee of 
L09 189 that."<quote/><p/>
L09 190 <p_><quote_>"I have complete confidence in Mr el Zaki."<quote/><p/>
L09 191 <p_><quote_>"Quite. But, you see, there is the other dimension too. 
L09 192 The political one. The case needs to be handled from that point of 
L09 193 view too. It needs to be ... managed."<quote/><p/>
L09 194 <p_><quote_>"I see. And you would like me to provide that 
L09 195 management?"<quote/><p/>
L09 196 <p_><quote_>"Who better?"<quote/><p/>
L09 197 <p_>Owen could think of lots of people he would prefer to see 
L09 198 handling this particular case. Most people, in fact.<p/>
L09 199 <p_>The Prince was watching his face.<p/>
L09 200 <p_><quote_>"It's not as bad as all that,"<quote/> he said. 
L09 201 <quote_>"We're not asking you to do anything you shouldn't. It's 
L09 202 mainly a matter of controlling the Press."<quote/><p/>
L09 203 <p_><quote_>"It's not easy to control the Press on something like 
L09 204 this. It's bound to get out. In a foreign newspaper, 
L09 205 perhaps."<quote/><p/>
L09 206 <p_>In cosmopolitan Cairo with its three principal working 
L09 207 languages and at least a dozen other widely used ones people turned 
L09 208 as readily to the overseas press as they did to the native one. 
L09 209 More readily, for the former wasn't censored.<p/>
L09 210 <p_><quote_>"That's why I spoke of ... management."<quote/><p/>
L09 211 <p_><quote_>"I see."<quote/><p/>
L09 212 <p_><quote|>"Good!" said the Prince briskly.  <quote_>"Then that's 
L09 213 all sorted out."<quote/><p/>
L09 214 <p_>He looked down at the river bed below him.<p/>
L09 215 <p_><quote|>"Well," he said, <quote_>"I suppose we ought to go 
L09 216 down. You'll be needing an identification."<quote/><p/>
L09 217 <p_><quote_>"There's just one thing,"<quote/> said Owen.<p/>
L09 218 <p_><quote_>"Not there?"<quote/> said the Prince incredulously.<p/>
L09 219 <p_><quote_>"Not there?"<quote/> echoed McPhee.<p/>
L09 220 <p_>Mahmoud did not say anything but started immediately down the 
L09 221 slope.<p/>
L09 222 <p_>By the time they got there he was already talking to the 
L09 223 watchman.<p/>
L09 224 <p_><quote_>"I don't understand,"<quote/> said the Prince. 
L09 225 <quote_>"Are you saying that this is all a mistake?"<quote/><p/>
L09 226 <p_><quote_>"A body <tf|>was reported,"<quote/> said Owen.<p/>
L09 227 <p_><quote_>"A false report?"<quote/><p/>
L09 228 <p_>Owen shrugged.<p/>
L09 229 <p_>The watchman fell on his knees.<p/>
L09 230 <p_><quote_>"It was <tf|>true, effendi,"<quote/> he protested 
L09 231 vehemently. <quote_>"I saw it. I swear it. On my father's 
L09 232 ..."<quote/><p/>
L09 233 <p_><quote_>"I begin to doubt,"<quote/> said the Prince coldly, 
L09 234 <quote_>"whether you had a father."<quote/><p/>
L09 235 <p_>The watchman swallowed.<p/>
L09 236 <p_><quote_>"It was there, effendi,"<quote/> he said, pointing to 
L09 237 the shoal. <quote_>"There! I swear it."<quote/><p/>
L09 238 <p_><quote_>"Then where is it?"<quote/><p/>
L09 239 <p_>The watchman swallowed again.<p/>
L09 240 <p_><quote_>"I don't know, effendi,"<quote/> he said weakly. 
L09 241 <quote_>"I don't know."<quote/><p/>
L09 242 <p_><quote_>"The river effendi,"<quote/> insinuated the corporal 
L09 243 <tf_>sotto voce<tf/>. <quote_>"It could be the river."<quote/><p/>
L09 244 <p_><}_><-|> Bur<+|>But<}/> the Prince had already turned away.<p/>
L09 245 <p_><quote_>"This is awkward,"<quote/> he said.<p/>
L09 246 <p_><quote_>"It could have been somebody else,"<quote/> said Owen. 
L09 247 <quote_>"It needn't have been the girl."<quote/><p/>
L09 248 <p_><quote_>"The report was of a woman's body."<quote/><p/>
L09 249 <p_><quote_>"Another woman, perhaps."<quote/><p/>
L09 250 <p_>The Prince shrugged.<p/>
L09 251 <p_><quote_>"Unlikely, I would have thought. Unless you have 
L09 252 women's bodies floating down this part of the river all the 
L09 253 time."<quote/><p/>
L09 254 <p_><quote_>"Oh no, effendi,"<quote/> said the corporal hastily.<p/>
L09 255 <p_><quote|>"Awkward," said the Prince again. <quote_>"It would 
L09 256 have been much more convenient ... Well, it must be somewhere. 
L09 257 You'll have to find it, that's all."<quote/><p/>
L09 258 <p_><quote_>"I'll get on to it right away,"<quote/> promised 
L09 259 McPhee. <quote_>"I'll alert all the police stations -"<quote/><p/>
L09 260 
L10   1 <#FLOB:L10\><p_>Walsh shrugged his shoulders. <quote_>"Can we 
L10   2 ignore the possibility at this stage?"<quote/><p/>
L10   3 <p_><quote_>"What about someone we haven't considered at all yet, 
L10   4 Chief?"<quote/> Brenda asked, her brown eyes looking shrewdly at 
L10   5 Walsh.<p/>
L10   6 <p_><quote_>"You mean someone not directly connected with the 
L10   7 Satanists or Trent? Someone who just happened to be about at that 
L10   8 remote spot at that early hour of the morning? You'd have to assume 
L10   9 some entirely random motive, Brenda."<quote/><p/>
L10  10 <p_><quote_>"What about seeing naked revellers having an orgy? That 
L10  11 might have flipped an unstable mind into sex and violence, though 
L10  12 it doesn't explain the disappearance of Joanna. She'd have been 
L10  13 assaulted and raped, I suppose, in which case one would have 
L10  14 expected to find her body at the site as well,"<quote/> Brenda 
L10  15 suggested.<p/>
L10  16 <p_><quote_>"Not if the person was an unstable male. He could have 
L10  17 taken her away with him, keeping her a prisoner for a while. Didn't 
L10  18 something like that happen in Cannock, a few years 
L10  19 back?"<quote/><p/>
L10  20 <p_><quote_>"Yes; Reg, and he turned out to be a multiple killer 
L10  21 over a long period of time. I hate to think that we might have one 
L10  22 like that, down here,"<quote/> Walsh replied, anxiously.<p/>
L10  23 <p_><quote_>"Maybe there's something in what Mrs Dubonis was saying 
L10  24 about evil spirits being out and about,"<quote/> Brenda 
L10  25 suggested.<p/>
L10  26 <p_><quote_>"They say there's a devil in all of us, waiting to get 
L10  27 out. 'Lead us not into temptation', the Lord's Prayer says. Maybe 
L10  28 the temptation just happened to turn up in that place, at that 
L10  29 time,"<quote/> Finch remarked.<p/>
L10  30 <p_><quote_>"We'll keep the evil spirits out of this, if you don't 
L10  31 mind!"<quote/> Walsh instructed. <quote_>"Reg, you go out to 
L10  32 Wandlebury, and talk to the owners of the place. That might give us 
L10  33 a new lead, and you've got Tomkins to sort out. Brenda, we don't 
L10  34 know enough about Trent's and Joanna's friends yet. You work on 
L10  35 those. There might be enough jealousy or rivalry amongst them to 
L10  36 account for a murder. There're also the friends and relations of 
L10  37 these Satanists to check out. One of those might have taken a dim 
L10  38 view of what was going on, and tried to do something about it. In 
L10  39 the meantime I'll have a word with Packstone. It's about time his 
L10  40 team came up with their reports on the cars and clothing."<quote/> 
L10  41 He reached out to feel the coffee pot, which was cold.<p/>
L10  42 <p_><quote_>"It's all right, Chief, I'll get some more,"<quote/> 
L10  43 Brenda offered. <quote_>"It's a pretty unpleasant thought, you 
L10  44 know, that Trent's killer may have got that girl hidden away 
L10  45 somewhere. Not difficult to think of what he might be doing to her, 
L10  46 either,"<quote/> Finch remarked, when Brenda had left. 
L10  47 Professionals though they might be, it was still easier to talk 
L10  48 about some things when she wasn't there.<p/>
L10  49 <p_><quote_>"I know, Reg, I don't like it either. Whatever way you 
L10  50 look at it, this killer is quite cold-blooded. It's true, as 
L10  51 Packstone said, that in a fight for the possession of a weapon such 
L10  52 as a spade, the kind of swinging blow that cut Trent's throat might 
L10  53 well have been unintentional, but there's no sign of rashness or 
L10  54 panic in the killer's subsequent behaviour. Psychologically, that's 
L10  55 worrying. He could kill again, neither should we assume this is his 
L10  56 first time, either. I've got Records searching for any similarity 
L10  57 in any of the unsolved murders during the past twenty years. When 
L10  58 they've done that they can feed all the names involved into the 
L10  59 'missing persons' computer. The truth of the matter is, though, we 
L10  60 don't know enough about him yet."<quote/><p/>
L10  61 <p_><quote_>"Or her! A woman could wear size nine and a half 
L10  62 trainers, but I don't see what else we can do at the moment, 
L10  63 boss."<quote/><p/>
L10  64 <p_><quote_>"That's right, we must follow up what we've got, but we 
L10  65 may find Joanna Silvers alive, and then it'll be easy. If we don't, 
L10  66 we'll just have to plug on, regardless."<quote/><p/>
L10  67 <p_>Brenda Phipps came back into the office with a fresh pot of 
L10  68 coffee. She put it on the desk.<p/>
L10  69 <p_><quote_>"Thanks, Brenda, you're an angel,"<quote/> Walsh said, 
L10  70 smiling at the slim Detective Constable.<p/>
L10  71 <p_><quote_>"With all this devil stuff about, the odd angel won't 
L10  72 come amiss, boss,"<quote/> Finch smiled.<p/>
L10  73 <p_><quote_>"Less of the odd,"<quote/> Brenda scowled.<p/>
L10  74 <p_>The telephone rang. Walsh picked up the receiver. The other two 
L10  75 gathered from his words that the doctors had found no signs of 
L10  76 sexual abuse in their examination of Mrs Houndell's daughter.<p/>
L10  77 <p_><quote_>"Thank goodness for that, that's one problem the 
L10  78 less,"<quote/> Walsh said, relieved. <quote_>"Reg, pass me those 
L10  79 aerial photographs again."<quote/><p/>
L10  80 <p_><quote_>"There's couple of these I'd like my own copies of, 
L10  81 boss. See here on this one,"<quote/> Finch pointed to an aerial 
L10  82 print of the ruin in the wood, and the field to the south. 
L10  83 <quote_>"The sun's low enough to throw crop shadows. The wheat 
L10  84 grows better where the soil was once disturbed, less well where 
L10  85 there're foundations beneath the surface. Barely detectable on the 
L10  86 ground, but enough to throw a shadow when the sun's at the right 
L10  87 angle,"<quote/> Finch continued, enthusiastically. <quote_>"The 
L10  88 dark marks here, along this side, could be the post holes of the 
L10  89 wooden stockade that would have surrounded the priory originally, 
L10  90 and these other lines are the foundations of walls. It's a pity the 
L10  91 wood covers most of the site, we could've got a fair ground 
L10  92 plan."<quote/><p/>
L10  93 <p_><quote_>"There're other marks on some of these photos too, Reg. 
L10  94 What do they signify?"<quote/> Brenda asked.<p/>
L10  95 <p_><quote_>"This ring, here, might be a ploughed out burial mound, 
L10  96 but these smaller marks are probably more post holes. It could be 
L10  97 that the site was inhabited before the priory was built, but it 
L10  98 would need a proper excavation before one could hope to identify 
L10  99 the different occupation dates."<quote/><p/>
L10 100 <p_>Walsh interrupted. <quote_>"Very interesting, Reg, but I just 
L10 101 want to see if we've missed any old chalk pits on our search plan. 
L10 102 Keep the prints in order, don't get them mixed up."<quote/><p/>
L10 103 <h|>11
L10 104 <p_>It was a tall, elderly, silver-haired lady who opened the front 
L10 105 door of the big house to Reginald Finch.<p/>
L10 106 <p_><quote_>"You'd better come in then, Sergeant. We can't stand 
L10 107 here talking on the doorstep, can we?"<quote/> she exclaimed, when 
L10 108 Finch had told her why he had come.<p/>
L10 109 <p_><quote/>"The estate was so much bigger, in my grandfather's 
L10 110 day,"<quote/> she said, pointing up at her ancestor's dark portrait 
L10 111 over the fireplace in the spacious, chintzy sitting-room, and shook 
L10 112 her head, regretfully. <quote_>"But so much of it had to be sold 
L10 113 off when he died, for the taxes, you know. So you want to talk to 
L10 114 me about the stone circle, do you? Now, is it a school party you 
L10 115 want to bring, or are you doing a study of them at 
L10 116 college?"<quote/><p/>
L10 117 <p_><quote_>"Well, neither, actually. Like I said, I'm a policeman, 
L10 118 and I'm interested in the Druids and their summer solstice 
L10 119 ceremonies,"<quote/> Finch replied, fondling the ears of one of the 
L10 120 golden retrievers, which had come to rest its head on his knee and 
L10 121 gaze up at him with soulful eyes.<p/>
L10 122 <p_><quote_>"My grandfather had no time for the Druids. He was a 
L10 123 general, you know, and used to say it was all poppycock and 
L10 124 balderdash. Well, that's how they used to speak in those days, 
L10 125 wasn't it? Now, Father had completely different views, much more 
L10 126 liberal. I suppose it was because he was at Oxford when 
L10 127 free-thinking became fashionable. He used to tell us girls what he 
L10 128 said to a gentleman who actually came to ask permission to hold a 
L10 129 celebration inside the ring. <quote_>"I know there are more kinds 
L10 130 of worship in this world than my own,"<quote/> he said, 
L10 131 <quote_>"but if you'll give me your word as a gentleman that 
L10 132 there's nothing in your way that would give offence to me or to my 
L10 133 wife, then you can hold your service."<quote/> That was before we 
L10 134 girls were born, but I believe a service has been held there every 
L10 135 year since, except during the wars, possibly. I wasn't there then, 
L10 136 of course."<quote/><p/>
L10 137 <p_><quote_>"Do you mean that you know who these people are? That 
L10 138 they come each year?"<quote/> Finch asked, in surprise.<p/>
L10 139 <p_><quote_>"Oh, yes, of course. Well, that is to say, the Leader 
L10 140 comes each year, to ask permission, and he always gets the same 
L10 141 answer, just as my father gave it. I suppose it's become our own 
L10 142 little tradition, and I must say, on the few occasions I've watched 
L10 143 them, they do keep to their word. It's a little like an ornate 
L10 144 Harvest Festival service in long white gowns, really - without the 
L10 145 fruit and vegetables, of course, but quite inoffensive,"<quote/> 
L10 146 she added.<p/>
L10 147 <p_><quote_>"I'd very much like to talk to the Leader, myself, if I 
L10 148 may. Do you know his name?"<quote/><p/>
L10 149 <p_><quote_>"I don't, but my secretary, Miss Willis, is sure to. 
L10 150 She only comes in on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so you'll have to come 
L10 151 back tomorrow, won't you? Would you like another cup of 
L10 152 tea?"<quote/><p/>
L10 153 <p_><quote_>"Perhaps I might telephone her, instead, if you'd be 
L10 154 good enough to let me have her number?"<quote/><p/>
L10 155 <p_><quote_>"Of course. Was that one or two lumps of 
L10 156 sugar?"<quote/><p/>
L10 157 <p_><quote_>"You never went near that local of yours that night, so 
L10 158 you've told me one lie already, Mr Tomkins. How can I be expected 
L10 159 to believe anything you've said?"<quote/> Finch asked, 
L10 160 reasonably.<p/>
L10 161 <p_><quote_>"It's easy to get things mixed up, and I'm sorry. Now 
L10 162 I've told you the truth. I came back here to the office that night, 
L10 163 I had a lot of work to do on some softwear<&|>sic!. Crikey, anyone 
L10 164 can make a mistake, can't they?"<quote/> the other replied 
L10 165 truculently, his eyes glinting with anger.<p/>
L10 166 <p_><quote|>"Well," Finch said, <quote_>"I already knew that, as a 
L10 167 matter of fact! Our patrols at night are pretty efficient, they 
L10 168 take note of cars parked outside shops round here. Yours was 
L10 169 outside at ten o'clock, but it wasn't there when they came round 
L10 170 again at eleven. So you must have gone out again."<quote/><p/>
L10 171 <p_><quote_>"I went out for a coffee, yes, that's what I 
L10 172 did."<quote/><p/>
L10 173 <p_><quote_>"Your coffee break lasted until nearly three o'clock in 
L10 174 the morning then, did it? Because your car wasn't seen again that 
L10 175 night, and there was no light on in the office at the back either. 
L10 176 How do you account for that?"<quote/><p/>
L10 177 <p_><quote_>"Easy! I parked it round the corner, in Riverside Road. 
L10 178 Force of habit, I suppose, that's usually where I park during the 
L10 179 day. As for the light, well, they wouldn't have seen it, because it 
L10 180 wasn't on. The tube's on the blink and the flickering gives me a 
L10 181 headache, so I worked just using the angle-poise on the 
L10 182 desk."<quote/><p/>
L10 183 <p_>Finch got up, reached over to the wall, and switched the light 
L10 184 on. After a few moments the tube lit up. It flickered and the 
L10 185 starter butted noisily.<p/>
L10 186 <p_><quote|>"Satisfied?" Tomkins scowled.<p/>
L10 187 <p_><quote_>"Not really,"<quote/> Finch admitted. <quote_>"You 
L10 188 don't fill me with a lot of confidence. However, you might as well 
L10 189 tell me who this urgent softwear<&|>sic! was for."<quote/><p/>
L10 190 <p_><quote_>"Triton Roofing, they wanted the whole format of their 
L10 191 sales analysis changed."<quote/><p/>
L10 192 <p_><quote_>"When did you give it to them?"<quote/><p/>
L10 193 <p_><quote|>"Yesterday."<p/>
L10 194 <p_>Finch said <quote|>"Thanks," got up, and walked out.<p/>
L10 195 <p_><*_>star<*/><p/>
L10 196 <p_>The fleeting expression of annoyance on Richard Packstone's 
L10 197 face as Walsh opened the door signalled a warning.<p/>
L10 198 <p_><quote_>"Five minutes, Richard? That's all. I just want to know 
L10 199 how things are going,"<quote/> Walsh said, apologetically.<p/>
L10 200 <p_>Packstone sighed reluctantly, but lowered himself into his 
L10 201 chair and leaned forward, with his elbows on the desk.<p/>
L10 202 <p_><quote_>"It's pretty hectic in here,"<quote/> he replied. I'm 
L10 203 trying to get my priorities right, and at the same time keep 
L10 204 everything else moving forward. So you'll have to be patient. I've 
L10 205 got four people out with your teams searching the ditches, barns 
L10 206 and old marl and lime pits; that's made me shorthanded, and there's 
L10 207 the bits and pieces they're finding that need to be checked out. 
L10 208 We've surface-examined five cars and a motor bike for prints for 
L10 209 you, but we haven't even started the lab work on the minutiae from 
L10 210 the interior scrutinies. We've not finished with the material from 
L10 211 the priory site yet, you see, and it wouldn't be sensible to 
L10 212 neglect identifying what might be important primary and positive 
L10 213 data, would it? Brian, over there, is working on the hair samples 
L10 214 you got from the Silvers girl's bedroom, though.
L10 215 
L11   1 <#FLOB:L11\><p_><quote_>"Probably."<p/>
L11   2 <p_><quote_>"OK. So any better luck with Sharon?"<quote/><p/>
L11   3 <p_><quote_>"Depends what you mean by luck. She certainly loved her 
L11   4 time at the studios today, even though there wasn't anything too 
L11   5 exciting going on. I would think it helped her a bit to get over 
L11   6 the shock of Elvis's murder."<quote/><p/>
L11   7 <p_><quote_>"I assume you eventually got her around to 
L11   8 that?"<quote/><p/>
L11   9 <p_>She nodded. <quote_>"Sure. But I waited until I'd got her out 
L11  10 to lunch and had plied her with the odd drink before I probed too 
L11  11 much."<quote/><p/>
L11  12 <p_><quote_>"And then..."<quote/><p/>
L11  13 <p_><quote_>"She became... well, very talkative. By the end of 
L11  14 lunch she had really poured her heart out. A trifle embarrassing it 
L11  15 became at times. I felt a bit like an aural voyeur."<quote/> She 
L11  16 smiled. <quote_>"Doesn't sound quite right, does it? You can't have 
L11  17 an <tf|>aural voyeur, can you?"<quote/><p/>
L11  18 <p_><quote_>"Depends how you spell aural,"<quote/> I deadpanned.<p/>
L11  19 <p_>She laughed. <quote_>"Either which way, she told me things that 
L11  20 I'm sure she would never want her parents to know. Or anybody else, 
L11  21 for that matter."<quote/><p/>
L11  22 <p_><quote_>"As I'm not just anybody, I take it you will pass a 
L11  23 little of it on to me."<quote/><p/>
L11  24 <p_>She pulled a schoolmarm frown. <quote_>"What parts may be 
L11  25 relevant to our quest, Mr Marklin, yes."<quote/><p/>
L11  26 <p_><quote_>"Right, Miss Trench, I'm all ears."<quote/><p/>
L11  27 <p_><quote_>"I'll get the intimate bits over first. Sharon told me 
L11  28 she and Elvis had often made love, and guess where, a lot of the 
L11  29 time?"<quote/><p/>
L11  30 <p_><quote_>"On sitting room sofas when their parents were out, on 
L11  31 the beach...?"<quote/><p/>
L11  32 <p_><quote_>"Not even warm."<quote/><p/>
L11  33 <p_><quote_>"Well, it wouldn't be, on the beach."<quote/><p/>
L11  34 <p_>She slapped my hand.<p/>
L11  35 <p_><quote_>"Where, then?"<quote/><p/>
L11  36 <p_><quote_>"In the Penwarden's garden."<quote/><p/>
L11  37 <p_><quote_>"In their garden?"<quote/><p/>
L11  38 <p_><quote_>"Not exactly in the garden. In the gazebo in the 
L11  39 garden. It has long cushioned seats all around the inside, 
L11  40 apparently. And it can't be seen at all from the house."<quote/><p/>
L11  41 <p_>This time I frowned. <quote_>"They made love when he was 
L11  42 supposed to be gardening?"<quote/><p/>
L11  43 <p_><quote_>"No, idiot. Late in the evening, when no one would be 
L11  44 about to see them. She says it's easy to get into their garden from 
L11  45 the road, through a gap in the hedge not far from where the gazebo 
L11  46 is."<quote/><p/>
L11  47 <p_><quote_>"Well, well, well. Could be that Blondie is not so very 
L11  48 wrong about our Stover."<quote/><p/>
L11  49 <p_><quote_>"It doesn't necessarily follow. As he was 'getting his 
L11  50 ration' anyway, as my father often puts it to my mother's horror, 
L11  51 he might well have ignored any sexual overtures made by any of that 
L11  52 family or the Hoopers."<quote/><p/>
L11  53 <p_>I held up a finger. <quote_>"Motive number five. He was killed 
L11  54 for <tf|>not succumbing to advances."<quote/><p/>
L11  55 <p_><quote_>"Don't laugh,"<quote/> Arabella cautioned. 
L11  56 <quote_>"Stranger things have happened."<quote/> She put on her 
L11  57 'still waters run deep' voice once more. <quote_>"There's none so 
L11  58 deadly..."<quote/><p/>
L11  59 <p_><quote_>"Yeah, yeah, yeah,"<quote/> I intoned.<p/>
L11  60 <p_><quote_>"You sound like a Beatle."<quote/><p/>
L11  61 <p_><quote_>"Didn't mean to."<quote/><p/>
L11  62 <p_><quote_>"Well, you did."<quote/><p/>
L11  63 <p_><quote_>"Back to Sharon?"<quote/><p/>
L11  64 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes. Well, after her lovemaking confession, she 
L11  65 then rather tearfully described how jealous she used to get when 
L11  66 other girls seemed to fancy him. Once, in a caf, she admitted, she 
L11  67 even threw a cup of Coke all over another girl who tried to flirt 
L11  68 with him."<quote/><p/>
L11  69 <p_>I looked at her. <quote_>"We wouldn't have motive number six 
L11  70 there, would we? The great green god."<quote/><p/>
L11  71 <p_><quote_>"Jealousy?"<quote/> Arabella shook her head. 
L11  72 <quote_>"Sharon may throw Coke around, but it takes a damn sight 
L11  73 more than a short fuse to make a murderer, sorry, murderess. And 
L11  74 even if Sharon were that sort, I reckon it would be much more 
L11  75 productive to kill the other girl rather than the lover you want 
L11  76 for yourself."<quote/><p/>
L11  77 <p_><quote_>"Anyway, any more intimacies?"<quote/><p/>
L11  78 <p_><quote_>"No, not really. I guess you're more interested in what 
L11  79 she said about Sadler and London."<quote/><p/>
L11  80 <p_>I perked up. <quote_>"So she did say something?"<quote/><p/>
L11  81 <p_>But Arabella then knocked me off my perch by saying, 
L11  82 <quote_>"Well, I suppose she did."<quote/><p/>
L11  83 <p_><quote_>"Oh, great."<quote/><p/>
L11  84 <p_><quote_>"No, hang on, Peter. See what you can make of this. 
L11  85 Sharon said that Mrs Sadler was annoyed with her after your first 
L11  86 visit for having told you about her husband going to London at all. 
L11  87 And she'd asked Sharon how she knew about it anyway."<quote/><p/>
L11  88 <p_><quote_>"London, you mean?"<quote/><p/>
L11  89 <p_><quote_>"Yes. Sharon just told her the truth. That the previous 
L11  90 day she had overheard them both mentioning London. And she'd put 
L11  91 two and two together when Sadler went away."<quote/><p/>
L11  92 <p_><quote_>"That all?"<quote/><p/>
L11  93 <p_><quote_>"Most of it. In answer to a question of mine about what 
L11  94 transport Sadler had taken that day, she said she thought he must 
L11  95 have gone in the van, as it wasn't parked round the 
L11  96 back."<quote/><p/>
L11  97 <p_><quote_>"And vans can carry lots of things other than 
L11  98 newspapers."<quote/><p/>
L11  99 <p_><quote_>"Exactly. It would fit with our original thought of 
L11 100 Sadler disposing of any stolen property well away from here, say, 
L11 101 with fences in London. But as I've said, the computer doesn't bear 
L11 102 out any grand-scale burglary theory over his patch."<quote/><p/>
L11 103 <p_><quote_>"It doesn't rule it out completely, either."<quote/><p/>
L11 104 <p_><quote_>"No. I suppose it doesn't."<quote/><p/>
L11 105 <p_><quote_>"That it?"<quote/><p/>
L11 106 <p_><quote_>"Only one thing more. Sharon said something a bit odd. 
L11 107 That while Mrs Sadler often asked her to mind her child and 
L11 108 sometimes even feed it, she was never allowed to go in the child's 
L11 109 bedroom. Once, when she had gone upstairs to try to find a fresh 
L11 110 nappy when Mrs Sadler had popped out for a while, she had found the 
L11 111 door locked and the key missing."<quote/><p/>
L11 112 <p_>I thought for a moment. <quote_>"How big is this child's room? 
L11 113 Did she say?"<quote/><p/>
L11 114 <p_>Arabella grinned. <quote_>"Two minds, et cetera...I asked that 
L11 115 question immediately in case the room might be big enough to store 
L11 116 stolen loot away in. But to my disappointment, she said that as 
L11 117 she'd never been allowed in, she couldn't describe it. But the 
L11 118 layout of the house means that it can't be any great size, because 
L11 119 its walls are a continuation of the kitchen below. And that is 
L11 120 quite cramped."<quote/><p/>
L11 121 <p_>I looked at Arabella. <quote_>"But why should anyone keep their 
L11 122 child's room locked?"<quote/><p/>
L11 123 <p_><quote_>"Lord knows. Maybe they keep all their bedrooms locked 
L11 124 when they're out. Sharon doesn't know whether they do or not. It's 
L11 125 a pity the kid - Kylie, would you believe? - isn't old enough to 
L11 126 disclose all. But apparently, her vocabulary is still confined to 
L11 127 various forms of 'ga-ga' and 'goo-goo'."<quote/><p/>
L11 128 <p_><quote_>"Do you know if Sharon had discussed any of this with 
L11 129 Elvis?"<quote/><p/>
L11 130 <p_><quote_>"I asked that. She said they had obviously talked about 
L11 131 the Sadlers quite a bit, as they both worked for them. And yes, she 
L11 132 had mentioned once about finding the child's door 
L11 133 locked."<quote/><p/>
L11 134 <p_><quote_>"And Elvis's reaction?"<quote/><p/>
L11 135 <p_><quote_>"As far as I can gather, more of less 
L11 136 indifference."<quote/><p/>
L11 137 <p_><quote_>"Hmmm. I'm coming to the conclusion, though, that there 
L11 138 might be quite a lot poor Sharon doesn't know about her 
L11 139 Elvis."<quote/><p/>
L11 140 <p_>Arabella sighed. <quote_>"Let's pray that when the truth does 
L11 141 come out about all this she doesn't get hurt too badly. Underneath 
L11 142 all that make-up, she's still only a sixteen-year-old, and a nice 
L11 143 one at that."<quote/><p/>
L11 144 <p_><quote_>"Let us pray..."<quote/> I mumbled into my seven 
L11 145 o'clock shadow, then went into the kitchen to pour us both an inch 
L11 146 or two of gloom-dispeller.<p/>
L11 147 <p_>I had a restless night. One, it was muggy and humid. Every 
L11 148 minute I was expecting the room to be strobed into brilliance by 
L11 149 the lightning the TV weathermen had prophesied for the area. (Some 
L11 150 prophets. Not a flash. Not a rumble. I'd have been better off 
L11 151 stroking seaweed.)<p/>
L11 152 <p_>But the weather wasn't really a tenth of it. My sleeplessness 
L11 153 was at least nine-tenths Elvis Stover. I just couldn't free my mind 
L11 154 of the images of those who might, or just as equally might not, be 
L11 155 involved in the whole ghastly affair. Sadler and his frightened 
L11 156 wife and what they might keep, besides their Kylie, in that locked 
L11 157 room. And what London might have to do with anything. It was pretty 
L11 158 obvious the only way I'd ever be able of find out was via Sadler's 
L11 159 weakest link, his wife. I made her my priority for the next 
L11 160 morning. But I had to find some way of getting to her without her 
L11 161 husband knowing.<p/>
L11 162 <p_>Then there were all the females who Blondie had hinted might 
L11 163 have been tempted by a pair of slim hips and an almost stubble-less 
L11 164 smile. The little strategem<&|>sic! I had devised and delegated to 
L11 165 her to carry out, even if successful, might stille get me nowhere 
L11 166 very much, except into someone's bad books, that is. And that 
L11 167 'someone' might well not be singular. For if the plan backfired, 
L11 168 the bad books might proliferate and at least one end up in the 
L11 169 pocket of the likes of Inspector Digby Whetstone. Were that to 
L11 170 happen, I rather doubted that Sexton Blake could come out into the 
L11 171 open and disinter me from that self-dug hole.<p/>
L11 172 <p_>And talking of Blake, his cryptic note about nest eggs and 
L11 173 cuckoos was hardly a sandman. I puzzled over and analysed the 
L11 174 wording, like some fanatic doing <tf_>The Times<tf/> crossword, 
L11 175 just to make sure my initial interpretation was correct. By around 
L11 176 four thirty a.m. I had come to the conclusion that it probably was, 
L11 177 but then stewed over how the hell Sexton thought I could find where 
L11 178 Stover had stashed his savings (provided there were any, of course, 
L11 179 and that Stover had not blown them on some extravagance or other we 
L11 180 hadn't yet caught up with - like other ladies, or the down payment 
L11 181 on a motorbike or car, or whatever), if he, Whetstone and the whole 
L11 182 of the Dorset force had not been able to trace them. By Sexton's 
L11 183 cryptic 'clue', I assumed they must have tried all the more likely 
L11 184 places, like Stover's home, banks, building societies and so on. So 
L11 185 I guessed that all I was left with, thanks very much, were unlikely 
L11 186 places, which at the most conservative of estimates, just had to 
L11 187 add up to a few billion alternatives.<p/>
L11 188 <p_>It was around five a.m. that Arabella woke up to my tossing and 
L11 189 turning.<p/>
L11 190 <p_>She rolled over and asked, <quote_>"You all right?"<p/>
L11 191 <p_><quote_>"Grand,"<quote/> I eyebrowed. <quote_>"You know 
L11 192 something. To think I've wasted thirty-nine years..."<quote/><p/>
L11 193 <p_><quote_>"The last, recurring,"<quote/> she nudged.<p/>
L11 194 <p_>I ignored her. You have to at my age.<p/>
L11 195 <p_><quote_>"...thirty-nine years doing day work, when I could have 
L11 196 been on night shift."<quote/><p/>
L11 197 <p_>She snuggled up to me. <quote_>"Couldn't sleep, eh?"<quote/><p/>
L11 198 <p_><quote_>"Brilliant girl. Go to the top of your 
L11 199 class."<quote/><p/>
L11 200 <p_><quote_>"I <tf|>am at the top of my class,"<quote/> she 
L11 201 grinned. Our modesty is one of the things that united us.<p/>
L11 202 <p_><quote_>"Well, if you're that bright, why aren't you still 
L11 203 asleep at this hour? I bet Margaret Drabble and Marghanita Laski 
L11 204 are."<quote/><p/>
L11 205 <p_><quote_>"Marghanita Laski is dead."<quote/><p/>
L11 206 <p_><quote_>"Well, there you are."<quote/><p/>
L11 207 <p_>She didn't laugh. <quote_>"Besides, I would be if you didn't 
L11 208 keep moving the mattress springs about."<quote/><p/>
L11 209 <p_><quote_>"Sorry."<quote/><p/>
L11 210 <p_>She propped herself on one elbow. The early morning sun dappled 
L11 211 the down between her breasts.<p/>
L11 212 <p_><quote_>"Stover?"<quote/><p/>
L11 213 <p_><quote_>"Yep."<quote/><p/>
L11 214 <p_><quote_>"I dreamt about him."<quote/><p/>
L11 215 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes?"<quote/> I yawned. <quote_>"But you never met 
L11 216 him."<quote/><p/>
L11 217 <p_><quote_>"It must be the number of times I've gone over the 
L11 218 videotapes of our news coverage of his death. You know, with all 
L11 219 the family photos and so on. I almost feel I know him."<quote/><p/>
L11 220 <p_><quote_>"Would it be indelicate to ask what your dream was 
L11 221 about?"<quote/> I smiled.<p/>
L11 222 <p_><quote_>"Filthy devil,"<quote/> she retorted. <quote_>"I do 
L11 223 have dreams occasionally, you know, that aren't 
L11 224 hard-core."<quote/><p/>
L11 225 <p_>I looked at my fingernails. <quote_>"Oh, really..."<quote/><p/>
L11 226 <p_>She slapped my hand, then went on. <quote_>"Anyway, I dreamt 
L11 227 Elvis was on some beach or other. I didn't recognise where. And he 
L11 228 had a spade and he was digging and digging and digging away, until 
L11 229 he'd made a gigantic hole in the sand. I mean, it was huge. You 
L11 230 could hardly see the bottom."<quote/><p/>
L11 231 <p_><quote_>"Then what?"<quote/><p/>
L11 232 <p_><quote_>"Then nothing, really. Because one minute he was still 
L11 233 digging and then when I looked again, he'd gone. Disappeared. I 
L11 234 looked everywhere, but there was no sing of him. In the end, I came 
L11 235 to the daft conclusion that he must somehow have gone down his hole 
L11 236 and been swallowed up. I sat for what seemed ages on the edge in 
L11 237 case he popped up and out again. But he never did."<quote/><p/>
L11 238 
L12   1 <#FLOB:L12\><h_><p_>Chapter 70<p/><h/>
L12   2 <p_><quote_>"WHAT I COULD do is sleep in the Nissan,"<quote/> Anna 
L12   3 said. It was getting dark and she had had a couple of beers. 
L12   4 <quote_>"Elaine will be going home soon and I don't want to hang 
L12   5 about here after dark."<quote/><p/>
L12   6 <p_><quote_>"It should be safe,"<quote/> Rule said. 
L12   7 <quote_>"Probably."<quote/> He had drunk a couple of beers too, but 
L12   8 it didn't seem to be affecting him. Anna was quite shocked at the 
L12   9 speed with which two weak beers had worked. Or she could have been 
L12  10 shocked if she hadn't felt so relaxed. She couldn't understand it 
L12  11 at all.<p/>
L12  12 <p_><quote_>"What's safe?"<quote/> she asked. <quote_>"Anyway, 
L12  13 'probably' safe isn't safe enough."<quote/><p/>
L12  14 <p_><quote_>"That little creep thought <tf|>we blew Hugh 
L12  15 away,"<quote/> Rule said. <quote_>"So he isn't in touch with the 
L12  16 guys who did blow Hugh away."<quote/><p/>
L12  17 <p_><quote_>"But what about Lara?"<quote/> Anna said.<p/>
L12  18 <p_><quote_>"I'll take you back to Nancy's house,"<quote/> Rule 
L12  19 said. <quote_>"We can start again in the morning."<quote/><p/>
L12  20 <p_><quote_>"We left the Nissan on Bay Beach,"<quote/> Anna 
L12  21 said.<p/>
L12  22 <p_><quote_>"But I have all my stuff in my vehicle."<quote/><p/>
L12  23 <p_><quote_>"You sound like Dave Douglas,"<quote/> Anna remarked. 
L12  24 <quote_>"Stuff!"<quote/><p/>
L12  25 <p_><quote_>"Fucking toe-rag,"<quote/> Rule said. Anna began to 
L12  26 giggle. He watched her for a moment, smiling patiently.<p/>
L12  27 <p_>Anna said, <quote_>"You were going to ask me 
L12  28 something."<quote/><p/>
L12  29 <p_><quote_>"What?"<quote/><p/>
L12  30 <p_><quote_>"I don't know. You said you wanted to ask me something 
L12  31 before Dave Douglas came."<quote/><p/>
L12  32 <p_>The phone rang. Rule got to it first.<p/>
L12  33 <p_><quote_>"Yes?"<quote/> he said. Then, <quote_>"Okay Elaine. 
L12  34 Good work."<quote/> He put the receiver down.<p/>
L12  35 <p_><quote_>"White Mercedes,"<quote/> he told Anna. <quote_>"Ms 
L12  36 Crowther, she thinks. No passengers, she thinks. How d'you want to 
L12  37 play it?"<quote/><p/>
L12  38 <p_><quote_>"Buggered if I know,"<quote/> Anna said. <quote_>"I 
L12  39 want to play it hard and low over the net, make her work to get the 
L12  40 ball back and stop her lobbing into the sun."<quote/><p/>
L12  41 <p_><quote_>"You okay?"<quote/><p/>
L12  42 <p_><quote_>Of course,"<quote/> Anna said. <quote_>"I mean I just 
L12  43 want to keep her honest."<quote/><p/>
L12  44 <p_><quote_>"I know what you mean,"<quote/> Rule said. 
L12  45 <quote_>"It's just you had a coupla beers and every time you say, 
L12  46 'of course' you seem to mean the opposite."<quote_><p/>
L12  47 <p_>Anna stared at him. He said, <quote_>"I'll get lost. Right? She 
L12  48 probably won't talk to you unless she thinks you're 
L12  49 alone."<quote/><p/>
L12  50 <p_>He stoop up and they heard a car door slam below.<p/>
L12  51 <p_><quote_>"Not too far,"<quote/> Anna said.<p/>
L12  52 <p_><quote_>"I'll be there,"<quote/> Rule said. <quote_>"Don't 
L12  53 worry."<quote/><p/>
L12  54 <p_><quote_>"Of course not,"<quote/> Anna said. And then to cover 
L12  55 up, she added, <quote_>"Don't forget your cigarettes."<quote/><p/>
L12  56 <p_>The front doorbell chimed. Rule took his cigarettes and left. 
L12  57 She waited. She thought he had probably gone upstairs but she 
L12  58 couldn't hear him. For a big man he moved very well.<p/>
L12  59 <p_>The bell chimed again, and then she heard a key in the lock. 
L12  60 She listened. There was only one pair of feet on the stairs.<p/>
L12  61 <p_>When Lara saw her she only paused for half a second. She put 
L12  62 her handbag on the coffee table and dropped her keys beside it.<p/>
L12  63 <p_><quote_>"Hi, Anna,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"Why didn't you 
L12  64 come down and let me in?"<quote/><p/>
L12  65 <p_><quote_>"This is your house,"<quote/> Anna said. 
L12  66 <quote_>"You've got your own keys. You can come in whenever you 
L12  67 like."<quote/><p/>
L12  68 <p_><quote_>"That's right,"<quote/> Lara said. She sat down and 
L12  69 crossed her legs. She was wearing a pink and lime green dress, made 
L12  70 of silk with fine pleats in the skirt. She arranged the pleats 
L12  71 precisely over her knees. <quote_>"Well?"<quote/> she said.<p/>
L12  72 <p_>Anna waited, watching her.<p/>
L12  73 <p_>She had on pale green eye shadow which went well with the gold 
L12  74 hair and tan. A colourful woman, Anna thought.<p/>
L12  75 <p_><quote_>"Look,"<quote/> Lara said, <quote_>"we're a little out 
L12  76 of sync here. You left an urgent message on my machine last night. 
L12  77 I didn't get home till the early hours so I couldn't respond. When 
L12  78 I called you back there was no reply. I called Florida-Technics. I 
L12  79 called Elaine at the club. I even called your office in England. 
L12  80 Nobody had seen or heard from you."<quote/><p/>
L12  81 <p_><quote_>"So you came,"<quote/> Anna said. 
L12  82 <quote_>"Why?"<quote/><p/>
L12  83 <p_><quote_>"Why?"<quote/> Lara said. <quote_>"Because I thought 
L12  84 you might be in trouble. It sounded as if you were in 
L12  85 trouble."<quote/><p/>
L12  86 <p_><quote_>"How kind,"<quote/> Anna said. <quote_>"But as you see 
L12  87 I'm not in trouble. There was a spot of bother last night but that 
L12  88 was last night."<quote/><p/>
L12  89 <p_><quote_>"So?"<quote/> Lara said.<p/>
L12  90 <p_><quote_>"So what?"<quote/><p/>
L12  91 <p_><quote_>"So, have you anything to report?"<quote/> Lara asked, 
L12  92 like a very patient woman. <quote_>"I don't want to waste my trip 
L12  93 entirely."<quote/><p/>
L12  94 <p_><quote_>"Have some coffee,"<quote/> Anna suggested. <quote_>"It 
L12  95 won't take a minute."<quote/><p/>
L12  96 <p_><quote_>"Look, I'm sorry I didn't call you right back,"<quote/> 
L12  97 Lara said. <quote_>"If that's what's bugging you."<quote/><p/>
L12  98 <p_><quote_>"I'm not bugged,"<quote/> Anna said. <quote_>"Where 
L12  99 were you last night?"<quote/><p/>
L12 100 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry?"<quote/> Lara said in offended tones.<p/>
L12 101 <p_><quote_>"With your mum again?"<quote/> Anna asked politely. 
L12 102 <quote_>"Is she any better?"<quote/><p/>
L12 103 <p_><quote_>"As it happens, yes, I was visiting with my 
L12 104 mother."<quote/> Lara frowned.<p/>
L12 105 <p_><quote_>"I could verify that?"<quote/> Anna asked. <quote_>"I 
L12 106 mean, are there three independent witnesses to this 
L12 107 visit?"<quote/><p/>
L12 108 <p_><quote_>"I don't get it,"<quote/> Lara said. <quote_>"I feel 
L12 109 this terrific hostility from you."<quote/><p/>
L12 110 <p_><quote_>"Hostility?"<quote/> Anna asked. <quote_>"Of course 
L12 111 not."<quote/><p/>
L12 112 <p_><quote_>"Quit fencing,"<quote/> Lara snapped. <quote_>"If you 
L12 113 have something to say to me, say it."<quote/><p/>
L12 114 <p_>Anna looked puzzled. <quote_>"I haven't got anything to say to 
L12 115 you,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"You came to me. I didn't come to 
L12 116 you."<quote/><p/>
L12 117 <p_><quote_>"I'm paying you to report to me,"<quote/> Lara said. 
L12 118 She was getting angry.<p/>
L12 119 <p_><quote_>"No, you're not,"<quote/> Anna said, thinking - fifteen, 
L12 120 love. It had taken a while, but sometimes even a single small point 
L12 121 took patience.<p/>
L12 122 <p_><quote_>"What do you mean?"<quote/> Lara said. <quote_>"I am 
L12 123 your employer."<quote/><p/>
L12 124 <p_><quote_>"No, you're not,"<quote/> Anna repeated. <quote_>"It's 
L12 125 all over."<quote/><p/>
L12 126 <p_><quote_>"It's all over when I say it is, not before,"<quote/> 
L12 127 Lara said angrily. <quote_>"Now where is Cynthia?"<quote/><p/>
L12 128 <p_><quote_>"I don't know,"<quote/> Anna said.<p/>
L12 129 <p_><quote_>"What do you mean you don't know?"<quote/><p/>
L12 130 <p_><quote_>"I just don't know,"<quote/> Anna said pleasantly. 
L12 131 <quote_>"They didn't tell me where they took her."<quote/><p/>
L12 132 <p_><quote_>"Who took her?"<quote/> Lara asked. She looked 
L12 133 shaken.<p/>
L12 134 <p_><quote_>"They didn't tell me their names."<quote/><p/>
L12 135 <p_><quote_>"You took her,"<quote/> Lara exclaimed. <quote_>"They 
L12 136 didn't take her."<quote/><p/>
L12 137 <p_><quote_>"Now we're getting somewhere,"<quote/> Anna said, 
L12 138 relieved. <quote_>"Thirty, love."<quote/><p/>
L12 139 <p_><quote_>"Are you crazy?"<quote/> Lara shouted. <quote_>"What 
L12 140 has come over you?"<quote/><p/>
L12 141 <p_><quote_>"It's something you told me once,"<quote/> Anna 
L12 142 said.<p/>
L12 143 <p_><quote_>"What?"<quote/><p/>
L12 144 <p_><quote_>"You told me not to ignore the mental game. I always 
L12 145 pay attention to what you say. I'm a big admirer."<quote/><p/>
L12 146 <p_><quote_>"That was tennis,"<quote/> Lara said.<p/>
L12 147 <p_><quote_>"No. You said it was my whole attitude to life. The 
L12 148 game was a draw. Remember? You said I should have won and that 
L12 149 therefore I had let you beat me. Because I ignored the mental 
L12 150 game."<quote/><p/>
L12 151 <p_><quote_>"Jesus!"<quote/> Lara said. <quote_>"It was only a 
L12 152 game."<quote/><p/>
L12 153 <p_><quote_>"Isn't that what I'm supposed to say?"<quote/> Anna 
L12 154 asked. <quote_>"That's what the loser says, right?"<quote/><p/>
L12 155 <p_><quote_>"What are you talking about?"<quote/> Lara said, 
L12 156 exasperated. <quote_>"All I did was ask where Cynthia is. Is that 
L12 157 too much for you? What am I going to tell Penny? That poor woman. 
L12 158 Hasn't she been through enough?"<quote/><p/>
L12 159 <p_><quote_>"Ah, the old shoelace trick,"<quote/> Anna said 
L12 160 approvingly. <quote_>"Why not wheel in you sick mother while you're 
L12 161 at it? Come on, Lara, Cynthia is just a point in your game with 
L12 162 Penny. You don't give a wet fart what happened to her."<quote/><p/>
L12 163 <p_><quote_>"I told you I never cared for Cyn,"<quote/> Lara said. 
L12 164 <quote_>"But I do care for Penny. I never saw you as a hard woman, 
L12 165 Anna, but how in hell can you use that child against Penny? You 
L12 166 really must tell me where she is."<quote/><p/>
L12 167 <p_><quote_>"You don't believe me, do you?"<quote/> Anna said 
L12 168 calmly. <quote_>"I told you, they took her away."<quote/><p/>
L12 169 <p_><quote_>"They did not take her away!"<quote/> Lara raged.<p/>
L12 170 <p_><quote_>"I was there, you weren't."<quote/><p/>
L12 171 <p_>Lara fell silent. Anna waited. Lara rearranged the pleats, and 
L12 172 then leant forward to pick up her handbag.<p/>
L12 173 <p_><quote_>"I could make you tell me,"<quote/> she said quietly. 
L12 174 She put the handbag on her knee and undid the clasp.<p/>
L12 175 <p_><quote_>"How?"<quote/> Anna asked, watching carefully.<p/>
L12 176 <p_><quote_>"Your Mr Brierly may not look like much, but one word 
L12 177 from me..."<quote/><p/>
L12 178 <p_><quote_>"That wouldn't work."<quote/><p/>
L12 179 <p_>Lara sighed. She fiddled with the clasp of her handbag. In the 
L12 180 end she said. <quote_>"This is ridiculous. What do you 
L12 181 want?"<quote/><p/>
L12 182 <p_><quote_>"Nothing,"<quote/> Anna said. <quote_>"I've got 
L12 183 everything I want."<quote/><p/>
L12 184 <p_><quote_>"More money?"<quote/> Lara suggested. <quote_>"A bonus? 
L12 185 Cash."<quote/><p/>
L12 186 <p_><quote_>"I've got loads of money,"<quote/> Anna said. 
L12 187 <quote_>"Enough to stuff a duvet."<quote/><p/>
L12 188 <p_>Lara's eyes narrowed. <quote_>"I see,"<quote/> she said slowly. 
L12 189 <quote_>"You switched sides. They paid you. Now I understand. This 
L12 190 is a hostage situation."<quote/><p/>
L12 191 <p_><quote_>"No, it isn't,"<quote/> Anna said.<p/>
L12 192 <p_><quote_>"I thought you were straight,"<quote/> Lara said. 
L12 193 <quote_>"I got to hand it to you - I didn't see this coming at 
L12 194 all."<quote/><p/>
L12 195 <p_><quote_>"I thought you were straight too,"<quote/> Anna 
L12 196 replied.<p/>
L12 197 <p_><quote_>"Why?"<quote/> Lara asked. <quote_>"I thought we got 
L12 198 along."<quote/><p/>
L12 199 <p_><quote_>"You made a convenience of me,"<quote/> Anna said.<p/>
L12 200 <p_><quote_>"Pride,"<quote/> Lara said. <quote_>"I should have 
L12 201 known."<quote/><p/>
L12 202 <p_><quote_>"One of the first strategies of the game,"<quote/> Anna 
L12 203 told her cheerfully. <quote_>"Know your opponent. I slipped up 
L12 204 there myself. I should've checked the details - like who you were 
L12 205 married to..."<quote/><p/>
L12 206 <p_><quote_>"You know about that?"<quote/><p/>
L12 207 <p_><quote_>"And how much you were paying him in the 
L12 208 settlement."<quote/><p/>
L12 209 <p_>Lara sighed again. She seemed much more sure of herself now 
L12 210 that she was convinced of Anna's dishonesty. But she seemed tired 
L12 211 too.<p/>
L12 212 <p_><quote_>"You understand then,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"You 
L12 213 and I both know what it is to be made a convenience of. I thought I 
L12 214 knew all the tricks. God, he made a sucker of me! It was that 
L12 215 smooth British charm. If it hadn't been for that I'd have seen him 
L12 216 coming a mile off."<quote/><p/>
L12 217 <p_><quote_>"You divorced him."<quote/><p/>
L12 218 <p_><quote_>"It wasn't enough. I had to pay him off and even then I 
L12 219 couldn't get rid of him. Every way I turned I tripped over him. He 
L12 220 used my contacts, my outlets, he used my name. So then he runs away 
L12 221 with my designer's daughter, and my label goes up in smoke 
L12 222 too."<quote/><p/>
L12 223 <p_><quote_>"He wasn't a nice man,"<quote_> Anna agreed.<p/>
L12 224 <p_><quote_>"Nice!"<quote/> Lara made an explosive sound in her 
L12 225 throat. <quote_>"He... I can't tell you..."<quote/> She began to 
L12 226 count on her fingers. <quote_>"He was a cheat, a thief, a liar. He 
L12 227 was sexually promiscuous. He used drugs. He smoked. He sold 
L12 228 drugs."<quote/><p/>
L12 229 <p_><quote_>"You knew about that?"<quote/> Anna asked.<p/>
L12 230 <p_><quote_>"Sure I did. It was the final straw. He was importing 
L12 231 steroids and God knows what else in consignments of <tf|>my 
L12 232 garments. If anyone had got to know about that my whole operation 
L12 233 would have gone to hell. As it was he sold the goddamned things at 
L12 234 my racket club. I mean he was only a member because he was my 
L12 235 husband.<p/>
L12 236 <p_>People knew!"<quote/> Lara said emphatically. <quote_>"He was 
L12 237 talked about. And it was <tf|>my goddamned reputation."<quote/><p/>
L12 238 <p_><quote_>"You should have told Penny,"<quote/> Anna said. 
L12 239 <quote_>"You could've saved her a lot of grief."<quote/><p/>
L12 240 <p_><quote_>"I'm talking about my reputation!"<quote/> Lara 
L12 241 snapped.<p/>
L12 242 <p_><quote_>"I'm talking about your friend!"<quote/><p/>
L12 243 <p_><quote_>"I guess you're right,"<quote/> Lara said tiredly. 
L12 244 <quote_>"But I felt such a fool. I didn't even tell her I was 
L12 245 married. He was a few years younger than I, and I thought she'd 
L12 246 lose respect for me."<quote/><p/>
L12 247 <p_><quote_>"So poor Cynthia was sacrificed to your 
L12 248 reputation."<quote/><p/>
L12 249 <p_><quote_>"I don't think you have the right to talk to me like 
L12 250 that,"<quote/> Lara said. <quote_>"You've been bought. It cost me a 
L12 251 lot of money to find Hugh and Cyn. You were paid. Now you want me 
L12 252 to pay again."<quote/><p/>
L12 253 <p_><quote_>"No, I don't,"<quote/> Anna said.<p/>
L12 254 <p_><quote_>"Well, you tell Mr Fantini or Fantoni or whatever he 
L12 255 chooses to call himself he won't get a single cent out of me. I 
L12 256 gave him information but I will not buy Cynthia. I'm through. He 
L12 257 can't get at me through her."<quote/><p/>
L12 258 <p_><quote_>"That's exactly what Hugh said."<quote/> Anna sighed. 
L12 259 <quote_>"Poor Cynthia. She isn't worth very much to anyone. Except 
L12 260 her mother, perhaps."<quote/><p/>
L12 261 <p_><quote_>"She can't pay you-,"<quote/> Lara said quickly. 
L12 262 <quote_>"She's had no income for over a year. Why, I'm practically 
L12 263 keeping her."<quote/><p/>
L12 264 <p_><quote_>"More fool you,"<quote/> Anna said.<p/>
L12 265 <p_><quote_>"What do you mean?"<quote/><p/>
L12 266 <p_><quote_>"I don't really know,"<quote/> Anna said. <quote_>"It's 
L12 267 just an instinct. I could be wrong."<quote/><p/>
L12 268 <p_><quote_>"Penny loves me,"<quote/> Lara said. <quote_>"We've 
L12 269 been friends for years."<quote/><p/>
L12 270 <p_><quote_>"Friends are equals. You made a dependant out of 
L12 271 her."<quote/><p/>
L12 272 <p_><quote_>"Penny loves me,"<quote/> Lara insisted.<p/>
L12 273 <p_><quote_>"But do you love Penny?"<quote/> Anna asked. 
L12 274 <quote_>"You didn't give her the information she required to keep 
L12 275 her family together. Maybe you even encouraged Hugh.
L12 276 
L13   1 <#FLOB:L13\><quote_>"We both knew what we were doing,"<quote/> he 
L13   2 said soothingly. <quote_>"And if one of us doesn't want to go on 
L13   3 doing it, then they're perfectly entitled to say so."<quote/><p/>
L13   4 <p_><quote_>"Thanks."<quote/><p/>
L13   5 <p_><quote_>"And perhaps you're right. Perhaps we do live a bit too 
L13   6 close for comfort."<quote/><p/>
L13   7 <p_>He ran some cold water into the washbasin, turned back the 
L13   8 cuffs of his shirt, <}_><-|>them<+|>then<}/> immersed his hands in 
L13   9 the water. Bending forward, he cupped his hands and dashed some 
L13  10 over his face. Then, careful not to stain his trousers, he fished a 
L13  11 folded, white linen handkerchief from his pocket, held it by a 
L13  12 corner so it fell open and used it to dry himself.<p/>
L13  13 <p_>When he looked at her again, she was holding out a piece of 
L13  14 paper.<p/>
L13  15 <p_><quote_>"I've had some letters."<quote/><p/>
L13  16 <p_><quote_>"What?"<quote/><p/>
L13  17 <p_><quote_>"Some letters. Anonymous ones. This one arrived - 
L13  18 "<quote/><p/>
L13  19 <p_><quote_>"He took it from her, suddenly full of misgivings. 
L13  20 There was something amiss after all.<p/>
L13  21 <p_><quote_>"It arrived a few days ago. But there were four others 
L13  22 before that one."<quote/><p/>
L13  23 <p_>What she termed a letter was merely a sheet of unlined writing 
L13  24 paper with six lines of typing across the top.<p/>
L13  25 <p_>ALL WICKEDNESS IS BUT LITTLE TO THE WICKEDNESS OF A WOMAN: PUT 
L13  26 THE ONE THOUSAND POUNDS INSIDE AN ENVELOPE AND POST IT TO: BOX NO. 
L13  27 391, RETFORD ACCOMODATION AGENCY; 48 GABRIELE ROAD; HAMMERSMITH, 
L13  28 LONDON: THIS MUST ARRIVE WITHIN TWO WEEKS FROM TODAY. AND KNOW THAT 
L13  29 TO CONTINUE IN YOUR ADULTERY WILL ENSURE FURTHER PAYMENTS BOTH IN 
L13  30 THIS WORLD AND THE WORLD TO COME.<p/>
L13  31 <p_>He looked at her, trying to find the question he wanted to ask 
L13  32 first.<p/>
L13  33 <p_><quote_>"There were four others before that,"<quote/> she 
L13  34 repeated. <quote_>"I wasn't going to tell you but-"<quote/><p/>
L13  35 <p_><quote_>"Four?"<quote/><p/>
L13  36 <p_><quote_>"Yes. Oh, not all like that. Not all telling me to send 
L13  37 money. That's the second one that's done that."<quote/><p/>
L13  38 <p_>It was as though the world had begun to spin a little faster, 
L13  39 throwing him off balance. The paper he was holding smelled of 
L13  40 scandal, public denunciation... the approach of an as yet undefined 
L13  41 disaster.<p/>
L13  42 <p_><quote_>"Why didn't you tell me?"<quote/><p/>
L13  43 <p_><quote_>"Because the others didn't... I mean, they weren't like 
L13  44 that one."<quote/><p/>
L13  45 <p_><quote_>"So what were they like? What did they say?"<quote/><p/>
L13  46 <p_><quote_>"Well, they said the same sort of thing, yes,"<quote/> 
L13  47 she conceded. But not asking for money."<quote/><p/>
L13  48 <p_><quote_>"But they were about us? About our 
L13  49 relationship?"<quote/><p/>
L13  50 <p_><quote_>"Yes,"<quote/> she admitted.<p/>
L13  51 <p_><quote_>"Like this one? Saying it must stop? That kind of 
L13  52 thing?"<quote/><p/>
L13  53 <p_><quote_>"Yes."<quote/><p/>
L13  54 <p_><quote_>"Jesus,"<quote/> he said quietly. <quote_>"You've been 
L13  55 getting letters about us?"<quote/><p/>
L13  56 <p_><quote_>"Yes, but not all like this one-"<quote/><p/>
L13  57 <p_>His fears flared into anger. <quote_>"But why the hell didn't 
L13  58 you tell me? Why?"<quote/><p/>
L13  59 <p_>She muttered something.<p/>
L13  60 <p_><quote_>"What?"<quote/> he demanded.<p/>
L13  61 <p_><quote_>"I didn't want to worry you."<quote/><p/>
L13  62 <p_><quote_>"Worry me? Christ! Worry me?"<quote/> He wanted to take 
L13  63 her by the shoulders and shake her. <quote_>"You're being 
L13  64 blackmailed and you didn't want to worry me?"<quote/><p/>
L13  65 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry, Philip, but-"<quote/><p/>
L13  66 <p_><quote_>"How many-"<quote/> But of course, she had already told 
L13  67 him that. <quote_>"I mean, how long is it since you got the first 
L13  68 of these?"<quote/><p/>
L13  69 <p_><quote_>"A few weeks. Three or four weeks."<quote/><p/>
L13  70 <p_><quote_>"Jesus,"<quote/> he said again. He looked down at the 
L13  71 paper, which was still in his hand, and re-read it, more carefully 
L13  72 this time.<p/>
L13  73 <p_><quote_>"I don't know who's sending them,"<quote/> she said, 
L13  74 near to tears. <quote_>"But I just hoped they'd stop. Every time I 
L13  75 got one I hoped it would be the last. But then when I got this one 
L13  76 I thought... well, I thought I should tell you."<quote/><p/>
L13  77 <p_><quote_>"It must be somebody who knows you."<quote/> She said 
L13  78 nothing, so he went on, insistently. <quote_>"It must be. I mean 
L13  79 it's aimed at you. All this about wickedness of a woman. Religious 
L13  80 garbage. Did you tell anybody?"<quote/><p/>
L13  81 <p_><quote_>"No."<quote/><p/>
L13  82 <p_><quote_>"I don't mean about the letters. About us? Did you tell 
L13  83 anybody about us?"<quote/><p/>
L13  84 <p_><quote_>"No. I swear I didn't, no."<quote/><p/>
L13  85 <p_><quote_>"You're sure?"<quote/><p/>
L13  86 <p_><quote_>"Yes! Philip, please, it's not my fault. I didn't write 
L13  87 the bloody things."<quote/><p/>
L13  88 <p_>She was distressed, fumbling with her box of matches and 
L13  89 lighting another cigarette, while tears coursed down her cheeks.<p/>
L13  90 <p_><quote_>"All right,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"Calm down. Just 
L13  91 calm down."<quote/><p/>
L13  92 <p_>He made himself go to her and stroke her wet cheek with the 
L13  93 back of his hand, though in truth he felt more like slapping her. 
L13  94 It might not be wholly fair but he couldn't rid himself of the 
L13  95 feeling that, in remaining silent about the letters, she had 
L13  96 connived at them, making herself an ally of the blackmailer. (The 
L13  97 wild thought even crossed his mind that the entire thing might be a 
L13  98 put-up job, but he couldn't believe that, not really.)<p/>
L13  99 <p_><quote_>"And this is the real reason you want us to stop 
L13 100 meeting, is it?"<quote/><p/>
L13 101 <p_><quote_>"No. It isn't, no."<quote/><p/>
L13 102 <p_>Well, she couldn't expect him to believe that. Still, who cared 
L13 103 now what her reasons were? The abrupt end to their affair was 
L13 104 suddenly incidental. He would have ended it himself. pronto, had he 
L13 105 had the slightest inkling of a blackmailer on the sidelines.<p/>
L13 106 <p_>He handed her the letter back.<p/>
L13 107 <p_><quote_>"What should we do, Philip?"<quote/><p/>
L13 108 <p_><quote_>"I don't know,"<quote/> he muttered, resenting the 'we' 
L13 109 that sought to drag him into the morass.<p/>
L13 110 <p_><quote_>"Should we go to the police?"<quote/><p/>
L13 111 <p_>The look he gave her answered that.<p/>
L13 112 <p_><quote_>"Well, no,"<quote/> she stammered. <quote_>"So what do 
L13 113 you think?"<quote/> Do you think we should pay it then?"<quote/><p/>
L13 114 <p_>He caught sight of himself in the mirror that hung lopsidedly 
L13 115 above the washbasin: hot and sweaty in his shirt sleeves, trapped 
L13 116 in a dirty room with a woman who wasn't sexy any more but a threat 
L13 117 to him. He had to get out, and there wasn't really any nice way of 
L13 118 doing that.<p/>
L13 119 <p_><quote_>"I don't think you should pay it, no."<quote/><p/>
L13 120 <p_><quote_>"No?"<quote/> she said, seizing on that. <quote_>"So 
L13 121 what should I do? If I don't pay it, then he might write to 
L13 122 Gerald."<quote/><p/>
L13 123 <p_>It was the first time her husband's name had been mentioned 
L13 124 between them.<p/>
L13 125 <p_><quote_>"Well, pay it then if you think you have 
L13 126 to."<quote/><p/>
L13 127 <p_><quote_>"But I can't. I haven't got a thousand pounds, not that 
L13 128 I can pay without Gerald knowing."<quote/><p/>
L13 129 <p_>Meaning <tf|>he should pay it? Was that what she was angling 
L13 130 after?<p/>
L13 131 <p_>If so, she would disappointed. He wanted nothing to do with 
L13 132 this. He now agreed wholeheartedly with her that they must no 
L13 133 longer meet. For him to become involved in this blackmailing 
L13 134 business would only serve to continue the relationship between 
L13 135 <}_><-|>then<+|>them<}/>, even if in a non-sexual fashion.<p/>
L13 136 <p_>He also remembered the last time he had paid - and through the 
L13 137 nose - to disentangle himself from a relationship. Never again, he 
L13 138 had resolved; and now he must stand by that resolution.<p/>
L13 139 <p_><quote_>"Well, then I don't know what you should do,"<quote/> 
L13 140 he said.<p/>
L13 141 <p_><quote_>"But can't you at least tell me what you 
L13 142 think?"<quote/> she appealed.<p/>
L13 143 <p_><quote_>"Angela, look this is your problem. You have to solve 
L13 144 it. But, however you do that, don't involve me, OK?"<quote/><p/>
L13 145 <p_>She stared at him, stunned.<p/>
L13 146 <p_><quote_>"If you'd involved me from the beginning it might have 
L13 147 been different."<quote/> Though he was grateful she hadn't, since 
L13 148 it was that which now gave him his excuse for bowing out. 
L13 149 <quote_>"But you didn't. Well, I can't do anything now. I'm sorry 
L13 150 but I can't. You've just got to sort the whole thing out 
L13 151 yourself."<quote/> And he reached for his jacket.<p/>
L13 152 <p_><quote_>"You can't... you can't just walk out,"<quote/> she 
L13 153 said, finding her voice.<p/>
L13 154 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes, I can. In fact, I have to. Surely you can see 
L13 155 that? And, anyway, you were the one who said we had to stop seeing 
L13 156 one another-"<quote/><p/>
L13 157 <p_><quote_>"Because I was frightened of Gerald finding 
L13 158 out!"<quote/><p/>
L13 159 <p_><quote_>"Yes, well -"<quote/><p/>
L13 160 <p_><quote_>"Well, now he's going to, isn't he? If I have to pay 
L13 161 this fucking money!"<quote/><p/>
L13 162 <p_>She was shouting into his face, so that he wanted to push her 
L13 163 away from him. He wouldn't have believed her capable of such fury, 
L13 164 though perhaps it was the flip side of her passionate performance 
L13 165 on the bed.<p/>
L13 166 <p_>Still, he wasn't giving in to it.<p/>
L13 167 <p_><quote_>"Whether you pay it or not, that's your business. Just 
L13 168 leave me out of it."<quote/><p/>
L13 169 <p_><quote_>"Bastard!"<quote/><p/>
L13 170 <p_><quote_>"And I'm sorry but -"<quote/><p/>
L13 171 <p_>To his amazement and brief alarm, she flung herself at him, 
L13 172 catching him just as he was reaching behind to pull on his jacket. 
L13 173 He took her puny blows on his chest and shoulders before he was 
L13 174 able to grab her wrists and fling her down on to the bed. It 
L13 175 brought him down too, on top of her, so that they might almost have 
L13 176 been making love instead of fighting.<p/>
L13 177 <p_><quote_>"Stop that!"<quote/> he gasped.<p/>
L13 178 <p_><quote_>"Fucking bastard!"<quote/><p/>
L13 179 <p_><quote_>"I said stop it!"<quote/><p/>
L13 180 <p_>He had never before fought with a woman and felt humiliated and 
L13 181 outraged, his heart pounding. He lifted himself onto his knees, 
L13 182 while keeping her hands pinioned.<p/>
L13 183 <p_><quote_>"Will you stop being so damn stupid!"<quote/><p/>
L13 184 <p_><quote_>"You're a rat!"<quote/><p/>
L13 185 <p_><quote_>"I'm trying to be sensible."<quote/><p/>
L13 186 <p_><quote_>"A fucking rat!"<quote/><p/>
L13 187 <p_>He couldn't remain on top of her in that absurd fashion and so, 
L13 188 risking another hail of blows, put his feet to the floor, let go of 
L13 189 her wrists and stepped away from her, as far as the small room 
L13 190 would allow.<p/>
L13 191 <p_><quote_>"You don't know what you're saying,"<quote/> he urged. 
L13 192 <quote_>"You've gone and got yourself all upset. Now if you just 
L13 193 calm down, you'll realise the sense of what I'm saying."<quote/><p/>
L13 194 <p_><quote_>"For you,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"It might make 
L13 195 sense for you."<quote/><p/>
L13 196 <p_>She had remained on the bed, though bringing her arms down.<p/>
L13 197 <p_>He picked up his jacket and dusted it off.<p/>
L13 198 <p_><quote_>"For both of us,"<quote/> he said. <quote_>"You'll see 
L13 199 that."<quote/><p/>
L13 200 <p_><quote_>"I thought you'd help me. I honestly thought you'd help 
L13 201 me."<quote/><p/>
L13 202 <p_>He would have to go. Just walk out and leave her. There could 
L13 203 be no point in prolonging the hysterical debate. He put on his 
L13 204 jacket and felt in the pocket for his car keys.<p/>
L13 205 <p_><quote_>"Right,"<quote/> he said briskly, <quote_>"I'm going 
L13 206 now. I'm sorry we've had this unfortunate scene but -"<quote/><p/>
L13 207 <p_><quote_>"You've got to help me pay him, Philip. You've got 
L13 208 to."<quote/>-<p/>
L13 209 <p_><quote_>"I don't think so, no. And I'm sorry but I'm not going 
L13 210 to argue the point any longer,"<quote/> he said, turning towards 
L13 211 the door. <quote_>"Goodbye."<quote/><p/>
L13 212 <p_>Something struck the side of his head. He gave an involuntary 
L13 213 cry of pain and put up a defensive hand. He saw it was the ashtray 
L13 214 that she had flung at him as she now came back to sudden life and 
L13 215 pulled herself off the bed. Then she was coming at him again, 
L13 216 throwing another desperate flurry of punches.<p/>
L13 217 <p_>This time he didn't attempt to grab her hands but struck out 
L13 218 with the back of his own, fetching her a sharp blow across the side 
L13 219 of her face, which made her cry out and halted her advance. Then he 
L13 220 grabbed her by the shoulders and forced her back against the partly 
L13 221 opened window.<p/>
L13 222 <p_><quote_>"Yes, go on, hit me,"<quote/> she taunted, the tears 
L13 223 running down her face. <quote_>"Hit me, you fucking 
L13 224 coward."<quote/><p/>
L13 225 <p_>He was overcome by the compulsion to take her at her word and 
L13 226 to hurt her. To show his power over her and make her obey. He shook 
L13 227 her hard and was rewarded as the look on her face changed to one of 
L13 228 panic and fear.<p/>
L13 229 <p_>Then he swung her round so she was away from the window, let go 
L13 230 of her and, before she could fall, gave her a final, open-handed 
L13 231 blow that sent her spinning across the room.<p/>
L13 232 <p_>As she went down, her head slammed into the washbasin, setting 
L13 233 up an echoing vibration. When it died away, Angela was lying 
L13 234 immobile on the thin strip of carpet beside the bed.<p/>
L13 235 <p_>Philip stared down at her, regaining his breath. A refrain - 
L13 236 <quote_>"She deserved it, she brought it on herself"<quote/> - 
L13 237 began to run through his head, as though he were preparing his 
L13 238 defence without yet knowing the magnitude of the charge.<p/>
L13 239 <p_><quote|>"Angela,"<quote/> he said, once he had regained his 
L13 240 breath, <quote_>"stop it, please."<quote/> She lay in a collapsed 
L13 241 heap, one leg beneath her, arms flung out. Her mouth was slightly 
L13 242 open, the eyes wide and staring. <quote_>"Oh, Christ,"<quote/> he 
L13 243 said, and dropped to his knees beside her.<p/>
L13 244 <p_>She didn't seem to be breathing. He felt her wrists and could 
L13 245 find no sign of a pulse.
L13 246 
L14   1 <#FLOB:L14\>The Yeos looked at each other, two competent, sociable 
L14   2 people, united even at this moment in the need to find a way of 
L14   3 dealing with whatever neighbours had chosen this moment to call.<p/>
L14   4 <p_><quote|>"Upstairs," Claudia said, under her breath and they 
L14   5 both crept upstairs, where Claudia picked up the intercom and 
L14   6 snapped into it: <quote_>"Who is it? I'm in the bath. Oh, Mr 
L14   7 McLeish ... can you hang on while I get dressed? Or better still, 
L14   8 come back in ten minutes?"<quote/> She felt her heart thump and her 
L14   9 voice go shrill.<p/>
L14  10 <p_><quote_>"Is Mr Yeo not home yet?"<quote/> John McLeish was 
L14  11 sounding tense, she thought.<p/>
L14  12 <p_><quote_>"No, I don't think so, or he'd have answered the 
L14  13 door."<quote/> She listened to the sound of water running in the 
L14  14 bathrom and fought for calm; every minute she could keep the police 
L14  15 at bay gave Peter a better chance.<p/>
L14  16 <p_><quote_>"I'll just wait, then, for a few minutes till you're 
L14  17 ready."<quote/><p/>
L14  18 <p_>Claudia put the phone down, tense but triumphant, and looked up 
L14  19 to see her husband emerging from the bathroom with his jacket and 
L14  20 tie. He held out his arms and she went to him.<p/>
L14  21 <p_><quote_>"You're a good girl,"<quote/> he said, shakily. 
L14  22 <quote_>"Give us a kiss, then."<quote/> They embraced and she 
L14  23 understood that he was calm again, his face and hair still damp 
L14  24 from his wash.<p/>
L14  25 <p_><quote|>"Claudia." He stopped kissing her, moved his hands to 
L14  26 her shoulders and made her look at him. <quote_>"This is going to 
L14  27 be bad. The business is in a mess, and I mean a real mess, so there 
L14  28 isn't much income. But this house is worth a lot, and we've got 
L14  29 some investments."<quote/><p/>
L14  30 <p_><quote|>"Peter!"<p/>
L14  31 <p_><quote_>"Darling, there is nothing to be done. I'll have to 
L14  32 tell McLeish what happened. He either knows already, or he's close 
L14  33 to it. I thought he'd got it yesterday, he just couldn't prove it. 
L14  34 Come on, that's my good girl."<quote/> He held her as she burst 
L14  35 into tears again. <quote_>"You did well. I had the time to realize 
L14  36 that I couldn't go on, that we'd never manage to keep going, having 
L14  37 to keep a secret like this. I thought I could when it was just me, 
L14  38 but actually I don't think I could have, even then."<quote/> He 
L14  39 held her away from him. <quote_>"Come on, darling, I'd rather let 
L14  40 him in than have them force their way in. I looked out the window 
L14  41 just now and there are two blokes round the back, and the girl I 
L14  42 told you about, Sergeant Crane."<quote/> He held Claudia while she 
L14  43 quietened, listening to the silence outside.<p/>
L14  44 <p_><quote_>"Sorry, sorry. Let me wash my face, and I'll come with 
L14  45 you."<quote/><p/>
L14  46 <p_>So they went together to open the door and admit John McLeish 
L14  47 who for a split second looked startled, then understood 
L14  48 immediately.<p/>
L14  49 <p_><quote_>"I have Sergeant Davidson and Sergeant Crane with 
L14  50 me,"<quote/> he said gently.<p/>
L14  51 <p_><quote_>"I'll come with you,"<quote/> Peter Yeo said.<p/>
L14  52 <p_><quote_>"We'll come with you,"<quote/> his wife corrected 
L14  53 him.<p/>
L14  54 <p_>At well past midnight, when Claudia Yeo had been sent with a 
L14  55 police driver to stay with a sister for the night and Peter Yeo had 
L14  56 been bedded down in a police cell, Catherine Crane walked slowly 
L14  57 down the yellow-lit corridor, past darkened offices and stopped at 
L14  58 the door of her own office. She frowned at her desk; the in-tray 
L14  59 had filled with papers since lunch-time, but why was the top one in 
L14  60 red? She walked round her desk and saw that it was not one but 
L14  61 three messages, all marked urgent, all asking her to ring Detective 
L14  62 Inspector David Smith at whatever hour of the night she wished.<p/>
L14  63 <p_>She sat down heavily and spread the pieces of paper in front of 
L14  64 her, her heart thumping. Then she rang the number that had been 
L14  65 given to her and the phone was answered on the second ring.<p/>
L14  66 <p_><quote_>"It's Catherine."<quote/><p/>
L14  67 <h_><p_>Epilogue<p/><h/>
L14  68 <p_>John McLeish swung his car into the green space beside the 
L14  69 church, next to a BBC van. He climbed out and stretched, realizing 
L14  70 how exhausted he still was; despite forty-eight hours out of the 
L14  71 office, mostly spent asleep, the hour's drive had tired him. He 
L14  72 stood in the raw, bright sun, shivering slightly in the wind that 
L14  73 swept across the fens straight from Moscow, considering the 
L14  74 sizeable parish church before him: fourteenth-century, with a lot 
L14  75 of later additions, he decided. The lines of the building were 
L14  76 obscured by yards and yards of cable, apparently suspended from the 
L14  77 flying buttresses. McLeish picked his way past a throbbing 
L14  78 generator and five men eating sausage rolls from a mobile canteen, 
L14  79 and hesitated at the church door, taking in the scene. He slid 
L14  80 quietly into a pew halfway up the nave, a good ten rows behind a 
L14  81 group of people all engaged in furious argument.<p/>
L14  82 <p_><quote_>"Hold it right there, please Jamie. Little to the left, 
L14  83 so you pick up the mike in the pulpit. Somebody get that bloody 
L14  84 cable out of shot - excuse me, Vicar."<quote/><p/>
L14  85 <p_>There was a pause while Jamie Brett-Smith moved to stand 
L14  86 unselfconsciously still, four feet from the pulpit, and two cameras 
L14  87 swivelled towards him. <quote_>"All right. Last song, just 'Bless 
L14  88 this House' then it's a wrap. You look a little unfinished, Jamie, 
L14  89 somehow. We don't want to keep the frock for this, do we, but what 
L14  90 about a bow tie?"<p/>
L14  91 <p_>Jamie was seen to look enquiringly at someone in the row of 
L14  92 spectators, and McLeish saw a familiar dark head come up 
L14  93 sharply.<p/>
L14  94 <p_><quote_>"Absolutely not. Too naff!"<quote/><p/>
L14  95 <p_>This definite judgement was delivered with all Francesca's 
L14  96 confidence, and as usual took no account of her audience at least 
L14  97 fifty per cent of whom were sporting bow ties.<p/>
L14  98 <p_><quote_>"What else do you suggest, darling?"<quote/> The 
L14  99 question was plainly rhetorical, but Francesca, McLeish could see, 
L14 100 was giving it careful thought.<p/>
L14 101 <p_><quote_>"His choir smock? If that does not appeal, how about an 
L14 102 ordinary tie and the school jacket, worn unbuttoned? That at least 
L14 103 will be unremarkable."<quote/> The clear voice was totally assured, 
L14 104 and the producer was heard to say <tf_>sotto voce<tf/> that he had, 
L14 105 in his pathetic way, been aiming for something remarkable, but no 
L14 106 matter. Agreement appeared to have been reached and Jamie pulled on 
L14 107 a tie and shrugged himself into a dark jacket. He glanced towards 
L14 108 the organist, waited out the introductory bars and launched, high 
L14 109 and clear, into 'Bless this House'. He sang like a lark, and the 
L14 110 audience sat in stillness that it could be felt.<p/>
L14 111 <p_>McLeish was unsurprised to see that one of the cameramen, 
L14 112 attention never wavering from his job, had tears rolling slowly 
L14 113 down his face. Francesca, he could just see, was hunched forward, 
L14 114 her head held stiffly, as Jamie went confidently for the top note. 
L14 115 And the voice cracked, producing only a thin, stretched sound.<p/>
L14 116 <p_>He stopped immediately, the spell broken, and looked anxiously 
L14 117 towards the front row.<p/>
L14 118 <p_><quote_>"Take it again from D, Jamie."<quote/> Francesca 
L14 119 sounded tense. The boy missed the note again. Relax, girl, McLeish 
L14 120 urged silently - that boy vibrates to you, always has. There was a 
L14 121 small silence while Jamie stood rigid and miserable, touching his 
L14 122 throat, looking anxiously to Francesca.<p/>
L14 123 <p_><quote_>"Tea break?"<quote/> she said briskly, and he saw her 
L14 124 profile as she glanced along the line to the producer, who nodded 
L14 125 reluctant approval.<p/>
L14 126 <p_><quote_>"Ten minutes."<quote/><p/>
L14 127 <p_>Francesca went straight to Jamie, and McLeish watched as the 
L14 128 two of them disappeared through a door in the north transept.<p/>
L14 129 <p_><quote_>"The voice is breaking, that's the problem,"<quote/> 
L14 130 the producer observed in a high drawl to the rest of the row. 
L14 131 <quote_>"Lucky if we get through today. Better not book him for any 
L14 132 more, Sally. When it goes, it goes."<quote/><p/>
L14 133 <p_>McLeish hoped silently that no one was going to say anything 
L14 134 like this in front of Jamie and shrank as close as she could to a 
L14 135 pillar, nodding politely to a young woman who was prowling the 
L14 136 aisle and was hesitating as to whether to challenge him. He waited, 
L14 137 unmoving and patiently, until there was a small stir in the front 
L14 138 row, and Jamie and Francesca appeared again, both genuflecting and 
L14 139 making the sign of the Cross as they passed the altar. One forgot 
L14 140 that Francesca had been brought up High Church, McLeish thought 
L14 141 disapprovingly, his Presbyterian hackles rising.<p/>
L14 142 <p_>This time Jamie got right through the song, triumphantly 
L14 143 hitting the top note, filling it in as he got there, and ending 
L14 144 only a little husky. He stopped, let the camera track him to the 
L14 145 link reporter, and, looking about six years old, beamed at 
L14 146 Francesca in the front row. She was slightly off centre, so McLeish 
L14 147 could just see her in profile as she grinned back at Jamie in a 
L14 148 moment of perfect complicity.<p/>
L14 149 <p_>Then she rose and signalled, and the boy followed her through 
L14 150 the side door, her arm going round his shoulders as they went out. 
L14 151 McLeish noticed again how he had shot up, the top of his blond 
L14 152 cockatoo haircut now only just lower than the top of Francesca's 
L14 153 dark head.<p/>
L14 154 <p_>McLeish waited a decorous two minutes while, true to his 
L14 155 upbringing, he said the Lord's Prayer without bending the knee, 
L14 156 then he moved swiftly through the purposeful gangs of BBC 
L14 157 technicians silently tugging at cables and dismantling equipment 
L14 158 like people taking down Christmas decorations. Emerging into the 
L14 159 bright light of day, he saw Francesca and Jamie leaning on an 
L14 160 ornate tomb, deep in conversation, heads bent against the cold 
L14 161 wind. Jamie was crying, and Francesca's arms went round him, easily 
L14 162 and tenderly. McLeish stopped in his tracks and shrank into the 
L14 163 porch only a few feet from them.<p/>
L14 164 <p_><quote_>"I can't go on with singing, can I?"<quote/> the boy 
L14 165 said painfully into Francesca's shoulder.<p/>
L14 166 <p_><quote_>"No, pettie, it's over. It happens, and if you go on 
L14 167 you'll strain the vocal cords. Gin isn't all that good for 
L14 168 them."<quote/><p/>
L14 169 <p_>The boy giggled, and observed it was as well that she had known 
L14 170 that trick, he would never have got through without it.<p/>
L14 171 <p_><quote_>"Well, I had to use it for Perry and Tris. I should 
L14 172 know."<quote/><p/>
L14 173 <p_>Francesca found a handkerchief and gave it to him. 
L14 174 <quote_>"Jamie, if your voice didn't go, all sorts of other things 
L14 175 wouldn't happen and you'd never be a grown-up man."<quote/><p/>
L14 176 <p_><quote_>"What sorts of things?"<quote/> Jamie enquired 
L14 177 innocently, blowing his nose.<p/>
L14 178 <p_><quote_>"Get on with you, you bad thing you."<quote/><p/>
L14 179 <p_><quote_>"Anyway, what's so great about growing up?"<quote/> The 
L14 180 boy, remembering, stroked her shoulder apologetically.<p/>
L14 181 <p_><quote_>"There are bad patches,"<quote/> she acknowledged, 
L14 182 grimly. <quote_>"But it's still better than being a kid and being 
L14 183 pushed around without anyone telling you what's happening."<quote/> 
L14 184 She contemplated some of the bleaker passages of her own childhood, 
L14 185 looking over Jamie's shoulder to seek some relief from her 
L14 186 thoughts, and started as she recognized John McLeish in the shadow 
L14 187 of the church porch.<p/>
L14 188 <p_>Jamie turned, following her gaze, and beamed with pleasure, 
L14 189 stopping awkwardly as he recalled that McLeish was no longer a 
L14 190 Wilson familiar. McLeish strode heavily towards them, noticing how 
L14 191 Francesca backed against the tomb as if preparing to defend it 
L14 192 against all comers. Jamie looked uneasily from one to the other and 
L14 193 ranged himself beside Francesca as McLeish stopped.<p/>
L14 194 <p_><quote|>"Frannie?" the boy said anxiously, ignoring him.<p/>
L14 195 <p_><quote_>"It's all right, Jamie. You go back in and make sure 
L14 196 you've got all your stuff. I'll fetch you from the church."<quote/> 
L14 197 Francesca spoke as steadily as she could and patted his arm as she 
L14 198 dispatched him, giving him a little reassuring wave as he turned 
L14 199 anxiously to look back at her. Then she looked reluctantly to John 
L14 200 McLeish, at the familiar solid jaw, slightly crooked nose, and 
L14 201 determined straight mouth. He has come to tell me it is truly over, 
L14 202 she thought steadily: he has come to say he is marrying that 
L14 203 beautiful girl, and I cannot bear it. I have lost my chance of 
L14 204 becoming the central concern of a good man, and I did that 
L14 205 myself.<p/>
L14 206 <p_>She felt the stone cold at her back, remembering other 
L14 207 unbearable things that in the end she had endured and survived, and 
L14 208 found the strength to move away from the supporting marble.<p/>
L14 209 <p_><quote_>"How are you, John?"<quote/> she said, pushing her 
L14 210 hands hard into her pockets to keep herself from shivering.
L14 211 
L15   1 <#FLOB:L15\><p_><quote_>"Let's get it done before the pub throws 
L15   2 out<&|>sic!,"<quote/> I said, leading off.<p/>
L15   3 <p_><quote_>"Fine by me,"<quote/> said Crackle, <quote_>"I'm not 
L15   4 needed till the finale."<quote/><p/>
L15   5 <p_><quote_>"What does the band do for an encore?"<quote/> I asked 
L15   6 as we walked.<p/>
L15   7 <p_><quote_>"They ain't got one. Every tune they know they do. If 
L15   8 the show runs for more than an hour an' three-quarters, they're 
L15   9 up shit creek without a paddle."<quote/><p/>
L15  10 <p_>I wondered why he'd stopped writing music reviews, but I kept 
L15  11 it to myself.<p/>
L15  12 <p_>There were only three cars in the car park of the Flying Horse 
L15  13 and the Mercedes was parked in the farthest corner from the road. 
L15  14 Even better, the driver's side was up against the back wall of the 
L15  15 pub.<p/>
L15  16 <p_>I did the obvious and checked the doors first. Locked, of 
L15  17 course.<p/>
L15  18 <p_><quote_>"OK, Crackle, I'll keep an eye out if you can do the 
L15  19 driver's door. If I whistle, duck down behind the car."<quote/><p/>
L15  20 <p_>That would be a laugh. Crackle towered over the Mercedes and 
L15  21 could probably lift it if he wanted to.<p/>
L15  22 <p_><quote_>"Will it take long?"<quote/><p/>
L15  23 <p_>He eyed the front of the sports car professionally.<p/>
L15  24 <p_><quote_>"Naw, easy."<quote/><p/>
L15  25 <p_>I walked into the middle of the car park so I could see the 
L15  26 road and the front door of the pub. There was a juke-box on inside 
L15  27 belting out Country and Western, which turned out to be just as 
L15  28 well.<p/>
L15  29 <p_>I watched in horror as Crackle dropped the tool bag on the 
L15  30 ground and took out a nine-pound masonry hammer, spat on his hands 
L15  31 and then swung at the driver's door window. By the time I got to 
L15  32 him, he was reaching inside to work the handle.<p/>
L15  33 <p_><quote_>"Is that how you usually break into a car?"<quote/> I 
L15  34 hissed at him.<p/>
L15  35 <p_><quote_>"That's the way I've been doing it for fifteen 
L15  36 years,"<quote/> he said, drawing himself up to his full awesome 
L15  37 height.<p/>
L15  38 <p_><quote_>"Well... fine. Been successful?"<quote/><p/>
L15  39 <p_><quote_>"Yes... and no,"<quote/> he said thoughtfully. 
L15  40 <quote_>"Yes, I got into the cars. No, I kept getting 
L15  41 arrested."<quote/><p/>
L15  42 <p_>I shook my head. Why me?<p/>
L15  43 <p_><quote_>"Get the boot open, will you?"<quote/> 
L15  44 Quietly."<quote/><p/>
L15  45 <p_>Crackle shrugged and picked up a chisel from his tool bag. I 
L15  46 was about to check to see if there was a release catch in the 
L15  47 Mercedes itself, but then I thought: Why not let Crackle keep 
L15  48 himself busy.<p/>
L15  49 <p_>There was nothing inside the car except a road map on the 
L15  50 passenger seat, open at West Yorkshire. Huddersfield was ringed in 
L15  51 black ink and a route north had been traced in the general 
L15  52 direction of Newcastle. So he knew where the band was going. Well, 
L15  53 that wasn't difficult. Anyone could have told him.<p/>
L15  54 <p_>Then, on the back seat, underneath a light blue Pringle sweater 
L15  55 was a pair of headphones attached to a Walkman set. Except it 
L15  56 wasn't a Walkman. I'd seen commercial versions marketed as 
L15  57 Whisperers, but this was definitely a souped-up de luxe model. It 
L15  58 clipped on to your belt and it looked like a personal stereo, but 
L15  59 it didn't play music; it received, picking up and amplifying sound 
L15  60 so you could overhear conversations across the street.<p/>
L15  61 <p_>I realized that it could have been me who had put him on to 
L15  62 Astral Reich. He'd been outside Candlepower when I'd talked to Jev 
L15  63 Jevons and he'd been in the concert hall in Leicester. No wonder 
L15  64 he'd ripped the headphones off when the Reich started their sound 
L15  65 check. It must have blown his eardrums.<p/>
L15  66 <p_>I wrapped the headphone wired around the Whisperer and stuffed 
L15  67 it into my jacket, then levered myself out of the car.<p/>
L15  68 <p_>Crackle was pointing inside the boot, the boot lid hanging at 
L15  69 an off-true angle suggesting it might never close properly again. I 
L15  70 tried to remember what I'd said on the phone to the girl at Euro 
L15  71 Lime about there being no damage to her one and only Mercedes.<p/>
L15  72 <p_><quote_>"Cameras?"<quote/> asked Crackle, thinking of loot.<p/>
L15  73 <p_>I examined the only thing in the boot, a metal briefcase 
L15  74 exactly like the ones professional photographers use. I tried to 
L15  75 open it but it was locked.<p/>
L15  76 <p_><quote_>"Allow me,"<quote/> said Crackle, leaning forward with 
L15  77 the chisel and hammer.<p/>
L15  78 <p_>One blow sprung the lock and inside, sure enough, were a couple 
L15  79 of cameras and a flash unit padded in a foam<?_>-<?/>rubber 
L15  80 mould.<p/>
L15  81 <p_><quote_>"Worth anything?"<quote/> breathed Crackle suddenly 
L15  82 deciding to be secretive.<p/>
L15  83 <p_><quote_>"No, they're not,"<quote/> I said, but mostly to 
L15  84 myself.<p/>
L15  85 <p_>Because they weren't. They were good, cheap, automatic cameras, 
L15  86 sure, but not worth the expense of such a case.<p/>
L15  87 <p_><quote_>"Gimme the chisel."<quote/><p/>
L15  88 <p_>I dug the chisel blade into the side of the foam rubber and 
L15  89 worked it around the edge until the whole shell came up. Underneath 
L15  90 it was another rubber mould with four cut-out shapes.<p/>
L15  91 <p_>One was unmistakably meant to house an automatic pistol, one I 
L15  92 guessed was for a three-inch cylindrical silencer and two 
L15  93 rectangles for magazines. All were empty.<p/>
L15  94 <p_>So the mysterious Mr Gronweghe was armed.<p/>
L15  95 <p_>We already knew he was dangerous.<p/>
L15  96 <p_><quote_>"So what do we do now?"<quote/> asked Lucinda, taking 
L15  97 charge of the Council of War we'd called in the back of Stevie's 
L15  98 truck. Over in the Polytechnic the band started its second set.<p/>
L15  99 <p_><quote_>"Three ways,"<quote/> I said. <quote_>"Call the 
L15 100 cops..."<quote/><p/>
L15 101 <p_><quote_>"Get real,"<quote/> said Mitch.<p/>
L15 102 <p_><quote_>"Give him what he wants, then."<quote/><p/>
L15 103 <p_><quote_>"And just what the fuck exactly is it he's 
L15 104 chasing?"<quote/> Mitch challenged.<p/>
L15 105 <p_><quote_>"That's not an option, Angel, is it?"<quote/> Lu-Lu 
L15 106 came to the rescue.<p/>
L15 107 <p_>Mitch took it without question.<p/>
L15 108 <p_><quote_>"Not really. So we're left with leading this guy away 
L15 109 from the band so you can get on with your lives. And I guess that 
L15 110 means I have to do the honourable thing for the Greater Good and 
L15 111 all that other bullshit."<quote/> I tried to look modest.<p/>
L15 112 <p_><quote_>"What do you need?"<quote/> asked Mitch, not trying to 
L15 113 talk me out of it.<p/>
L15 114 <p_><quote_>"Transport - I have to get back to my wheels in 
L15 115 Leicester - an empty suitcase, the use of Snap and Crackle for a 
L15 116 few hours, some privacy, no questions and a big favour from 
L15 117 Elvis."<quote/><p/>
L15 118 <p_>Astral Reich finished to thunderous applause at one minute 
L15 119 after midnight. Much to the annoyance of their fans, by 12.15 they 
L15 120 were being driven by Lucinda back to their hotel, the George, in 
L15 121 the centre of town near the railway station.<p/>
L15 122 <p_>Mitch had briefed his crew and the rip-down was half done 
L15 123 before Lu-Lu's microbus had left the car park. Rip-downs are much 
L15 124 faster that set-ups and this one would have been faster if I hadn't 
L15 125 rearranged the packing schedule.<p/>
L15 126 <p_>Fans were still streaming out as I pulled Jerry's truck up to 
L15 127 the college buildings head on. The lighting trusses were brought 
L15 128 down, disconnected and hauled out to be shoved in first, then Elvis 
L15 129 supervised various other bits of equipment and then I backed the 
L15 130 truck off to a corner so that the other trucks could get in.<p/>
L15 131 <p_>The lighting trusses, the first thing to go up, should have 
L15 132 been the last thing to come out. And trucks should always reverse 
L15 133 up to a hall. What we were doing looked highly suspicious.<p/>
L15 134 <p_>At least I hoped so.<p/>
L15 135 <p_>I let Crackle lock me in the back of Jerry's truck and set to 
L15 136 work with my hacksaw on the truss I'd marked with insulating tape. 
L15 137 It didn't take long to saw right through the tube and then I 
L15 138 started to pull out the strips of plastic paper and the first one 
L15 139 just kept coming and coming.<p/>
L15 140 <p_>I began to feel like a bad magician trying to do the flags of 
L15 141 all nations trick from his top pocket and when I had the first 
L15 142 strip completely out of the tube, I did some calculations. There 
L15 143 were roughly twelve tablets per foot and I reckoned the strip was 
L15 144 near fifty feet long. That would give a street value of about 
L15 145 <*_>pounds9,000<*/> working on six hundred tabs per strip at 
L15 146 <*_>pounds15 <*/> each.<p/>
L15 147 <p_>I shoved my fingers into the tube and scrabbled out the other 
L15 148 strips. It was difficult to be accurate and I may have counted some 
L15 149 twice, but I made it twenty-five in all. If they were all as long 
L15 150 as the first, that could be 15,000 tablets.<p/>
L15 151 <p_>That meant I was sitting on around <*_>pounds 225,000<*/> worth 
L15 152 of naughty substances. And I was gonna need a bigger suitcase.<p/>
L15 153 <p_><quote_>"It's me, Angel."<quote/><p/>
L15 154 <p_><quote_>"Come on in."<quote/><p/>
L15 155 <p_>Lu-Lu climbed aboard. I had the lighting trusses strapped 
L15 156 against the side of the truck and the suitcase hidden behind an amp 
L15 157 at the far end to the truck.<p/>
L15 158 <p_><quote_>"The guys are almost through,"<quote/> said Lucinda. 
L15 159 She was wearing her rubber and leather Batsuit from the concert but 
L15 160 had tied her hair back in a pony tail.<p/>
L15 161 <p_>I looked at my watch: 1.40 a.m.<p/>
L15 162 <p_><quote_>"Did Elvis do his stuff?"<quote/> I asked.<p/>
L15 163 <p_><quote_>"Yep, but he says you're crazy."<quote/><p/>
L15 164 <p_><quote_>"Wouldn't be the first time. No hassle from the 
L15 165 college?"<quote/><p/>
L15 166 <p_><quote_>"Hell, no. The duty electrician sloped off about nine 
L15 167 o'clock, they always do. Elvis ran a cable off the main junction 
L15 168 box. None of the students knew what he was doing. He says to tell 
L15 169 you that he'll connect it to the circuit behind Jerry's cab, then 
L15 170 he'll knock twice on the outside. Got that?"<quote/><p/>
L15 171 <p_>I nodded. <quote_>"Then, about fifteen seconds later, he'll put 
L15 172 the fuse in, so make sure this switch is off."<quote/><p/>
L15 173 <p_>She pointed to the light switch which operated the internal 
L15 174 lights.<p/>
L15 175 <p_><quote_>"He thinks you'll blow all his lamps and maybe the main 
L15 176 fusebox too, and you'll only get one shot at it. You all 
L15 177 done?"<quote/><p/>
L15 178 <p_><quote_>"Ready as I'll ever be. Did you get those staging 
L15 179 blocks?"<quote/><p/>
L15 180 <p_><quote_>"They're outside; last thing to be loaded, then we'll 
L15 181 make a big play of leaving for the hotel, like you 
L15 182 said."<quote/><p/>
L15 183 <p_><quote_>"Snap and Crackle?"<quote/><p/>
L15 184 <p_><quote_>"They'll be around, though you won't see 
L15 185 'em."<quote/><p/>
L15 186 <p_><quote_>"Any problem there?"<quote/><p/>
L15 187 <p_><quote_>"Uh-uh."<quote/> She shook her head. <quote_>"I 
L15 188 promised them a bonus, but even so, they'd have done it for Stevie. 
L15 189 He was popular."<quote/><p/>
L15 190 <p_>Thinking of what had happened to Stevie when our friendly local 
L15 191 psycho had a knife didn't cheer me up now I knew he had a gun as 
L15 192 well. Lu-Lu read my face.<p/>
L15 193 <p_><quote_>"You sure you're gonna go through with this?"<quote/> 
L15 194 She reached out and wiped the back of a soft leather driving glove 
L15 195 against my cheek.<p/>
L15 196 <p_><quote_>"You could talk me out of it, real easy."<quote/><p/>
L15 197 <p_>She put a black-gloved finger against my lips.<p/>
L15 198 <p_><quote_>"I hope the Wolfman is worth it,"<quote/> she said with 
L15 199 a smile.<p/>
L15 200 <p_><quote_>"It's close,"<quote/> I said.<p/>
L15 201 <p_>She pursed her lips.<p/>
L15 202 <p_><quote_>"Now I know you don't mean that,"<quote/> she said 
L15 203 primly, <quote_>"but just how much shit did you find?"<quote/><p/>
L15 204 <p_><quote_>Over two hundred grand's worth,"<quote/> I said, 
L15 205 keeping my voice down.<p/>
L15 206 <p_><quote_>"She whistled. <quote_>"Dollars?"<quote/><p/>
L15 207 <p_><quote_>"Pounds."<quote/><p/>
L15 208 <p_><quote_>"Werewolf who?"<quote/> she said.<p/>
L15 209 <p_>I had been sitting in the dark for nearly an hour when he 
L15 210 came.<p/>
L15 211 <p_><p/>
L15 212 <p_>The first thing I heard was him trying the door handles, then 
L15 213 there was a silence for a few seconds, then a metallic scraping, 
L15 214 followed by a rapid high-pitched whine. Then the door clicked open. 
L15 215 It happened very fast and, if I hadn't been on tenterhooks for the 
L15 216 last hour, would have taken me unawares. I knew what it was even 
L15 217 though I couldn't see it: he had a battery-powered lock gun, a 
L15 218 handful of which were imported from the States for use by <tf_>bona 
L15 219 fide<tf/> car dealers. (Now there's a contradiction in terms.) Such 
L15 220 a stink had been raised about them - question in the House and so 
L15 221 on - that they'd been removed from sale pronto. I knew Duncan the 
L15 222 Drunken would kill for one and I was impressed that Gronweghe had 
L15 223 come so well equipped.<p/>
L15 224 <p_>I'd had the roadies put two of the stage blocks in the truck 
L15 225 near the doors. One was flat on the floor and the other was 
L15 226 balanced on its end. The blocks were about five feet square and 
L15 227 hollow, so I could, with a bit of crouching, keep inside the 
L15 228 up-ended one, my hand on the light switch.<p/>
L15 229 <p_>The theory was that when Gronweghe opened the door, he would be 
L15 230 confronted with a seemingly solid-packed truck interior. He would 
L15 231 then have to open the other door as well.
L15 232 
L16   1 <#FLOB:L16\>You must tell me what's happened, William says you know 
L16   2 so much about food."<quote/><p/>
L16   3 <p_>Slipping her hand through Darina's arm, she took her through 
L16   4 the door at the back of the hall and into a small office off a dark 
L16   5 corridor. A dirty window gave out on to a scruffy courtyard but 
L16   6 failed to let in much daylight. It was left to a green-shaded 
L16   7 central light to provide illumination of a slightly higher quality 
L16   8 than that in the hall. The room was crowded with equipment and 
L16   9 paper. A computer and copier occupied one corner, a large desk 
L16  10 covered with files and leaflets another. Behind the desk sat Alex, 
L16  11 studying a large atlas.<p/>
L16  12 <p_>Ulla looked at him with exasperation, <quote_>"Have you checked 
L16  13 the bar for this evening?"<quote/><p/>
L16  14 <p_>He didn't look up. <quote_>"Plenty of time for that. We're 
L16  15 unlikely to be rushed off our feet. The only booking we've got is 
L16  16 that table for four."<quote/><p/>
L16  17 <p_>Ulla indicated a small easy chair. <quote/>"Please, 
L16  18 sit."<quote/> She rubbed her hands.<quote_>"Isn't it cold? Perhaps 
L16  19 we could have the fire on."<quote/> She bent and switched on one 
L16  20 bar of a small electric fire. <quote_>"This is Darina Lisle, Alex. 
L16  21 She could be interested in becoming a partner."<quote/><p/>
L16  22 <p_>The piercing eyes lifted their gaze from the atlas and looked 
L16  23 across. <quote_>"Sell up, Ulla, get rid of the whole bloody 
L16  24 incubus. You're fighting a losing battle."<quote/> The young man 
L16  25 stood up and tucked the book under his arm. <quote_>"You've had a 
L16  26 good offer, take it."<quote/> He strolled to the door.<p/>
L16  27 <p_><quote_>"You know I won't do that, Alex, though sometimes I'm 
L16  28 tempted. It would at least mean I'd never have to see you 
L16  29 again."<quote/><p/>
L16  30 <p_>He turned in the doorway, <quote_>"Temper, temper! Be careful 
L16  31 or I could disappear right now and then what would you do, mother 
L16  32 dear?"<quote/> The last words were given an ironic twist, then the 
L16  33 door was closed carefully behind him.<p/>
L16  34 <p_>Ulla made a noise somewhere between a screech and a growl and 
L16  35 banged her head with clenched fists.<p/>
L16  36 <p_><quote_>"That Alex, I could strangle him sometimes. Why is it 
L16  37 that some people know just how to drive you to screaming 
L16  38 point?"<quote/><p/>
L16  39 <p_>It was a question that required no answer. Darina watched her 
L16  40 seat herself in the chair Alex had vacated.<p/>
L16  41 <p_>Ulla couldn't be more than thirty at the most. A few lines were 
L16  42 starting to etch themselves into the fine skin but the figure was 
L16  43 in great shape, a knitted dress and jacket making the most of 
L16  44 swelling breasts. The hips were slight and boyish. That combination 
L16  45 of provocative sexuality and androgynous innocence must be lethally 
L16  46 attractive to men, especially when matched with a face as sweet as 
L16  47 a fairy princess's and hair with natural highlights so fair as to 
L16  48 be almost white amongst shades of honey gold and umber.<p/>
L16  49 <p_><quote_>"I take it Alex is your stepson?"<quote/><p/>
L16  50 <p_>Ulla nodded. <quote_>"He isn't really a hotelier; after Tony 
L16  51 died he came to help out. But don't let's talk about Alex, he 
L16  52 always makes me so mad. Tell me what happened with lunch. I thought 
L16  53 the new menu was going to be such a success."<quote/><p/>
L16  54 <p_><quote_>"Have you had your chef long?"<quote/><p/>
L16  55 <p_><quote_>"Ken Farthing started a couple of weeks ago. I was so 
L16  56 pleased, he seemed so good. Our previous menu was very straight 
L16  57 forward, steak, chops, chicken, that sort of thing, all with chips, 
L16  58 and a sweet trolley. He coped with that fine but I'd hired him to 
L16  59 transform the food, bring it up to the standard of our new dining 
L16  60 room. When he said he could create a new menu, stylish, top class, 
L16  61 I said go ahead."<quote/><p/>
L16  62 <p_><quote_>"You didn't try the dishes first?"<quote/><p/>
L16  63 <p_>Ulla looked crestfallen. <quote_>"I didn't think it necessary, 
L16  64 I thought he knew his job. It all <tf|>sounded delicious. What went 
L16  65 wrong?"<quote/><p/>
L16  66 <p_><quote_>"I'm afraid every dish was misconceived."<quote/> 
L16  67 Darina briefly outlined their disastrous meal.<p/>
L16  68 <p_>Ulla looked more and more miserable. <quote_>"What am I going 
L16  69 to do? We can't go back to what we were serving before, it doesn't 
L16  70 match the dining room."<quote/><p/>
L16  71 <p_><quote_>"I think you'd better have a word with your 
L16  72 chef."<quote/><p/>
L16  73 <p_>She rose. <quote_>"Will you come with me? You're such an 
L16  74 expert, I don't want him to confuse me."<quote/><p/>
L16  75 <p_>Darina reluctantly followed the proprietor along the badly 
L16  76 painted corridor to the kitchen, passing odd nooks and crannies 
L16  77 stuffed with boxed of loo paper and cartons of breakfast cereal. 
L16  78 She wondered just what Ulla's qualifications for running a hotel 
L16  79 were. Alex's advice that the place should be sold seemed sound. And 
L16  80 just why she herself had agreed to act as back-up at what would no 
L16  81 doubt be an unpleasant confrontation, Darina found it difficult to 
L16  82 decide. There was something about Ulla, a helpless quality, that 
L16  83 brought out protective instincts. It must be a priceless asset in 
L16  84 business. Darina sighed. She had long ago recognised that she never 
L16  85 brought out a protective instinct in anyone. Capability was her 
L16  86 aura. Even William, who at least topped her nearly six foot by 
L16  87 several inches, hardly treated her as 'a little woman'. But then, 
L16  88 that was the last thing she wanted, wasn't it?<p/>
L16  89 <p_>The kitchen was as radically different from the rest of the 
L16  90 hotel as the dining room. A powerhouse of stainless steel, brand 
L16  91 new ovens and gleaming tiles, it was having its floor wiped by a 
L16  92 small girl dressed in grubby whites. A massive figure in equally 
L16  93 grubby whites crowned by a tall chef's hat was making notes on the 
L16  94 back of an old envelope with a blunt pencil.<p/>
L16  95 <p_><quote_>"Chef!"<quote/> Ulla's voice made a brave bid for 
L16  96 authority.<p/>
L16  97 <p_><quote_>"Yes?"<quote/> Ken Farthing raised his head, revealing 
L16  98 a face that seemed once to have tangled with the business end of a 
L16  99 lorry. Flattened nose and blunted chin, pock-marked skin and small 
L16 100 eyes added up to a sight better not confronted on a dark night - or 
L16 101 in a kitchen well equipped with razor-sharp knives and a couple of 
L16 102 cleavers to hand. Darina eyed their proximity with unaccustomed 
L16 103 nervousness. It wasn't, she decided, so much the way he looked as 
L16 104 the way he managed to invest that one word with an indefinable air 
L16 105 of menace, as the piggy eyes looked first at Ulla Mason and then at 
L16 106 her.<p/>
L16 107 <p_>Ulla glanced at the minion cleaning the floor, then back at the 
L16 108 chef. <quote_>"I would like a word with you in the office."<quote/> 
L16 109 Without waiting for a response, she led the way back to the room 
L16 110 they had just left. Good psychology, thought Darina, get him off 
L16 111 his territory, not to mention away from those knives. She knew many 
L16 112 a story of chefs running berserk in their kitchens; until now, she 
L16 113 had disbelieved most of them.<p/>
L16 114 <p_>Ulla sat herself behind the desk. Darina stood to one side, 
L16 115 watching the huge figure advance through the door.<p/>
L16 116 <p_><quote_>"Chef, I want a word about lunch."<quote/><p/>
L16 117 <p_>Astonishingly, a broad, beaming smile split the giant's 
L16 118 battered face. <quote_>"You tasted it? Fantastic, wasn't 
L16 119 it?"<quote/><p/>
L16 120 <p_><quote_>"Well, actually, no. I have had several 
L16 121 complaints."<quote/><p/>
L16 122 <p_>The smile faded a little then composure was recovered. 
L16 123 <quote_>"Pah, most of these people know nothing about food. They 
L16 124 can't appreciate my cooking."<quote/><p/>
L16 125 <p_>Ulla looked helplessly towards Darina. <quote_>"But Miss Lisle 
L16 126 here does know about food and I'm afraid she didn't like it 
L16 127 either."<quote/><p/>
L16 128 <p_>The big head swung round to confront this new threat. 
L16 129 <quote_>"You didn't like my cooking?"<quote/><p/>
L16 130 <p_>Diplomacy struggled with honesty. With Darina it wasn't much of 
L16 131 a struggle. <quote_>"The flavours were appalling."<quote/><p/>
L16 132 <p_>Shoulders that a self-respecting ox could have been proud of 
L16 133 were squared. <quote_>"Appalling!"<quote/> The word could have been 
L16 134 heard several counties away.<p/>
L16 135 <p_>Darina gathered courage. Only blunt talking was any use in this 
L16 136 situation. <quote_>"To use dried tarragon with the cream cheese was 
L16 137 inept and the cheese itself was unsuitable for that dish, the 
L16 138 avocado and mango needed dressing, the sauce for the fish was 
L16 139 bitter and had the consistency of wallpaper paste and what you did 
L16 140 to the pastry for the dessert I can't imagine. But the fish itself 
L16 141 was beautifully cooked,"<quote/> she added hastily.<p/>
L16 142 <p_>The tiny eyes surveyed her incredulously, then the body swelled 
L16 143 alarmingly. A huge fist was raised. Darina flinched but stood her 
L16 144 ground, ready to ward off the threatened blow, then watched it come 
L16 145 pounding down on the desk instead.<p/>
L16 146 <p_><quote_>"You know nothing about food,"<quote/> he roared. 
L16 147 <quote_>"Nobody knows anything about food. I create dishes, new 
L16 148 dishes. I don't do what everyone else does, my food is original. 
L16 149 Just because I don't have the name, you all think it's no good. You 
L16 150 don't deserve success,"<quote/> he shouted at Ulla. She clutched at 
L16 151 the arms of her chair but said nothing.<p/>
L16 152 <p_>The chef continued to look threateningly at her. A silence grew 
L16 153 in the office. First one to talk loses, thought Darina, watching 
L16 154 the anger gradually leak out of the large figure. His forehead 
L16 155 creased in a frown as Ulla steadily returned his gaze.<p/>
L16 156 <p_><quote_>"If you don't like what I did today, maybe I can do 
L16 157 something else tomorrow? There's the grouse with pomegranate, 
L16 158 that's got to be a winner."<quote/> But his confidence had been 
L16 159 shaken, there was an air of uncertainty about him now.<p/>
L16 160 <p_>Ulla glanced at Darina, who gave a tiny shake of her head. 
L16 161 Under strict supervision this chef manqu might just be able to 
L16 162 produce edible haute cuisine. On his own only disaster loomed.<p/>
L16 163 <p_><quote_>"I'm sorry,"<quote/> the Hotel Morgan's proprietor 
L16 164 said, <quote_>"I need a competent creative chef and today shows you 
L16 165 are not suited."<quote/><p/>
L16 166 <p_>She reached behind her and pulled a wages book off a shelf. 
L16 167 <quote_>"I give you two weeks' wages and you leave now."<quote/> 
L16 168 She opened the book with a snap.<p/>
L16 169 <p_>A huge hand put the chef's hat askew and scratched at his head. 
L16 170 Ken Farthing seemed bewildered. <quote_>"I can't stay?"<quote/><p/>
L16 171 <p_>Ulla looked up from her calculations. The balance of power in 
L16 172 the room had shifted. <quote_>"It's best you go now. You must find 
L16 173 another job. Get your things together and I will bring you your 
L16 174 money."<quote/><p/>
L16 175 <p_>The chef gave her another glance but Darina could see he had 
L16 176 accepted the inevitable and a moment later he left the room. She 
L16 177 was a little surprised he had given up so easily. One moment he had 
L16 178 seemed angry enough to have smitten either of them to the ground, 
L16 179 crushed like carcasses for the stock pot, the next he was like a 
L16 180 child pleading with authority to be allowed a second chance.<p/>
L16 181 <p_>Ulla opened a small safe, extracted a cash box, filled the 
L16 182 wages envelope, sealed it, replaced the box in the safe and 
L16 183 relocked it. She looked at Darina. <quote_>"Come with me to the 
L16 184 kitchen?"<quote/><p/>
L16 185 <p_>The tall girl nodded and followed her back along the 
L16 186 passage.<p/>
L16 187 <p_>In the kitchen, the chef had removed his whites and was dressed 
L16 188 in a thick sweater and jeans. He seemed smaller and not in the 
L16 189 least threatening. Without the chef's hat his hair was thinning and 
L16 190 greasy. He took the envelope Ulla offered and turned it over in his 
L16 191 big hands then raised his haze and looked straight at Darina. 
L16 192 <quote_>"It was no good, the food, really no good?"<quote/><p/>
L16 193 <p_>She hardened her heart. <quote_>"No. Stick to plain cooking, 
L16 194 you seem able to handle that."<quote/><p/>
L16 195 <p_><quote_>"That's what they all say."<quote/><p/>
L16 196 <p_>Ulla held out her hand. <quote_>"Goodbye, Chef, good 
L16 197 luck."<quote/><p/>
L16 198 <p_>He wiped his hands on the back of his jeans and shook hers. 
L16 199 Ulla blinked as he pumped her arm up and down, then massaged her 
L16 200 hand as soon as he had released it. She stood and watched as he 
L16 201 thrust the envelope in his pocket, picked up a hold-all and 
L16 202 disappeared out of the back door.<p/>
L16 203 <p_><quote_>"That's that.,"<quote/> she said. <quote_>"I'm glad he 
L16 204 gave no trouble. For a moment I thought he was going to attack us. 
L16 205 Now what am I going to do? No chef and Christmas coming up. Who is 
L16 206 going to cook the food?"<quote/><p/>
L16 207 <h_><p_>Chapter Three<p/><h/>
L16 208 <p_>Cold crisped the edges of the afternoon as William drove up to 
L16 209 the layby. Sunlight slanted across the scene low and bright but 
L16 210 long shadows warned of dusk's approach.<p/>
L16 211 <p_>At the top of a steep hill a slip of shrubby land bordered a 
L16 212 half-moon shaped parking area on the busy A37 that runs from Yeovil 
L16 213 to Bristol.
L16 214 
L17   1 <#FLOB:L17\>Pretty in a cold kind of way. I thought about the times 
L17   2 in my life when failure had far outstripped success, when I had 
L17   3 been alone and feeling as bad about myself as I did about the rest 
L17   4 of the world and when there hadn't been any practical, let alone 
L17   5 any philosophical, reason for getting up the next morning. But it 
L17   6 wasn't enough. The water still looked cruel, not at all like any 
L17   7 kind of way out. Maybe I just wasn't trying hard enough. Once again 
L17   8 I tried to slide my way under her skin, burrow into her brain. 
L17   9 Whatever her spirit she was still just a young girl in deep 
L17  10 financial trouble who'd taken one hell of a gamble and lost. Having 
L17  11 set out to save herself from debt she had ended up even worse, as a 
L17  12 thief taking money under false pretences and not able to give it 
L17  13 back. And not just a thief: very possibly a kind of murderer also. 
L17  14 Her own child. Even if she hadn't wanted it, how could she let it 
L17  15 die and stay alive herself afterwards? It or her. Her or me. 
L17  16 Fifteen feet below, the water winked at me. I took one hand off the 
L17  17 parapet. Then the other. Then I put them both back. She must have 
L17  18 been braver than I. Or driven stupid by more despair. If I had been 
L17  19 her I might have just come here to torment myself, but I would 
L17  20 never have followed through. Instead I would have hailed the first 
L17  21 cab and fled to a hospital, saved both it and me and faced up to 
L17  22 everything else when it came looking for me.<p/>
L17  23 <p_>Which, of course, is what she must have been planning to do 
L17  24 when she had called Scott that Friday. Otherwise why bother to get 
L17  25 in touch? Needing somewhere to stay presupposed being alive long 
L17  26 enough to stay in it. And choosing the father of your child as your 
L17  27 host showed at least some sense of coherence in the midst of 
L17  28 despair. Coherence and strategy. She had been careful enough to 
L17  29 warn him that someone might come looking for her, had told him to 
L17  30 keep quiet about it. As late as twenty-four hours before her death 
L17  31 she had been ready to fight to keep them off her back. Did it 
L17  32 really change everything when she realized they had found out? It 
L17  33 was still the same baby, still hers, still slowly sliding into 
L17  34 unconsciousness. Despite or more likely because of that she'd still 
L17  35 been plucky enough to get the hell out of there and make her way to 
L17  36 London. It just didn't make sense to get this far only to give up. 
L17  37 What she needed was a doctor whose first oath was to medicine 
L17  38 rather than Belmont, someone who would help first and ask questions 
L17  39 later. Except who and where? When the police had plodded their way 
L17  40 around the emergency clinics and gynae wards nobody had remembered 
L17  41 a long-haired young beauty, eight months pregnant, coming in off 
L17  42 the streets that afternoon in the kind of trouble you wouldn't 
L17  43 forget. And one thing was certain: once she'd got in there no 
L17  44 doctor in their right mind would have let her out. So she hadn't 
L17  45 gone for help. Could she really have been too scared even for a 
L17  46 hospital? But in which case why go all the way home just to write a 
L17  47 suicide note? If she was looking for the nearest piece of river why 
L17  48 not come straight here from the airport? Equally, if she was at 
L17  49 home why the hell travel all the way here when she had her own 
L17  50 perfectly good black water just down the road at Westminster or 
L17  51 Waterloo.<p/>
L17  52 <p_>Welcome home to the old problem. What was Frank's resident 
L17  53 clich? If you can't find the answer then you're not asking the 
L17  54 right question. Back to the facts. Even a slipshod pathologist can 
L17  55 tell fresh from sea water diatoms, and the contents of her stomach 
L17  56 showed only one sort. She had died swallowing water which had not 
L17  57 come into contact with the sea. Given that and given how long she'd 
L17  58 been in the water she must have gone in somewhere around Kew or 
L17  59 Hampton Court. Science doesn't lie. Her stomach proved she'd gone 
L17  60 in up river. Her note proved she'd been home first. But as Daniel 
L17  61 had said, home was the first place they would go looking for her. 
L17  62 And home, was indeed where he had gone. He had arrived at Heathrow 
L17  63 at 8.40 p.m. From there, according to him, he had driven straight 
L17  64 to her house. Assuming VIP treatment through airport bureaucracy 
L17  65 and customs and Saturday night traffic, Heathrow to Kilburn would 
L17  66 have taken what - an hour, hour and half. Let's say 10.00 p.m. No, 
L17  67 let's say later. Let's say it took longer and that he arrived 
L17  68 nearer 10.30 p.m. By which time I was sitting back in my car 
L17  69 thawing my hands back to life after the ice of her living-room. 
L17  70 And, as I sat, I was watching the figure of a tall man in a 
L17  71 trench-coat walk in through the front gate and up to her door. 
L17  72 Except he didn't need to ring the bell, or even fiddle the lock. 
L17  73 Because he had a key. Of course. How else could they have collected 
L17  74 her mail over the last eight months? And then I saw the empty table 
L17  75 in her room as it had been half an hour before, illuminated by the 
L17  76 brief light of a naked bulb and then the more methodical sweep of 
L17  77 my torch beam. And last of all I thought of the suicide note, that 
L17  78 sad little litany of words. With the rumble of the river in the 
L17  79 background I recited it out loud, the prelude to a final act of 
L17  80 contrition. Holy Mary, mother of God, forgive me for I have sinned 
L17  81 ... <quote_>"By the time you read this you will know the truth. I 
L17  82 am sorry for all the deceit and the trouble I have caused. Also for 
L17  83 all the money which I cannot repay. It seems the only thing I can 
L17  84 do is to go. Please, if you can, forgive me."<quote/><p/>
L17  85 <p_>... For these and all the sins of my life I am very sorry. But 
L17  86 most of all for the sin of stupidity, Hannah. <quote_>"The only 
L17  87 thing I can do is go."<quote/> But a debt to Miss Patrick isn't the 
L17  88 same thing as the money owed to the Belmonts, and the deceit of a 
L17  89 concealed pregnancy isn't the same thing as deliberately picking 
L17  90 the wrong father for the child. And most of all, leaving France 
L17  91 isn't the same as leaving life, although, given the circumstances, 
L17  92 you can see how a coroner might just have been fooled into 
L17  93 believing it was.<p/>
L17  94 <p_>I got down from the bridge and walked slowly back to my car. 
L17  95 She had written the note and left it in the summerhouse. Which 
L17  96 meant they must have found it after she'd gone. But for Daniel to 
L17  97 bring it with him to England they must already have appreciated its 
L17  98 ambiguity. Yet facts are still facts and forensics is still a 
L17  99 science. According to the pathologist she had died between 4.30 
L17 100 p.m. and 6.30 p.m. Daniel touched down two hours later. So let's 
L17 101 say for the sake of argument that death was the automatic 
L17 102 punishment for betrayal in Belmont's post-resistance world. Let's 
L17 103 even assume, however much it hurt, that Daniel had the stomach as 
L17 104 well as the strength to drown an eight-months pregnant woman just 
L17 105 because his uncle asked him to. The question remained- how could he 
L17 106 possibly have thrown Carolyn Hamilton into the Thames at a time 
L17 107 when he was still on the other side of the Channel? And if it 
L17 108 wasn't him then who the hell was it? How many times do I have to 
L17 109 tell you, Hannah, it's not the answers but the questions ... I 
L17 110 tried again. And again. And eventually I got somewhere. This time I 
L17 111 drove to Kilburn via Heathrow, just to check the time. It worked. 
L17 112 Shame it was too late to thank Frank personally.<p/>
L17 113 <p_>If it hadn't been for Colin's car I would probably have gone 
L17 114 straight back to the airport. It was nearly four when I got to 
L17 115 Islington. In the kitchen the only paper I could find had Amy's 
L17 116 abstract doodling on one side, but sometimes art has to suffer for 
L17 117 the sake of history. It took me the best part of two hours to write 
L17 118 the report out twice. By that time Benjamin had decided it was time 
L17 119 to get up and Kate didn't have much option but to agree. When she 
L17 120 came down to fill up his bottle she looked more weary than I did 
L17 121 and I'd been up all night. He on the other hand was radiant, all 
L17 122 smiled an top-o'-the-morning-to-you. She slumped in the kitchen 
L17 123 chair and plugged him in, while I made a pot of tea. We sat 
L17 124 together and chomped our way through a plate of custard creams and 
L17 125 chocolate digestives - midnight feasts postponed from childhood.<p/>
L17 126 <p_>I think now that most of my childhood had been spent trying to 
L17 127 catch up with Kate, trying to narrow that eighteen-month gap that 
L17 128 meant she did everything before I did. And even when I'd managed 
L17 129 it, had gone more places, done more things, slept with more men, I 
L17 130 could still look back and find her in front of me. Three weeks ago 
L17 131 I had sat on her staircase, hearing her lecture me about how it 
L17 132 couldn't have been suicide, regardless of what any note might have 
L17 133 said. If I'd listened to her right from the start, I could have 
L17 134 saved myself a lot of time and trouble.<p/>
L17 135 <p_><quote_>"I went to Finsbury Park,"<quote/> I heard myself say, 
L17 136 <quote_>"to see a dancer she used to work with, the father of her 
L17 137 child. Then I went to the river. And now I have to go back to 
L17 138 France."<quote/><p/>
L17 139 <p_>She studied me for a moment, then said, <quote_>"You don't have 
L17 140 to tell me, you know. I didn't ask."<quote/><p/>
L17 141 <p_>I nodded, then pushed one of the small piles of Amy's drawings 
L17 142 across the table towards her. <quote_>"Maybe if you get a moment 
L17 143 you could read this before you stash it in the airing 
L17 144 cupboard."<quote/><p/>
L17 145 <p_><quote_>"What is it - a whodunnit?"<quote/><p/>
L17 146 <p_>I shook my head. <quote_>"More a how than a who. It's gripping 
L17 147 stuff as far as it goes. Unfortunately it doesn't have an 
L17 148 ending."<quote/><p/>
L17 149 <p_><quote_>"Is that why you're going to France?"<quote/><p/>
L17 150 <p_><quote_>"Sort of."<quote/><p/>
L17 151 <p_>She smiled. <quote_>"What happened? Did you fall for the bad 
L17 152 guy?"<quote/><p/>
L17 153 <p_>Yesterday it would have made me mad. Today I allowed myself to 
L17 154 give it some thought. Without the luxury of sleep to fortify my 
L17 155 defences it was a little easier. She was right, of course. 
L17 156 Something had gone down between us. I could continue to dismiss it 
L17 157 as the attraction of dress sense, adrenalin over vocation, or I 
L17 158 could look at it for what it was: the break-up of the iceberg, even 
L17 159 the first sign of spring. Hannah 'Self-Sufficient' Wolfe comes out 
L17 160 of hibernation to test the air. Admirable stuff if it wasn't for 
L17 161 the timing. And the man. Still, it never stopped Humphrey Bogart 
L17 162 from shopping Mary Astor. But then she really was one of the bad 
L17 163 guys. Whereas Daniel ... well, not one of the good guys, certainly, 
L17 164 but further than that ...<p/>
L17 165 <p_><quote_>"I don't know,"<quote/> I said, after a while. 
L17 166 <quote_>"I think that's one of the things I'm going to find 
L17 167 out."<quote/><p/>
L17 168 <p_>She nodded and shifted Benjamin to her other arm. She looked 
L17 169 down at him for a second, then back up at me. <quote_>"You know the 
L17 170 first six months after Amy was born I used to have this recurring 
L17 171 nightmare. I was locked in this room. I had gone in there 
L17 172 voluntarily and closed the door behind me. But then I couldn't get 
L17 173 out. There was a tiny window up high. If I climbed up I could just 
L17 174 see out of it to a long stretch or road. And there was this figure 
L17 175 walking along it, away from me.
L17 176 
L18   1 <#FLOB:L18\>I remember loitering along, and I remember before I 
L18   2 left the park turning towards the Palace, perhaps with some 
L18   3 sentimental thoughts about the King, who was looking old and tired, 
L18   4 and about the young Princess who would one day succeed him.<p/>
L18   5 <p_>I could see a point, some way away, where two of the paths 
L18   6 converged. I saw the off-duty guardsman I had already noticed 
L18   7 approach from one direction. I saw Tim Wycliffe approach it from 
L18   8 another. I saw them both slacken pace. I saw them make some kind of 
L18   9 contact, of eye, of word. I stood there frozen, gazing towards 
L18  10 them, my heart beating very fast. They talked, and then I saw them 
L18  11 walk on slowly together. Then, as the light seemed altogether to 
L18  12 fail, I saw them go off together into the bushes.<p/>
L18  13 <h_><p_>Chapter Two<p/>
L18  14 <p_>BELGRAVIA<p/><h/>
L18  15 <p_>It would be impossible today to convey to anyone under the age 
L18  16 of forty the stunned sense of shock I felt. Difficult, too, to 
L18  17 explain my ignorance and <tf|>na<*_>i-trema<*/>vet<*_>e-acute<*/> 
L18  18 on the subject of homosexuality. I had been to a public school, 
L18  19 after all. I can only say that, whatever I might have learnt had I 
L18  20 gone to Eton, I had no such experiences at Dulwich College to 
L18  21 contribute to my sexual enlightenment. Perhaps this was due to the 
L18  22 fact that we had so many day boys, and tended to stick together. I 
L18  23 was neither attractive nor charming, being known as 'Plod' Proctor. 
L18  24 So <tf|>that subject I learnt about through the odd smutty joke, 
L18  25 and through playground allusions to it - that is to say, I remained 
L18  26 profoundly ignorant of it.<p/>
L18  27 <p_>The fact that I was shocked I would account for by citing 
L18  28 factors both personal and public: I was the child of conventional, 
L18  29 middle-class parents, people doing dull jobs, leading dull lives 
L18  30 and having dull opinions, whose automatic reaction should the topic 
L18  31 come up in the Sunday papers was to purse their lips and shake 
L18  32 their heads. The papers then treated court cases involving 
L18  33 homosexual conduct in the lip-licking style they today use in 
L18  34 reporting child sex-abuse cases, or MPs who go in for spanking 
L18  35 sessions.<p/>
L18  36 <p_>And then there was the Guy Burgess factor. Burgess had 
L18  37 disappeared to Moscow only months before, leaving behind a legion 
L18  38 of tales about his brazenly open homosexuality, his liaisons, his 
L18  39 gay parties (I suppose the newspapers would have used words like 
L18  40 'queer' and 'pervert' at the time). The rumour - or was it a joke? 
L18  41 - around the Foreign Office was that he had left as his forwarding 
L18  42 address: 'Stage door, Bolshoi Ballet.' At that very time newspapers 
L18  43 were indulging in speculation that was frankly no wilder than some 
L18  44 of Burgess's conduct. Questions about him and his activities were 
L18  45 being tabled daily in the House of Commons, and Herbie Morrison was 
L18  46 struggling to answer them, or not to answer them, as is the habit 
L18  47 of ministers when security matters come up.<p/>
L18  48 <p_>That, in short, was why I was stunned by Timothy Wycliffe's 
L18  49 going off into the bushes with a guardsman. I must have stood there 
L18  50 for all of a minute before I resumed my walk to the Underground. If 
L18  51 I was unduly thoughtful when I got home it was so close to bedtime 
L18  52 that my parents did not notice. No doubt my mother made me a mug of 
L18  53 Horlicks and we all turned in to sleep the sleep of the just. I 
L18  54 lived, as I say, in a very dull household, and it was all light 
L18  55 years away from grandsons of marquesses and encounters with 
L18  56 guardsmen in St James's Park.<p/>
L18  57 <p_>I tried very hard next day to be the same as usual to Timothy 
L18  58 Wycliffe. Probably I tried too hard. I am not a good actor, and 
L18  59 this often harmed my political career. People knew what I really 
L18  60 thought. At any rate I became convinced over the next few weeks 
L18  61 that Timothy knew that I knew, had worked out how I knew, and was 
L18  62 amused that I was shocked. Sometimes when he was talking to me he 
L18  63 looked into my face and there was a satirical turning-up of the 
L18  64 corners of his mouth that was not malicious, but seemed to express 
L18  65 a sort of delight in the absurdity of people - in this case me. It 
L18  66 did not affect his friendliness and openness to me, only my 
L18  67 friendliness and openness to him.<p/>
L18  68 <p_>It was perhaps two or three weeks later that our friendship 
L18  69 reached a decisive phase - a phase when I had to make a conscious 
L18  70 decision whether to accept or reject him and his life. How far he 
L18  71 deliberately brought this about I never quite knew, but he did 
L18  72 admit that he wanted it brought out into the open.<p/>
L18  73 <p_>There were many quaint survivals and oddities in Foreign Office 
L18  74 practice at that time that had not been swept away by the advent of 
L18  75 a Labour government. Bevin was interested in policy, and the 
L18  76 implementation of policy, and if he knew of these oddities he 
L18  77 probably regarded them with the Olympian amusement of a trade union 
L18  78 baron at the eccentricities of the upper classes. One of these 
L18  79 survivals was that certain great folk were to be dealt with 
L18  80 whenever possible in person, rather than by telephone or letter. 
L18  81 However low-level the personal contact (and they didn't come 
L18  82 lower-level than me at that time) that was how the business was to 
L18  83 be done. The list of these great folk, some or most of them obscure 
L18  84 and quite unknown to the general public, had apparently come about 
L18  85 in an arbitrary way, with a rhyme and reason that were scarcely 
L18  86 discernible to the normal human brain, and this was the only reason 
L18  87 I can give for the fact that on an evening in July 1951 I was given 
L18  88 the assignment of calling on Lady Thorrington in Belgrave 
L18  89 Square.<p/>
L18  90 <p_><quote_>"A question of residency rights for three displaced 
L18  91 persons,"<quote/> I grumbled to Timothy in the course of the day. 
L18  92 <quote_>"And for that I have to traipse all the way over to 
L18  93 Belgrave Square to deliver the papers in person."<quote/><p/>
L18  94 <p_><quote_>"My neck of the woods,"<quote/> said Tim. <quote_>"I'll 
L18  95 collect you later and we'll go together."<quote/><p/>
L18  96 <p_>He turned up in my tiny office around four-thirty, much earlier 
L18  97 than need be, saying it was a fine afternoon and we deserved a 
L18  98 break. Again we left the rambling pile of the Foreign Office, 
L18  99 walked down the steps from King Charles Street, and began across 
L18 100 the park. At least I'm keeping him from accosting guardsmen, I 
L18 101 thought - a mean little thought, probably springing from 
L18 102 embarrassment. We kept up a vigorous conversation, perhaps on my 
L18 103 part to prevent him bringing up the question of my knowledge. We 
L18 104 discussed, I remember, the Belgian king's abdication, and the 
L18 105 prospects for the new king. I forecast that the country would be a 
L18 106 republic within a year (my opinions on foreign affairs at that time 
L18 107 were almost invariably wrong, which is still the case with many 
L18 108 officials in the Foreign Office today). Tim put forward the idea 
L18 109 that monarchies had usually survived in the twentieth century in 
L18 110 countries with strong Labour Parties. Typically I regarded this as 
L18 111 a brilliant paradox, though in fact it was simply a matter of 
L18 112 intelligent observation. We had this conversation as we skirted 
L18 113 Buckingham Palace, where the Queen's Gallery now is, and walked on 
L18 114 through an overcast afternoon towards Belgravia.<p/>
L18 115 <p_>We were close to Belgrave Square itself when Tim slowed down 
L18 116 and touched me on the shoulder.<p/>
L18 117 <p_><quote_>"Your appointment's for six, isn't it?"<quote/> he 
L18 118 said. <quote_>"Much too early yet. Come and see my 
L18 119 flat."<quote/><p/>
L18 120 <p_>We turned into a dim little cul-de-sac called Craven Court 
L18 121 Mews, and the apprehension that I certainly felt warred in me with 
L18 122 a delicious sense of mixing on friendly terms well above my 
L18 123 station. I suppose this sounds incredibly dated, even comic, to a 
L18 124 young reader today. But the Conservative Party was not then what it 
L18 125 is today: the party of brash new money-makers. The typical young 
L18 126 Conservative (of whom I was one) was a snob with a social 
L18 127 conscience. I was deliciously thrilled.<p/>
L18 128 <p_>We strolled down the mews, which was paved with cobblestones 
L18 129 and decidedly shabby, with chimneys and walls that needed 
L18 130 re-pointing, windows that needed repainting. We were still in the 
L18 131 era of shortages, remember, and the era when the well-heeled 
L18 132 preferred not to show it. Timothy put his key in a door and led the 
L18 133 way up some narrow, stuffy stairs. We passed immediately through 
L18 134 the tiniest of hallways into a room wonderfully light, the walls 
L18 135 washed pale blue, the furniture slim, modern, elegant - a table of 
L18 136 rosewood and glass, chairs that looked as if they would wrap 
L18 137 themselves round you when you sat down, and a few traditional 
L18 138 pieces: an elegant escritoire against the wall, a long Regency 
L18 139 dining table, a couple of family pictures. My memory - it is one of 
L18 140 those scenes from that time that remain imprinted on my mind, and 
L18 141 will be until I die - is of lightness, airiness, and of a 
L18 142 brilliance that somehow laughed at the suburban clutter and 
L18 143 knobbiness of the rooms in the detached Dulwich residence where I 
L18 144 had grown up. This was the perfect setting for Tim.<p/>
L18 145 <p_>I became conscious, as my mind photographed this room, of the 
L18 146 noise of water.<p/>
L18 147 <p_><quote_>"Oh Lord, Heinz is still here,"<quote/> said Tim. He 
L18 148 raised his voice. <quote_>"Heinz - the boat train goes in an 
L18 149 hour!"<quote/> he turned to me with an open smile. 
L18 150 <quote|>"Coffee?"<p/>
L18 151 <p_>I nodded nervously, suddenly wishing I hadn't come. As he moved 
L18 152 towards the little kitchen that I could see through the door at the 
L18 153 far end of the living room the shower was turned off in the 
L18 154 bathroom. Seconds later a boy appeared. He was perhaps nineteen or 
L18 155 twenty, very fair, and sturdily built. Apart from a towel over his 
L18 156 shoulder he was quite naked.<p/>
L18 157 <p_><quote|>"Sorry!" he said when he saw me, and disappeared 
L18 158 through another door.<p/>
L18 159 <p_>I sat down on one of those spare, shapely chairs, and wondered 
L18 160 if there were two bedrooms, and if Heinz was sleeping in the main 
L18 161 one. I immediately cursed my 
L18 162 <tf|>na<*_>i-trema<*/>vet<*_>e-acute<*/>. Of course he was sleeping 
L18 163 in the main one. If Timothy was a man who went with guardsmen into 
L18 164 the bushes in the park he would not invite handsome foreign boys to 
L18 165 his flat and then sleep in chaste isolation.<p/>
L18 166 <p_><quote_>"Heinz is a friend of mine,"<quote/> said Timothy, 
L18 167 appearing at the door into the kitchen.<p/>
L18 168 <p_><quote_>"Oh yes?"<quote/> I muttered miserably. <quote_>"Is he 
L18 169 German?"<quote/><p/>
L18 170 <p_><quote_>"That's right. He's from Dresden."<quote/><p/>
L18 171 <p_>I nodded, as neutrally as possible. Then suddenly I was struck 
L18 172 by a terrible thought, and I jumped up and faced him.<p/>
L18 173 <p_><quote_>"<tf|>Dresden?"<quote/> But that's in -"<quote/><p/>
L18 174 <p_><quote_>"East Germany?"<quote/> Do you know, I believe you're 
L18 175 right."<quote/><p/>
L18 176 <p_>And grinning broadly he turned back into the kitchen. Weakly I 
L18 177 sat down again, denied a confrontation. I felt stunned and angry. 
L18 178 For God's sake, <tf|>East Germany! And here I was, brought into a 
L18 179 <tf|>m<*_>e-acute<*/>nage with an aristocratic Foreign Office 
L18 180 diplomat and a young East German homosexual. I remember actually 
L18 181 blushing at my predicament. All my middle-class and conservative 
L18 182 instincts rose in horror. If he didn't think about his own career 
L18 183 then he might have thought of mine. I blamed him bitterly, 
L18 184 forgetting the warm glow I had felt mingling in circles far above 
L18 185 my own.<p/>
L18 186 <p_>The bedroom door opened again. Heinz was clothed now, in 
L18 187 flannels and a red check shirt, with a khaki knapsack on his back. 
L18 188 He looked now like a very ordinary, nice young man. He called out 
L18 189 <quote_>"I go"<quote/>, and Timothy hurried from the kitchen to see 
L18 190 him off. There was a large mirror on the wall in front of me, and I 
L18 191 saw the two of them, in the hallway, put their arms around each 
L18 192 other and kiss passionately on the lips.<p/>
L18 193 <p_>The phrase old ladies use, <quote_>"I didn't know where to put 
L18 194 my face"<quote/>, is really a very apt clich<*_>e-acute<*/>, and 
L18 195 vividly conveys how I felt. I wanted my whole body to disappear, to 
L18 196 crumple itself up into a little ball and hide itself away under the 
L18 197 sofa, but above all I wanted my face to be put somewhere out of 
L18 198 sight, where its flushed, miserable embarrassment would not give 
L18 199 away my feelings.<p/>
L18 200 
L19   1 <#FLOB:L19\><p_>Sally, neither good nor wanting to be saved, 
L19   2 wondered if she could get off the boring task of spiking food and 
L19   3 suggested that it would be easier to lay it flat on plates. 
L19   4 <quote_>"Now that I've cut my finger."<quote/><p/>
L19   5 <p_>Mrs Mackay told her to stir the dip instead, a creamy-looking 
L19   6 sauce with a fish flavour, while she did the spiking. <quote_>"But 
L19   7 put a plaster on your finger first. There are some in the 
L19   8 cupboard."<quote/><p/>
L19   9 <p_>The Mount's kitchen was a large utilitarian room with 
L19  10 white-painted walls and functional worktops that held an assortment 
L19  11 of utensils, mostly in stainless steel, the exception being a set 
L19  12 of pretty saucepans given by a grateful patient, together with a 
L19  13 note: <quote_>"For stimulating my tastebuds so wonderfully, may 
L19  14 these flowery pans remind you of me and my gratitude."<quote/> A 
L19  15 patient who hadn't been cured, Mrs Mackay had thought dourly, but 
L19  16 she had received them politely and put them on a top shelf where 
L19  17 they glowed pinkly prettily next to the first-aid cupboard. 
L19  18 <quote_>"If I had my own home,"<quote/> Sally said, selecting a 
L19  19 Band Aid, <quote_>"I'd like saucepans like those."<quote/><p/>
L19  20 <p_><quote_>"What goes into them matters,"<quote/> Mrs Mackay 
L19  21 jabbed a piece of cheese, <quote_>"not how they look."<quote/> She 
L19  22 was reminded of one of Hixon's homilies about empty vessels - or 
L19  23 human receptacles, as he'd called them - being filled with a broth 
L19  24 of evil and stirred with the hands of sin. Not one of his happier 
L19  25 sermons. At his best he'd had the power to soar into the realms of 
L19  26 ecstasy and drag his congregation with him. The Welsh called it 
L19  27 <foreign|>hywel, she believed, the Scots hadn't a word for it, or 
L19  28 if they had she didn't know it. Whatever it was, it did one good. 
L19  29 She wondered if his talent for words would flourish in the gaol's 
L19  30 chapel, or would he be in solitary confinement and gagged for 
L19  31 ever?<p/>
L19  32 <p_><quote_>"Do you think they'll eat all these biscuits?"<quote/> 
L19  33 Sally asked, <quote_>"or may I have one?"<quote/> The biscuits were 
L19  34 shaped into hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs. She had cut them 
L19  35 out earlier from the savoury pastry that Mrs Mackay had made. To 
L19  36 ask if she might have one was politic under the circumstances. She 
L19  37 had already nicked half a dozen before Mrs Mackay had noticed the 
L19  38 shoes.<p/>
L19  39 <p_>Mrs Mackay told her she could. <quote_>"Just one."<quote/><p/>
L19  40 <p_>Sally chose a heart and ate it. She had tried to persuade Simon 
L19  41 to come to the whist drive. It was the monthly one that was open to 
L19  42 villagers. The Maybridges would probably come, she had told him. It 
L19  43 might have been the wrong thing to say. Mrs Maybridge had put her 
L19  44 foot in it, apparently, she wasn't sure how. Something to do with 
L19  45 the woman Creggan had nicknamed the se<*_>n-tilde<*/>orita - or 
L19  46 se<*_>n-tilde<*/>ora - who had gone away. Creggan had been to one 
L19  47 of the bridge parties, patients and guests only, and had pinched 
L19  48 her bottom when she had leaned over with the tray of fancies during 
L19  49 the interval. He hadn't been to any of the others. It was boring 
L19  50 without him. She wasn't even allowed to carry his tea down to his 
L19  51 tent, these days. One of the other domestics did it - Mavie Dunoon 
L19  52 - but she had managed to slip into his tent now and then when no 
L19  53 one was around. <quote|>"Maivs," he had said bitterly, <quote_>"a 
L19  54 song thrush, how inaptly named - a corn-crake of a woman - a 
L19  55 mastodon of a female - an extinct mammalian creature with 
L19  56 nipple-shaped prominences on her molar teeth."<quote/> A bit of an 
L19  57 exaggeration. There wasn't much wrong with Mavis, apart from being 
L19  58 overweight and over thirty. Her teeth did stick out a bit. Not a 
L19  59 lot.<p/>
L19  60 <p_>Creggan had asked her if she was still seeing the Bradshaw boy. 
L19  61 His name is Simon, she had said. Yes, he knew that, he said. Was 
L19  62 she still seeing him? Sometimes, she said. <quote_>"Has he fucked 
L19  63 you yet?"<quote/> That was a rude question - a rude way of putting 
L19  64 a rude question. Old guys shouldn't use words like that. She had 
L19  65 glared at him. <quote_>"I take it,"<quote/> he said gently, 
L19  66 <quote_>"that he has not, and I apologise, my dear child, if I have 
L19  67 hurt your susceptibilities by phrasing it in such a gross 
L19  68 manner."<quote/><p/>
L19  69 <p_><quote|>"Hm," she had snorted, not appeased. He had been at his 
L19  70 weak beer again, she guessed. It filled his mouth up with 
L19  71 dictionary words - and rude ones - and he spat them out. 
L19  72 <quote_>"Dear Sally,"<quote/> he had reached out and held her hand, 
L19  73 <quote_>"I'm so sorry."<quote/> A nice simple apology that time and 
L19  74 she had accepted it. <quote_>"Never get hurt,"<quote/> he had 
L19  75 added, <quote_>"never let anyone destroy you, dear child. There are 
L19  76 other places away from here - other places of employment - other 
L19  77 boys. Go away, little Sally Loreto, while all is well."<quote/><p/>
L19  78 <p_>Maybe he <tf|>was a little mad. She had smiled at him 
L19  79 doubtfully. He hadn't smiled back.<p/>
L19  80 <p_>The seduction of Simon was taking a lot longer than she had 
L19  81 expected, and it annoyed her that Creggan might have guessed it. 
L19  82 She had lost her virginity at fifteen, a race in those days to see 
L19  83 which of her girlfriends could lose it first. She had never had 
L19  84 difficulty enticing a boy, just pretended he was enticing her. She 
L19  85 had hoped to sleep with Simon on the day she had disposed of the 
L19  86 clothes, and had driven the empty van back optimistically and with 
L19  87 a handy story ready about Oxfam being awfully pleased. He hadn't 
L19  88 been in a good mood. Where were the keys? he wanted to know. Had 
L19  89 she emptied the pockets - his father's pockets - and taken out the 
L19  90 keys? Rather cross, too, by now (he should have been grateful she'd 
L19  91 done the job at all), she'd told him that all she could find in the 
L19  92 pockets were handkerchiefs - did his father have a perpetual cold? 
L19  93 - and as no one would want those, she had thrown them away. There 
L19  94 was no loose change in the pockets, she had added coldly in case he 
L19  95 thought she was stealing. He wasn't interested in loose change, 
L19  96 he'd said, just keys. Not the house keys, he had those, keys to a 
L19  97 place in London his father's solicitor had told him about. They 
L19  98 must be somewhere. <quote_>"Then look,"<quote/> she had said, 
L19  99 <quote_>"but don't look at me. I haven't got them. All I have is a 
L19 100 head that's about to split after spending hours doing a charitable 
L19 101 job you wouldn't do yourself."<quote/> The atmosphere hadn't been 
L19 102 warm and cosy. He hadn't even mentioned the tracksuit.<p/>
L19 103 <p_>On their next date, a few days later, he told her he'd found 
L19 104 the keys in his father's travelling case, which seemed an odd place 
L19 105 to keep them. And he'd thanked her very much for the tracksuit and 
L19 106 was sorry if he'd been pretty rotten to her on the day she'd 
L19 107 disposed of the gear, but he got like that sometimes. And where did 
L19 108 she want to jog?<p/>
L19 109 <p_>It was clear to her that he didn't particularly want to jog 
L19 110 anywhere and it took some cajoling to get him to rise at seven and 
L19 111 meet her at The Mount on her daily run. They had run together on 
L19 112 five mornings, and if he saw that as a penance it wasn't a very 
L19 113 long one. He wouldn't mind jogging somewhere else, he said, but he 
L19 114 didn't like people watching and he didn't like having to get up so 
L19 115 early. What about an evening jog some time - across the fields, 
L19 116 perhaps?<p/>
L19 117 <p_>It was a reasonable suggestion - with possibilities. She had 
L19 118 smiled her happy Sally smile again and said, <quote_>"Why 
L19 119 not?"<quote/><p/>
L19 120 <p_>Macklestone wasn't brilliant jogging countryside. The main road 
L19 121 was lethal and the minor roads had a devious habit of ending up in 
L19 122 cul-de-sacs and farmyards. The right of way through part of the 
L19 123 Millingtons' farm was one of the few possible options when the 
L19 124 weather was dry. To reach it meant passing Mrs Mackay's cottage, 
L19 125 which was tucked away like a sullen little toad at the end of a 
L19 126 lane. Sally on the whole preferred being spied on by The Mount's 
L19 127 patients, who were either madly enthusiastic or insanely jealous 
L19 128 (well, she guessed they were), than by Mrs Mackay, who exuded 
L19 129 displeasure like a squeezed carbuncle, but as they passed her 
L19 130 cottage in less than half a minute of a quick run, and as Mrs 
L19 131 Mackay spent most of her off-duty time sewing samplers and making 
L19 132 curtains in the room at the back, Sally wasn't too bothered. Mrs 
L19 133 Mackay's samplers and curtains were topics of conversation, dry 
L19 134 islands of dull talk, when she wasn't busy stirring something or 
L19 135 other. The curtain material she had bought cheap at a Bristol 
L19 136 market, blue and cream striped cotton. The sampler she was working 
L19 137 on showed clasped hands and the words 'To have and to hold.' All 
L19 138 this information had been elicited by Sally, who wasn't 
L19 139 particularly interested but didn't like silence very much. 'To have 
L19 140 and to hold' was part of the marriage service, she had informed Mrs 
L19 141 Mackay. There were other meanings, Mrs Mackay had replied. There 
L19 142 was virtue in constancy. In having principles and keeping them. To 
L19 143 have courage in the face of adversity. To have faith in one's 
L19 144 friends. What friends? Sally had wondered. The Millingtons? Mrs 
L19 145 Mackay and Mrs Millington met sometimes, she'd heard, and went 
L19 146 somewhere to sing. The thought of Mrs Mackay singing made Sally 
L19 147 collapse into giggles. It was impossible to imagine. Her mouth was 
L19 148 trap shut most of the time. She hoped it would stay trap shut about 
L19 149 Simon's mother's shoes.<p/>
L19 150 <p_>She wished she would stop looking at them.<p/>
L19 151 <p_>Sally, escaping from her gaze, picked up the tray and carried 
L19 152 it through to the games room. A bell rang. Half time, or had 
L19 153 someone revoked? Revoked - another word she'd learnt. If a 
L19 154 psychiatric patient revoked, and thought the accusation unfair, 
L19 155 would he fling his cards in his opponent's face, overturn the 
L19 156 table, scream? People did scream in The Mount - just now and then - 
L19 157 and were taken along to the quiet wing where they could scream in 
L19 158 peace and quiet. Or Doctor Donaldson would get them to lie on his 
L19 159 couch and say something in a soothing voice until they fell asleep 
L19 160 - hypnotism without dangling an object in front of their eyes, some 
L19 161 sort of trick. He usually had one of the women psychotherapists 
L19 162 with him when he did that. A canny old cove - Donaldson. Very 
L19 163 careful. Any accusation of screwing and he'd screw the female 
L19 164 patient for damages pretty damn fast.<p/>
L19 165 <p_>The games room wasn't as full as usual. Only six tables. It had 
L19 166 been a very hot day and the evening light was still strong. Card 
L19 167 games were better played in the winter.<p/>
L19 168 <p_>Max Cormack, who thought the same but had come out of 
L19 169 curiosity, noticed the fair-haired girl standing in the doorway 
L19 170 holding a tray. He had seen her jogging past Millington's farm with 
L19 171 Bradshaw's son. A happy sort of friendship. She was older than him, 
L19 172 he guessed, but not too much older. He had hoped to meet Simon by 
L19 173 now, in the pub or somewhere, but the lad seemed to lead a 
L19 174 hermitical existence apart from going out with the girl, whatever 
L19 175 her name was. Maybridge had told him that the lad was doing all the 
L19 176 wrong things, if one viewed life rigidly from a practical angle, 
L19 177 but who was to judge? What was wrong for some was right for others, 
L19 178 Maybridge had stressed. If a person got knocked down by a car, 
L19 179 forcing him to get back on his feet before he was ready wouldn't do 
L19 180 him much good. Healing took time. Simon, emotionally stunned, was 
L19 181 still groping around. Had he rushed back to school and then on to 
L19 182 university in the autumn, his friends might have felt easier about 
L19 183 him, applauded his courage, but he had to work things out in his 
L19 184 own way.<p/>
L19 185 <p_>Maybridge's wife, apparently, would have been one of the 
L19 186 applauders. She hadn't handled him very well, she'd explained to 
L19 187 Cormack, and felt guilty that she wasn't helping him more, but knew 
L19 188 she wouldn't be welcome.
L19 189 
L20   1 <#FLOB:L20\>And physicists certainly do. But mathematics isn't like 
L20   2 that. If everything's predictable, life's bound to get a bit damned 
L20   3 dull. And mathematics <tf|>can't be dull, by definition. There's 
L20   4 always got to be something to find out or there's no point in doing 
L20   5 it at all."<quote/><p/>
L20   6 <p_><quote|>"Funny," Kate said. <quote_>"Most people think just the 
L20   7 opposite."<quote/><p/>
L20   8 <p_><quote_>"That's because they know it can't happen. Maybe for a 
L20   9 while things can go round and round in a nice smooth orbit, like 
L20  10 you saw on the screen there. But then some unknown factor, like the 
L20  11 butterfly, interferes and attracts the particles - pulls them out 
L20  12 of the pattern. And it all goes haywire. We call that factor a 
L20  13 strange attractor. It's <tf|>strange in the sense of <tf|>alien, 
L20  14 something that can't be included in the original equation. It's 
L20  15 quite a frivolous little object otherwise."<quote/><p/>
L20  16 <p_><quote_>"Is that how you spend your time? Chasing frivolous 
L20  17 little objects?"<quote/><p/>
L20  18 <p_><quote_>"For months on end,"<quote/> Dobie said. 
L20  19 <quote_>"They're elusive. They take a lot of catching. And when 
L20  20 you've caught one, as like as not you don't know what to do with 
L20  21 it. I suspect that's what happened to Sammy. In the end he left it 
L20  22 where it was. Trapped inside the computer."<quote/><p/>
L20  23 <p_><quote_>"Poor little thing,"<quote/> Kate said. <quote_>"I know 
L20  24 how it feels."<quote/><p/>
L20  25 <p_><quote|>"Yes," Dobie said. <quote_>"So do I."<quote/><p/>
L20  26 <p_>He got up and went to sit down in one of the armchairs instead. 
L20  27 Yes. Very comfy. It wasn't a bad little room at all. He liked it 
L20  28 here.<p/>
L20  29 <p_><quote_>"... I've just seen my wife off at the airport. She's 
L20  30 gone to Paris."<quote/><p/>
L20  31 <p_>Kate sat down opposite him, not properly but perching herself 
L20  32 on the upholstered arm. <quote_>"Gone for long?"<quote/><p/>
L20  33 <p_><quote|>"No," Dobie said. <quote_>"Not for long."<quote/><p/>
L20  34 <p_><quote_>"Is that another dismantling job you have to 
L20  35 do?"<quote/><p/>
L20  36 <p_><quote_>"I don't know,"<quote/> Dobie said.<p/>
L20  37 <p_><quote_>"Better dismantled than broken into pieces, don't you 
L20  38 think?"<quote/><p/>
L20  39 <p_><quote_>"That seems logical, Captain. But then we're not all 
L20  40 Mister Spocks. People <tf|>aren't logical."<quote/><p/>
L20  41 <p_><quote_>"Women even less so than men?"<quote/><p/>
L20  42 <p_><quote_>"I didn't say that."<quote/><p/>
L20  43 <p_><quote_>"More subject to their emotions, perhaps?"<quote/><p/>
L20  44 <p_><quote_>"Perhaps. Or to strange attractors."<quote/><p/>
L20  45 <p_><quote_>"How long have you been married, anyway?"<quote/><p/>
L20  46 <p_><quote_>"Not quite a year."<quote/><p/>
L20  47 <p_><quote_>"Oh well, shit, you have to give it a bit more of a 
L20  48 chance than <tf|>that."<quote/><p/>
L20  49 <p_><quote_>"That's what <tf|>I can't help feeling,"<quote/> Dobie 
L20  50 admitted.<p/>
L20  51 <p_>The noise of an aircraft, passing high overhead, came to them 
L20  52 both as a distant whisper.<p/>
L20  53 <p_>Friday morning. End of term. Everybody frantically trying to 
L20  54 finish marking exam papers, except for Dobie. He'd finished his 
L20  55 already. But there was a packet of stuff just arrived from George 
L20  56 Campbell at MIT, six mini-discs loaded with computations, and to 
L20  57 judge from George's accompanying letter some of the new sets were 
L20  58 exciting. <quote_>"That should keep you busy through the 
L20  59 summer,"<quote/> Mary Mayfield said. Mary Mayfield was the 
L20  60 departmental secretary. She was very nice.<p/>
L20  61 <p_><quote_>"What about your own plans? Spain again this 
L20  62 year?"<quote/><p/>
L20  63 <p_><quote_>"Yes, I got an early booking. I'm off Monday. Six nice 
L20  64 long weeks on the Costa del Concrete, should be fun."<quote/><p/>
L20  65 <p_><quote_>"I'm sure it will be,"<quote/> Dobie said. <quote_>"I 
L20  66 except my wife's got something up her sleeve for me. But I don't 
L20  67 know what it is."<quote/><p/>
L20  68 <p_><quote_>"She's in the business, isn't she? So she ought to ... 
L20  69 Oh, by the way. Telephone call for you. Earlier this 
L20  70 morning."<quote/><p/>
L20  71 <p_><quote_>"What, from Jenny?"<quote/><p/>
L20  72 <p_><quote_>"No. A Mrs Corder."<quote/> Mary was checking the 
L20  73 indecipherable scrawl on her notepad. <quote_>"Eight o'clock 
L20  74 tonight, was that right?"<quote/><p/>
L20  75 <p_><quote_>Yes, you needn't have bothered. I hadn't 
L20  76 forgotten."<quote/><p/>
L20  77 <p_><quote_>"Well, she says can you make it at her place instead of 
L20  78 yours?"<quote/><p/>
L20  79 <p_>The Corders' house was the far side of Porthkerry Park, twenty 
L20  80 miles distant at least with some nasty bumpy stretches. Dobie 
L20  81 sighed. <quote_>"I suppose so."<quote/><p/>
L20  82 <p_><quote_>"That's good because I said you could."<quote/><p/>
L20  83 <p_>At five o'clock, to make matters worse, it started to rain and 
L20  84 by half-past seven it was pelting. Doubtless, Dobie thought as he 
L20  85 peered astigmatically through the blurred windscreen, Jane that 
L20  86 morning had had a peremptory word with a passing butterfly and her 
L20  87 resultant accurate assessment of the forthcoming global climate had 
L20  88 decided her to conduct such interviews as she had arranged for that 
L20  89 evening cosily at home. It was, after all, a very palatial home. 
L20  90 Dobie had only visited it two or three times before, but he had 
L20  91 been impressed. You were <tf|>meant to be impressed. It was placed 
L20  92 on a narrow promontory thrusting out across the Bristol Channel, so 
L20  93 close to the sea that in rough weather the waves sloshed right 
L20  94 across the portholes, and its trendy-architect bungalow design 
L20  95 included all manner of refinements and creature comforts, which (or 
L20  96 so Dobie hoped) might well include a little something to warm the 
L20  97 cockles, after a drive like this one. The house was called 
L20  98 Pantmawr. Nobody knew why. Though of course you had to call it 
L20  99 something.<p/>
L20 100 <p_>There was a large gravelled space outside where Dobie halted 
L20 101 his steed, punctiliously leaving a clear space through to the front 
L20 102 gate from the double garage in the corner (which anyway was 
L20 103 closed). He checked the time before getting out. Three minutes to 
L20 104 eight. Very punctual. The rain was still fairly whizzing down and 
L20 105 he felt in no great hurry to leave his agreeably bottom-warmed car 
L20 106 seat. To the south the horizon was dark with scudding clouds, black 
L20 107 as a kookaburra's khyber and obscuring what on a less inhospitable 
L20 108 evening would have been a spectacular sunset. He could just make 
L20 109 out a few vague lights twinkling half-heartedly on the Somerset 
L20 110 coast. The prospect of a little something continued to beckon him 
L20 111 and he got out of the car and squelched purposefully over to the 
L20 112 front door, loose gravel crunching under his feet.<p/>
L20 113 <p_>Tie straight? Flies zipped up?<p/>
L20 114 <p_>Yes.<p/>
L20 115 <p_>About to press the doorbell, he saw that a sheet of paper had 
L20 116 been folded and tucked neatly under that brass knocker that 
L20 117 provided an alternative, if unseemly, method of announcing one's 
L20 118 arrival. He took it and unfolded it. It said:<p/>
L20 119 <p_>BACK SOON  PLEASE GO IN  MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME<p/>
L20 120 <p_>This message had been typed in red, for some unfathomable 
L20 121 reason, and Jane's squiggly signature appended in purple ink. Dobie 
L20 122 tried the door. It was open all right. And of course all this was 
L20 123 typical. He went through into the hallway, left his raincoat on a 
L20 124 convenient hook and walked on into the sitting-room, which seemed 
L20 125 to be rather more than comfortably warm. Central heating on, in 
L20 126 midsummer. Probably no one had bothered to turn it off.<p/>
L20 127 <p_>He glanced at the note again before dropping it on to one of 
L20 128 the side tables. He wondered what SOON meant. Probably anything 
L20 129 from five to forty-five minutes. At least it was clear what MAKE 
L20 130 YOURSELF AT HOME meant, and he saw that a whisky decanter and 
L20 131 tumbler had been placed on a table beside the cocktail bar, in a 
L20 132 shaded alcove on the far side of the room. Jane was an irritating 
L20 133 woman, but she had her points. It was five past eight now and the 
L20 134 sun well over the yardarm, time for a stengah, what? ... Dobie 
L20 135 giggled foolishly to himself as he listened to the pleasant trickle 
L20 136 of Glenlivet Double Malt tilting into the waiting tumbler; there 
L20 137 <tf|>was something a bit memsahib-ish about old Jane, with her 
L20 138 ruthless concern for the welfare of the natives and other lesser 
L20 139 breeds without the law, such as men in general. Give 'em whisky and 
L20 140 make 'em wait; in university circles she'd end up a 
L20 141 Vice-Chancellor, nothing was more certain. Whereas Jenny ...<p/>
L20 142 <p_>Dobie took a healthy swig at the contents of his glass (no 
L20 143 sensible man would pollute Glenlivet with water, much less soda) 
L20 144 and turned away. He'd no idea where Jenny would end up. At the 
L20 145 present rate of striking she'd be lucky if this time next year she 
L20 146 wasn't being shipped off to South America or Mauritania or some 
L20 147 such awful place, and when she got there she wouldn't even enjoy 
L20 148 it. He gazed glumly at the array of photographs on the mantelpiece. 
L20 149 Jane was there all right, both in a posed studio shot and (looking 
L20 150 naturally very much younger) in a wedding photograph, clutching the 
L20 151 right arm of a correspondingly youthful Alec. Another 
L20 152 black-and-white shot of an even younger Jane clad in an abbreviated 
L20 153 swimsuit and bathing cap turned out, on closer examination, to be a 
L20 154 photograph of Wendy; there seemed to be some kind of cup or 
L20 155 sporting trophy on a small table somewhere in the background, but 
L20 156 either the camera was slightly out of focus or else (and more 
L20 157 probably) Dobie was. Further along the mantelpiece Alec was 
L20 158 genially keeping up the good work, shaking hands with the Prince of 
L20 159 Wales; this one had an inscription that said 'Prince of Wales' 
L20 160 Industrial Awards - Corder Acoustics, Cardiff'. The award itself, 
L20 161 which appeared to be a small silver plaque, was mounted on a wooden 
L20 162 shield directly alongside. There was writing on the plaque also, 
L20 163 but Dobie couldn't read it. The light was decidedly dim here, but 
L20 164 even so.<p/>
L20 165 <p_>And still no sign of Jane. Dobie went back to the alcove and 
L20 166 sat down on the leather-backed couch behind the table. He took off 
L20 167 his glasses, polished them with his handkerchief and put them back 
L20 168 on. Everything still seemed to be fogged at the edges. He listened 
L20 169 to the drumming patter of raindrops on the roof.<p/>
L20 170 <p_><quote_>"Not here,"<quote_> he heard himself say in quite a 
L20 171 loud voice. <quote_>"Gone to Parish<&|>sic!."<quote/> He giggled 
L20 172 again, this time audibly and took another shwig<&|>sic! of whisky, 
L20 173 why the hell not, Alec had crates of the shtuff<&|>sic! down in the 
L20 174 sheller<&|>sic!. Then he took off his glasses again and rubbed his 
L20 175 eyes. Then he sat back on the couch and closed them. A warm glow of 
L20 176 well-being radiated outwards from his stomach. The steady beat of 
L20 177 the raindrops was soporific. Shopo - Yes. Soporific. He felt woozhy 
L20 178 but pleasantly woozhy. Piles of cotton-wool<?_>-<?/>like clouds 
L20 179 drifted peacefully across the horizon.<p/>
L20 180 <p_>Dobie slept.<p/>
L20 181 <p_>He woke up very abruptly and at once decided that he wasn't 
L20 182 feeling all that great. Something was wrong and he didn't know 
L20 183 what. He could still hear the rhythmic beat of raindrops but over 
L20 184 and above that sound there was a very loud screaming whine that it 
L20 185 took him a moment of two to identify as the sound of a jet engine, 
L20 186 of an aircraft passing very low overhead. It was that sound, he 
L20 187 realised, that had woken him up.<p/>
L20 188 <p_>For the rest he knew exactly where he was and what he was 
L20 189 doing; he was sitting on a couch in Jane Corder's house and he had 
L20 190 just drunk a glass of whisky and had dropped off to sleep but that 
L20 191 had to be wrong because his face felt still and everything looked 
L20 192 wonky ... Perhaps I'm ill, he thought, and they've put me to bed. 
L20 193 Why didn't I wake up before? Good God, perhaps I <tf|>did pass out, 
L20 194 how else could they have ...? How very 
L20 195 silly/odd/embarrassing/frightening. Frightening because I can't 
L20 196 move my arms or my legs and that's because I've been TIED UP ... 
L20 197 HELP HELP! But this is just bloody ridiculous, incredible...<p/>
L20 198 <p_>All of that but none the less true. His wrists had been tied, 
L20 199 not painfully but securely, behind his back and his ankles 
L20 200 similarly fastened, not with a rope but with what looked like 
L20 201 somebody's tie. Peering downwards with difficulty, Dobie recognised 
L20 202 the tie as his own. Such pain as he felt - which was really more of 
L20 203 a marked discomfort - came from the region of his mouth, which 
L20 204 someone had thoughtlessly sealed up with what had to be a wide 
L20 205 strip of sticking plaster. He had already made, inadvertently, a 
L20 206 rather disgusting gugging noise; he didn't attempt to make any 
L20 207 further sounds, but listened instead. Apart from the thump of the 
L20 208 falling rain and the fast-receding thrum of the aircraft engine, he 
L20 209 couldn't hear anything. All was silent.<p/>
L20 210 <p_>His vision still seemed to be slightly hazy but he remembered 
L20 211 now he'd taken his glasses off and put them on the table. There 
L20 212 they were, beside the whisky decanter and the almost-empty tumbler. 
L20 213 But even without them he could see quite clearly the face of the 
L20 214 ornamental clock on the far wall, the hands of which now showed 
L20 215 twenty to nine.
L20 216 
L21   1 <#FLOB:L21\>Geraldine slipped down under the bench after the 
L21   2 initial shot and, from his spot behind the lectern at the front, 
L21   3 Cameron could not see much of her, only the whiteness of a 
L21   4 cricketing sweater she had regularly appeared in lately, and the 
L21   5 grey-streaked, fairish mass of her hair. The man with the pistol 
L21   6 went to the aisle, stepped up two tiers, jumped on to the third 
L21   7 bench and walked a few steps along it, scattering the books and 
L21   8 papers of the couple of students between the aisle and Geraldine. 
L21   9 He stood over the place where she lay and aimed the gun at her 
L21  10 again. <p/>
L21  11 <p_><quote|>"No," Cameron yelled. <quote_>"Why? Oh why?"<quote/> He 
L21  12 moved out from behind the lectern, the copy of <tf_>The Friends of 
L21  13 Eddie Coyle<tf/>, from which he had been reading to illustrate 
L21  14 irony, still in his hand. The man turned and stared at him for a 
L21  15 moment. Her husband? Geraldine was a mature student with sons, from 
L21  16 one of whom she might have borrowed the sweater. Didn't Cameron 
L21  17 recall drinking Chianti with this man at some social evening for 
L21  18 students and partners in her first year? A plumber? A roofer? 
L21  19 <quote_>"Mr Marques," he shouted, <quote_>"you'll never get away 
L21  20 with this. Why don't we just talk it over like two sensible 
L21  21 people?"<quote/><p/>
L21  22 <p_>The man turned back, then bent down as if to get a better 
L21  23 sighting of Geraldine on the floor. She must have part-rolled under 
L21  24 the seat. In a moment he did something very extraordinary, which to 
L21  25 Cameron carried a kind of sparkling symbolism. The attacker 
L21  26 actually kneeled on the third bench, his back to Cameron, the gun 
L21  27 pointed down in front of him at Geraldine. The contradiction seemed 
L21  28 to Cameron heavy with meaning - this traditional attitude of 
L21  29 subjection, yet also this attitude of terrible dominance. In his 
L21  30 teaching he always stressed the suitability of crime as a 
L21  31 novelistic subject, because of its multitudinous complexities: 
L21  32 hence today's look at irony, for instance.<p/>
L21  33 <p_>The man fired again, and, soon, Cameron glimpsed a large, 
L21  34 spreading red rectangle appear on the shoulder and back of the 
L21  35 cricket sweater. Again that seemed to him significant: this garment 
L21  36 of a rigidly formulated, indeed venerable, game now touched by deep 
L21  37 disorder. He could smell what he knew must be cordite, sharp, 
L21  38 pleasant, lingering. The man straightened, then walked swiftly, 
L21  39 assuredly, back along the bench towards the door. Yes, perhaps a 
L21  40 roofer. He had on what looked to Cameron like remarkably expensive 
L21  41 brown fashion boots, possibly even Timberland. Roofers made a bomb, 
L21  42 and plumbers. But how absurd, he thought, to be noticing such 
L21  43 things, when a woman lay dead and the murderer was escaping. Yet 
L21  44 the mind was ungovernable, following its own streams of 
L21  45 consciousness, not exactly regardless of events, but only 
L21  46 contingent to them. He would diary his reactions with 
L21  47 exactitude.<p/>
L21  48 <p_>To his classes he had continually pointed out that action, 
L21  49 action and more action was the essence of crime writing: explicit 
L21  50 philosophising, even character analysis, had to be brief, if not 
L21  51 actually sketchy, in the interests of pace. Yearly he quoted to his 
L21  52 pupils that saying of - or was it about? - Len Deighton, the spy 
L21  53 author, stipulating that if a narrative grew slack the way to 
L21  54 recover was have somebody barge through the door holding a gun. And 
L21  55 now it had really happened - and, yes, by God, it worked: the whole 
L21  56 tempo of things had changed. This lecture theatre's atmosphere no 
L21  57 longer seemed even vaguely comparable with what it was when he had 
L21  58 been skilfully elaborating on the fierce irony in the title of 
L21  59 George V. Higgins's <tf_>The Friends of Eddie Coyle<tf/> - where 
L21  60 'friends' meant the reverse. No question, it had been a 
L21  61 well-prepared and genuinely felt lecture of very bright insights, 
L21  62 but certainly the students had reacted much more vividly to the 
L21  63 interruption by the armed man and the shooting of Geraldine. In 
L21  64 fact, they were still tense, still white or flushed, many of them, 
L21  65 some weeping.<p/>
L21  66 <p_>So, then, action. The only relevant contribution he could think 
L21  67 of now was pursuit of the gunman, who had left the room by the 
L21  68 upper door, slamming it behind him. Cameron raced up the tiered 
L21  69 floor after him. <quote|>"No!" an undergraduate cried. <quote_>"My 
L21  70 God, Professor, he's armed. Let the police deal with 
L21  71 it."<quote/><p/>
L21  72 <p_>Yet that was not how these things were shaped at all. If some 
L21  73 innocent bystander is drawn in during a crime, he is drawn in and 
L21  74 has no choice but to become involved, though fearful. This crisis 
L21  75 was what in Hemingway - an occasional practitioner of crime fiction 
L21  76 - would be called 'the moment of truth', and one could only put 
L21  77 one's manliness on the line and hope it was of due quality. Cameron 
L21  78 still carried the paperback George V. Higgins novel. Would he throw 
L21  79 this at the gunman should he encounter him now? It was a paradigm 
L21  80 situation: the pathetically ill-armed, run-of-the-mill, even 
L21  81 insignificant man - one of life's ordinary Joes - willing to 
L21  82 confront the violent brute, and able to offer against this threat 
L21  83 only a farcially negligible missile, plus, though, his courage, 
L21  84 determination and the blessed instinct of good's resistance to 
L21  85 evil. He remembered Frederic March coping with Bogart and other 
L21  86 hoodlums in <tf_>The Desperate Hours<tf/>. Somehow and eventually 
L21  87 this good and typical figure always won: art's pressure towards 
L21  88 tidiness ensured it. He felt wonderfully heartened as he ran, and 
L21  89 considered it not foolhardy but obligatory to ignore the 
L21  90 well-intentioned, frantic, yelled warning.<p/>
L21  91 <p_>Then, as Cameron neared the door, it was flung open again and 
L21  92 the man stood there once more, his gun raised. Jesus, had all that 
L21  93 rubbish stuff about Hemingway and blessed instincts knackered this 
L21  94 narrative so badly that the technique of an armed intruder bursting 
L21  95 through the door had to be given such an immediate second run? 
L21  96 Cameron stopped, horrified, and they stared at each other. This was 
L21  97 the instant, wasn't it, when a fictional character would think 
L21  98 lovingly of all those precious things that constituted the texture 
L21  99 of existence - bird song, children's laughter, a modicum of Turkish 
L21 100 delight, Mozart and/or Randy Crawford, plus, of course, the clean 
L21 101 smack of a ball hit perfectly into the pool pocket.<p/>
L21 102 <p_><quote_>"Why? You ask why?"<quote/> the man cried in a 
L21 103 strangely hollow, yet at the same time immensely powerful, 
L21 104 voice.<p/>
L21 105 <p_><quote_>"Yes, why?"<quote/> Cameron answered. There could be a 
L21 106 remarkable strength from repetition in dialogue: the strength of 
L21 107 incantation.<p/>
L21 108 <p_><quote_>"I'll tell you why. Oh, yes, I'll tell you 
L21 109 why."<quote/> Perhaps this man attended evening creative-writing 
L21 110 classes and also knew about incantation.<p/>
L21 111 <p_>One of the more promising students shouted: <quote_>"What we 
L21 112 are seeing here is violence as an outcrop of fundamental 
L21 113 psychological disturbance. Character blazoned in 
L21 114 action."<quote/><p/>
L21 115 <p_><quote|>"Come," Cameron replied, leading down towards the 
L21 116 lectern. He turned his back on the gun, knowing somehow that this 
L21 117 was a gesture which could not provoke a shot. It would have been 
L21 118 hopelessly outside the mode. <quote_>"We are a university and 
L21 119 everyone is entitled to his point of view. Tell me, are you Mr 
L21 120 Marques? Did we not take wine together, sir, on some earlier 
L21 121 occasion?"<quote/> Often elaborate politeness darkened prevailing 
L21 122 menace even further, by showing the formalities of society in peril 
L21 123 and so indicating their extreme fragility.<p/>
L21 124 <p_><quote_>"It doesn't matter who I am."<quote/><p/>
L21 125 <p_><quote_>"But may I call you Mr Marques?"<quote/><p/>
L21 126 <p_><quote_>"Call me what you will. See me simply as someone with a 
L21 127 mission. I have fulfilled half of it."<quote/><p/>
L21 128 <p_><quote|>"Half?"<p/>
L21 129 <p_>Cameron felt a terrible fear grip him. If this were fiction it 
L21 130 would have been an example of that story-telling trick of not 
L21 131 giving the reader too much too soon: standard in crime writing, 
L21 132 where narrative flair was at the art of holding back. Lord, what 
L21 133 was the other half of the mission? <tf|>Who was the other half? As 
L21 134 to halves. For half of half a term in Geraldine's second year 
L21 135 Cameron had been banging her three or four times a week, after 
L21 136 which she moved on to, he thought, Graham Liatt in the History of 
L21 137 Political Ideas. The kind of ferocious sexual guilt that waylaid 
L21 138 the hero in both <tf_>Presumed Innocent<tf/> and <tf_>Fatal 
L21 139 Attraction<tf/> ravaged Cameron for a moment, though the actual 
L21 140 circumstances in those tales were very different, naturally.<p/>
L21 141 <p_>Marques followed him down to the lectern. Cameron replaced 
L21 142 <tf_>The Friends of Eddie Coyle<tf/> on it and addressed the class: 
L21 143 <quote_>"This is Geraldine's, well, husband. Was. We're often left 
L21 144 without a full statement of the murderer's point of view. Perhaps 
L21 145 we get excessively preoccupied with the restoration of legitimacy, 
L21 146 the efficacy of the detective as agent of civic recuperation. Today 
L21 147 this can be corrected. I don't know whether Mr Marques will agree 
L21 148 to take questions later."<quote/><p/>
L21 149 <p_>Cameron could see Geraldine's body again, exactly as it had 
L21 150 been, except that the red rectangle on the sweater had grown. The 
L21 151 greyness in her hair had almost put him off that liaison in her 
L21 152 second year, and had ensured that he did not grieve irreparably 
L21 153 when, after a few weeks, she grew restless for Liatt, or some other 
L21 154 teaching ram. Perhaps he should have forgone even that short 
L21 155 affair. Regret, vain second thoughts, incomprehensibility at one's 
L21 156 own actions - these were the essence of the grippingly dramatic. 
L21 157 Watching her, inert, he realised she was what Martin Amis in his 
L21 158 novel <tf_>London Fields<tf/> would rather jokingly call the 
L21 159 murderee - the passive figure, to whom something is done, namely 
L21 160 death: it could be significant that the term was applied to a 
L21 161 woman, the exploited sex - the feminist critics might like to mull 
L21 162 that. Geraldine's body bellowed body language.<p/>
L21 163 <p_><quote_>"She was moving away from me, losing me,"<quote/> 
L21 164 Marques declared. <quote_>"That's why I am here."<quote/><p/>
L21 165 <p_><quote_>"Geraldine was?"<quote/> Cameron asked.<p/>
L21 166 <p_><quote_>"And so I decided to bring her to rest. She is mine 
L21 167 again now, only mine, forever mine. Reclaimed at last."<quote/> 
L21 168 Passionately, his voice rose to even greater force, easily reaching 
L21 169 people in the back row, with which Cameron himself sometimes had 
L21 170 difficulty, and Marques lifted both hands in a kind of agonised yet 
L21 171 victorious declaration.<p/>
L21 172 <p_>He had placed the pistol on the copy of <tf_>The Friends of 
L21 173 Eddie Coyle<tf/> on the lectern, within a couple of metres of 
L21 174 Cameron. While Marques was stretching like that it might have been 
L21 175 possible to snatch the gun. This did not seem at all the proper way 
L21 176 things should go, though. Instead, there ought to come a moment - a 
L21 177 moment when all the talking had been done, all the explanations 
L21 178 covered, all the overtones and wider issues hinted at - when 
L21 179 Marques would voluntarily surrender the weapon in a telling gesture 
L21 180 and Cameron would shake his hand, look once more squarely into his 
L21 181 eyes, seeing only agony and loneliness there, and then take him 
L21 182 regretfully but unswervingly to justice. It was important to round 
L21 183 off matters, hit a note of tragedy rather than of banal <tf_>force 
L21 184 majeure<tf/>. This kind of touch was what produced resonances, 
L21 185 lifted even brutal crime to a significant plane.<p/>
L21 186 <p_>In any case, Cameron was not sure he would be able to manage 
L21 187 the automatic usefully even if he did grab it. It was of dark blue 
L21 188 metal, horribly like the tint of a bruise, Cameron thought - 
L21 189 upsettingly so, disablingly so. But how wimpish a reaction! Was 
L21 190 this a sign of the essential impotence of the scholar and academic 
L21 191 as against the Man of Action - the Man of Action whom scholars and 
L21 192 academics battened on: historians with Attila or Wellington or 
L21 193 Rommel; himself - Cameron - in this particular course, with 
L21 194 murderers, bank robbers, roofers?<p/>
L21 195 <p_><quote_>"How do you mean she's yours again now, only yours, 
L21 196 forever yours?"<quote/> Kate Bilton called from the end of the back 
L21 197 row. <quote_>"How can she be yours only yours? She's stone dead. 
L21 198 This is surely sloppy thinking. She's not anyone's now. Blast 
L21 199 someone's skull to establish possession? A bit roundabout, wouldn't 
L21 200 you say?"<quote/><p/>
L21 201 <p_>This kid Bilton had always suffered from a foul dose of 
L21 202 literalism. Why she was doing an English course at all Cameron 
L21 203 found it hard to tell. Realising he had to say something to help 
L21 204 Marques out of his probably limited articulation, Cameron replied: 
L21 205 <quote_>"Death can supply a kind of resolution, surely, Kate.
L21 206 
L22   1 <#FLOB:L22\><p_>She saw his face harden as he stared down at what 
L22   2 she had written. Then he threw the pad down on to the desk, giving 
L22   3 her a look so furious and unfamiliar that she felt herself 
L22   4 quail.<p/>
L22   5 <p_><quote_>"For heaven's sake! What's all this double Dutch? I 
L22   6 can't read a word of it."<quote/><p/>
L22   7 <p_><quote_>"Of course you can't."<quote/> Her voice was as cold 
L22   8 and withdrawn as his. She didn't like the stranger that stood in 
L22   9 Pete's shoes. <quote_>"It's shorthand. I'll read you what it 
L22  10 says."<quote/><p/>
L22  11 <p_>Her hand had begun to tremble, but she forced herself to remain 
L22  12 calm. Slowly and clearly she read the message.<p/>
L22  13 <p_>Looking up, she met Pete's eyes and saw within them a surge of 
L22  14 the same excitement that had first fired her when the caller rang. 
L22  15 And then, even as she began to smile again, and saw a similar 
L22  16 response thaw Pete's set face, Graham's voice reached her from the 
L22  17 open doorway.<p/>
L22  18 <p_><quote_>"Get out, you two damned busy-bodies! Taking my phone 
L22  19 calls, taking over my office ... good God, I don't want any more of 
L22  20 it!"<quote/><p/>
L22  21 <p_>Like a whirlwind, he came in, snatching the pad from Gill's 
L22  22 hand and tearing off the sheet bearing the message. Then he 
L22  23 crumpled it fiercely, before throwing it wildly into the waste bin 
L22  24 at the side of the room.<p/>
L22  25 <p_>His whole body was shaking uncontrollably, his face rigid with 
L22  26 fury, and instinctively Gill stepped backwards, almost wincing as 
L22  27 he continued to yell, his voice rising higher and getting even 
L22  28 louder as the words tumbled out.<p/>
L22  29 <p_><quote_>"Get out, Gill - and you Pete - before I really lose my 
L22  30 temper ..."<quote/><p/>
L22  31 <h_><p_>CHAPTER FOUR<p/><h/>
L22  32 <p_>GILL was shocked into silence by Graham's explosive outburst. 
L22  33 She had always known him to be quick-tempered, but now he seemed to 
L22  34 be poised on the threshold of violence. His tirade of frantic words 
L22  35 fell about her, and she could only wait for his rage to exhaust 
L22  36 itself.<p/>
L22  37 <p_>Pete came across to put his arms around her shoulders and said 
L22  38 coldly, <quote_>"Shut it, Graham. No need to be rude simply because 
L22  39 Gill took a phone call for you. One of the reasons she's here is 
L22  40 surely to share the work and help out..."<quote/><p/>
L22  41 <p_>But Graham hadn't finished. His face contorted with anger as he 
L22  42 spat out even more words of hate and contempt at the two of 
L22  43 them.<p/>
L22  44 <p_><quote_>"Oh, trust you to be on her side, Pete. Always were, 
L22  45 weren't you? The two of you scheming against me - and Dad, too. The 
L22  46 story of my life! Well, things have changed now, and I'm in 
L22  47 control. So you needn't think you and Gill can get away with it any 
L22  48 longer-"<quote/><p/>
L22  49 <p_>Something in Gill found it imperative to stop this inane drivel 
L22  50 that made Graham resemble the scheming child he had always been. 
L22  51 His ranting was distasteful and embarrassing.<p/>
L22  52 <p_>Even without Pete's protective arm enfolding her any longer, 
L22  53 she was strong enough to say sharply, <quote_>"That'll do, for 
L22  54 heaven's sake! You're making an exhibition of yourself. Look, 
L22  55 Graham, calm down and let's get back to business. These letters, 
L22  56 now..."<quote/><p/>
L22  57 <p_><quote_>"Blast the letters."<quote/> Still he glowered, but 
L22  58 looked less violent. <quote_>"We'll deal with them later. But that 
L22  59 phone call-"<quote/><p/>
L22  60 <p_>Abruptly, Gill had an instinctive feeling that this could be 
L22  61 the moment to solve the mystery of the foreign caller. Graham was 
L22  62 still so plainly off-keel from his outburst that maybe he would 
L22  63 give a true answer, without trying to cover up as he would 
L22  64 doubtless do in a more controlled mood.<p/>
L22  65 <p_>She chose her words with care.<p/>
L22  66 <p_><quote_>"This Erik, who phoned - he wouldn't give another name. 
L22  67 And the delayed delivery. I hope I got it right, Graham? Does it 
L22  68 make sense? Do you understand..."<quote/><p/>
L22  69 <p_>But in the middle of the sentence, she found Pete back at her 
L22  70 side, turning to face her, frowning and shaking his head.<p/>
L22  71 <p_>She bit off her last words, dismayed. She had been about to go 
L22  72 on and ask Graham openly about the night, a fortnight ago, when she 
L22  73 had been so sure he was the visitor to the boat hidden at Heathway 
L22  74 Creek.<p/>
L22  75 <p_>But there was that forbidding expression in Pete's face again, 
L22  76 the steel in his blue eyes, daring her to say any more. And then, 
L22  77 even as he turned back to Graham, she watched, confused, how his 
L22  78 expression swiftly changed. Once again, he was the old friendly, 
L22  79 rather ironic Pete of her childhood.<p/>
L22  80 <p_><quote_>"Look, Graham, I'm sorry about all this. We've probably 
L22  81 both said a lot of nonsensical things that we'd rather forget. 
L22  82 Well, I will if you will; how about it then?"<quote/><p/>
L22  83 <p_>Graham muttered something inaudible, and looked almost ashamed 
L22  84 of himself. Watching, Gill could hardly believe how Pete had so 
L22  85 deftly handled a highly-explosive situation. And she was even more 
L22  86 surprised when, leaning on the desk and grinning down at Graham's 
L22  87 averted face, Pete added nonchalantly, <quote_>"To change the 
L22  88 subject - what have you been up to with Brigitte Leconte, you old 
L22  89 womaniser?<p/>
L22  90 <p_>"Did you manage to persuade her not to make the voyage on 
L22  91 Melinda II? I wouldn't put anything past you - you always had a 
L22  92 honeyed tongue when it was worth your while..."<quote/><p/>
L22  93 <p_>Graham rose to the bait instantly. The last traces of his anger 
L22  94 died completely, and he smiled, a sly expression of pride making 
L22  95 his eyes gleam.<p/>
L22  96 <p_><quote_>"That's it!"<quote/> he said bouncily. <quote_>"A word 
L22  97 from me, and she changed her mind! I'm going to take her over to 
L22  98 France on the ferry and then we'll drive south together. Spend a 
L22  99 couple of days in Cannes - how about that, then?"<quote/><p/>
L22 100 <p_>Pete stood upright, still smiling. <quote_>"Nice 
L22 101 going,"<quote/> he said quietly, and Gill flinched as she realised 
L22 102 with dismay that all Pete's previous friendliness had been merely 
L22 103 pretence. He hated Graham with an intensity that scared her.<p/>
L22 104 <p_>But Graham was talking again, as if nothing unpleasant had 
L22 105 happened between them. He was smiling, toying with the gold pen 
L22 106 that rested incongruously on Uncle Harry's Victorian inkwell, 
L22 107 leaning back in the monstrous, modern chair, and clearly enjoying 
L22 108 himself.<p/>
L22 109 <p_><quote_>"Before we go, why don't we have a party? Brigitte and 
L22 110 I, and you two. Up at my place."<quote/><p/>
L22 111 <p_>Gill watched him appear to swell with pride as he continued, 
L22 112 <quote_>"Haven't seen it, have you, eh? Some house! I might tell 
L22 113 you that the plot of land alone cost ten thousand. And it's 
L22 114 increasing all the time - let's make it next Tuesday. That O K with 
L22 115 you?"<quote/><p/>
L22 116 <p_>Without waiting for an answer, he dropped the pen and got to 
L22 117 his feet.<p/>
L22 118 <p_>Gill watched him swagger to the door, her mind churning. His 
L22 119 behaviour just didn't make sense. First, that appalling rage; then 
L22 120 the wild outburst of fantastic suspicions. And, now, of all things, 
L22 121 a friendly invitation to dinner! What on earth was wrong with 
L22 122 Graham?<p/>
L22 123 <p_>The door slammed behind him, and Gill let out her breath 
L22 124 slowly, looking across the office at Pete, hardly knowing what to 
L22 125 expect next. But he was leaning against the window-frame, seemingly 
L22 126 unbothered and at ease.<p/>
L22 127 <p_>He shot her a smile that revealed nothing. <quote_>"Good old 
L22 128 Graham,"<quote/> he said mildly. <quote_>Always comes up trumps in 
L22 129 the end. You'll find his house - well, interesting ... and very 
L22 130 valuable."<quote/><p/>
L22 131 <p_>The twinkle in his blue eyes was irresistible, and Gill found 
L22 132 herself laughing as she sank down into the chair behind her own 
L22 133 desk, relief chasing away the tension of the last few minutes.<p/>
L22 134 <p_><quote_>"I'm sure I shall! But, Pete..."<quote/><p/>
L22 135 <p_>Suddenly she needed to be frank with him, wanting to discuss 
L22 136 Graham's extraordinary behaviour, to make guesses about the strange 
L22 137 phone call - but he was already on his way to the door, and the 
L22 138 smile was gone.<p/>
L22 139 <p_><quote_>"Better get back to work,"<quote/> he said abruptly, 
L22 140 and left.<p/>
L22 141 <p_>Gill felt as if she had been at the receiving end of a 
L22 142 hurricane. Her nerves were frayed and her mind couldn't stop 
L22 143 reliving the unpleasant scene. But she applied herself to the work, 
L22 144 and slowly began to relax.<p/>
L22 145 <p_>Graham's dinner party, Gill decided on Tuesday, was an occasion 
L22 146 to savour. She dressed up accordingly, and when Lindsey's call from 
L22 147 downstairs announced Pete's arrival, she knew she looked her 
L22 148 best.<p/>
L22 149 <p_>The plain, figure-skimming, sapphire-blue dress lent fire to 
L22 150 her eyes and a new gloss to her shining, fair hair. And the 
L22 151 expressions on the faces that watched her descend the stairs left 
L22 152 her in no doubt of the elegance and suitability of her 
L22 153 appearance.<p/>
L22 154 <p_><quote_>"Gill - you look marvellous!"<quote/><p/>
L22 155 <p_><quote_>"Thanks, Lindsey. Not too much, is it?"<quote/> Gill 
L22 156 somehow avoided Pete's obviously admiring eyes, and smoothed the 
L22 157 clinging material over her hips before putting on her sheepskin 
L22 158 coat. It was cold out.<p/>
L22 159 <p_><quote_>"No, just right. Golly, wish I had your 
L22 160 figure!"<quote/><p/>
L22 161 <p_>There was friendliness on Pete's face as he offered his arm, 
L22 162 saying teasingly, <quote_>"My lady's carriage awaits. Or my old 
L22 163 banger does ... let's go, shall we? And mind the puddles. It's 
L22 164 raining again, just for a change."<quote/><p/>
L22 165 <p_>The old car wheezed reluctantly up the hill out of the village, 
L22 166 shuddering spasmodically as bursts of wind swept through the spaces 
L22 167 between the houses lining the road. The windscreen wiper made so 
L22 168 much noise that Gill held her tongue.<p/>
L22 169 <p_>She had planned to do her best to charm Pete this evening, 
L22 170 possibly even getting him to tell her of his secret feud with 
L22 171 Graham, but clearly this wasn't the moment. She hoped, rather 
L22 172 anxiously, that things would improve as the evening wore on.<p/>
L22 173 <p_>And they did. From the moment that Pete escorted her across the 
L22 174 vast, gravelled drive outside Graham's house, Gill felt a 
L22 175 lightening of her thoughts. Beneath the glare of the neon-lit 
L22 176 porch, she appraised his appearance and saw how handsome he looked 
L22 177 in a well-cut, dark-blue suit that emphasised the vividness of his 
L22 178 eyes. A tingle of sheer pleasure raced through her as he took her 
L22 179 hand, pulling her towards him in a brief moment of intimacy before 
L22 180 the large front door opened.<p/>
L22 181 <p_><quote_>"Got to cling together tonight, love,"<quote/> he 
L22 182 whispered wryly. <quote_>"You and me versus Graham. Ah, well, 'twas 
L22 183 ever thus ..."<quote/><p/>
L22 184 <p_><quote_>"I won't let you down."<quote/> Gill pressed his 
L22 185 fingers in return. <quote_>"I never did before, did I? And 
L22 186 nothing's different now ..."<quote/><p/>
L22 187 <p_>A uniformed maid smiled at them from the archway of light that 
L22 188 beamed out into the darkness. <quote_>"Good evening. Please come 
L22 189 in. Graham is expecting you."<quote/><p/>
L22 190 <p_><quote_>"So there you are, Gill - my word, got your glad rags 
L22 191 on tonight, eh?"<quote/> he greeted her.<p/>
L22 192 <p_>The usual cousinly bonhomie, Gill thought dryly. Her smile 
L22 193 tightened a little at the unnecessary sarcasm, but then she saw 
L22 194 Brigitte Leconte standing at the end of the room and went down to 
L22 195 greet her with unfeigned warmness.<p/>
L22 196 <p_>The petite figure, dressed in a simple black dress that 
L22 197 screamed Parisian haute couture, turned and smiled in such a 
L22 198 welcoming manner that Gill's momentary irritation with Graham faded 
L22 199 immediately.<p/>
L22 200 <p_><quote_>"I am so very pleased to see you again, Miss 
L22 201 Wayland."<quote/><p/>
L22 202 <p_><quote_>"Oh - Gill - please!"<quote/><p/>
L22 203 <p_><quote_>"As you wish. And I am Brigitte. Graham tells me you 
L22 204 have moved from London, yes? And you are settled in by 
L22 205 now?"<quote/><p/>
L22 206 <p_>Gill smiled a little pensively. <quote_>"Yes, thanks. At least, 
L22 207 the furniture is settled ... it'll take me a bit longer to do so, I 
L22 208 think. I miss the noise of the city, the people, my old job 
L22 209 ..."<quote/><p/>
L22 210 <p_>Suddenly aware of how unbidden the words had spoken themselves, 
L22 211 she stopped. Was it true that she really did miss London so 
L22 212 much?<p/>
L22 213 <p_>Brigitte put a sympathetic hand on her arm. <quote_>"I know how 
L22 214 you must feel. I could never live in such a quiet, small place ... 
L22 215 and I miss France, too. Even with Graham, who is so kind, so 
L22 216 thoughtful -"<quote/><p/>
L22 217 <p_>She looked over Gill's shoulder to where Graham stood, and her 
L22 218 dark, huge eyes were suddenly filled with something that made Gill 
L22 219 tremble. She had never expected to hear Graham given such unspoken, 
L22 220 but certain praise.<p/>
L22 221 <p_>As if Brigitte read Gill's thoughts, her smile grew more 
L22 222 pensive, her gaze left Graham, and she added quietly, <quote_>"Oh, 
L22 223 yes, he is a nice man, your Graham, but like all men he is - what 
L22 224 do you say? - a little demanding at times! I must do this when he 
L22 225 says ..."<quote/>
L22 226 
L23   1 <#FLOB:L23\><h_><p_>People hate me<p/><h/>
L23   2 <p_>Nobody held it against Victor Yafford's wife Ada that she 
L23   3 didn't even pretend to be sorry when he died. For years she had 
L23   4 been telling her friends and acquaintances in this spa town about 
L23   5 his ill-treatment of her. None of them doubted that what she told 
L23   6 them was true, and those she had not told but who knew him would 
L23   7 readily have believed her if she had. He was never well thought of 
L23   8 by any of his near neighbours in Belton Street, and at least one of 
L23   9 them, Jack Derwent, a prosperous local master-builder occupying the 
L23  10 detached house next to his own, detested him sufficiently to be 
L23  11 glad that he was dead. Only James Pelligrew, a retired civil 
L23  12 servant with a Belton Street home farther from the centre of the 
L23  13 town, was neither relieved nor indifferent on hearing of Victor's 
L23  14 death.<p/>
L23  15 <p_>He did not hear of it till nearly a week after it had happened. 
L23  16 Noticing an unusual fragrance as he was passing Victor's house to 
L23  17 go shopping in the town, he stopped to peer between the untended 
L23  18 overgrown bushes in the front garden. Along one side of it the 
L23  19 privet hedge was in full bloom, a disorderly wildness which Victor 
L23  20 wouldn't have tolerated if he'd been less seriously ill than he 
L23  21 was. James Pelligrew recognized the fragrance with some nostalgia 
L23  22 as that of privet blossom, and he remained unmoving for a while to 
L23  23 savour it. He was just about to walk on when he was startled by the 
L23  24 voice of Ada speaking his name.<p/>
L23  25 <p_>He turned to her and saw that she was smiling. She had been 
L23  26 shopping in the town and carried a loaded wicker-work basket.<p/>
L23  27 <p_>He said, <quote_>"I hope you will forgive me for not having 
L23  28 called in to see you yet this week. I'm afraid I have no excuse. 
L23  29 How is Mr Yafford today?"<quote/><p/>
L23  30 <p_><quote_>"He's no longer with us,"<quote/> she said.<p/>
L23  31 <p_>Although Pelligrew had known that Victor could not last much 
L23  32 longer, the news came as an unexpected shock to him. He sincerely 
L23  33 said, <quote_>"Oh, I am so sorry to hear that."<quote/><p/>
L23  34 <p_><quote_>"He died four days ago. The funeral service was at St 
L23  35 Saviour's yesterday. There wasn't a wet eye among any of us 
L23  36 there."<quote/><p/>
L23  37 <p_>Pelligrew could not think what to say to this.<p/>
L23  38 <p_>She went on, <quote_>"I would be a hypocrite if I didn't admit 
L23  39 I feel nothing but relief now that he is dead."<quote/><p/>
L23  40 <p_>Pelligrew thought of something he could ask her: <quote_>"Will 
L23  41 you still be living in this house?"<quote/><p/>
L23  42 <p_><quote_>"I can't afford to keep it up,"<quote/> she said. 
L23  43 <quote_>"In his last years he deliberately spent most of his money 
L23  44 so that I should inherit as little of it as possible. I shall go 
L23  45 and stay with my sister and her husband - unfortunately this will 
L23  46 have to be at their expense, though I know they will be glad to 
L23  47 help me. I shall stay with them till I can get a job and can earn 
L23  48 my own living."<quote/><p/>
L23  49 <p_><quote_>"If there is anything at all I can do for you please 
L23  50 tell me,"<quote/> Pelligrew said.<p/>
L23  51 <p_><quote_>"That is very kind of you."<quote/> The grateful smile 
L23  52 she gave him made him aware, not for the first time, how beautiful 
L23  53 her face still was. He had more than once wondered why she'd chosen 
L23  54 to marry a man like Victor Yafford who in any case was 20 years 
L23  55 older than she was, and the thought had come to Pelligrew that he 
L23  56 wanted a housekeeper<?_>-<?/>companion in his own house. After all, 
L23  57 the difference in ages between him and her was not great - he was 
L23  58 just over 65 and he reckoned she could not be much less than 60. 
L23  59 Also she was intelligent and amiable besides being good-looking. He 
L23  60 had an impulse to make her an offer now, at this moment, but he was 
L23  61 inhibited both by a feeling that it was too soon after Victor's 
L23  62 death and by his own habitual cautiousness, so he said to her as 
L23  63 pleasantly as he could:<p/>
L23  64 <p_><quote_>"Well<}_><-|>'<+|>,<}/> I suppose I must go and do my 
L23  65 shopping. Can I come to see you again before too long?"<quote/><p/>
L23  66 <p_><quote|>"Yes," she said, giving him the warmest of smiles.<p/>
L23  67 <p_>Smiling also, he lifted his hand slightly to wave goodbye. As 
L23  68 he walked on, she was abruptly displaced from his mind by a return 
L23  69 of the genuine grief he had unexpectingly felt when she had told 
L23  70 him Victor Yafford was dead. How could he feel this grief, knowing 
L23  71 as he did what a repellent man Yafford at his worst had been? 
L23  72 Pelligrew remembered in particular the summer during which Ada, 
L23  73 finding Yafford's treatment of her unbearable at last, left him and 
L23  74 went to stay with her sister who was married to a radiologist.<p/>
L23  75 <p_>One warm morning as Pelligrew was returning past Yafford's 
L23  76 house from the town, Yafford in the garden called out to him, 
L23  77 <quote_>"Can you spare me a minute or two?"<quote/><p/>
L23  78 <p_><quote_>"Of course,"<quote/> Pelligrew said; and Yafford, 
L23  79 looking morose, opened the garden gate for him, and shut it again 
L23  80 before leading him on to the lawn.<p/>
L23  81 <p_><quote_>"Yesterday my wife left me,"<quote/> Yafford said. 
L23  82 <quote_>"She went out with her shopping basket in a normal way, but 
L23  83 I thought she was taking a long time to come back, and I began to 
L23  84 be suspicious, though when I looked into her bedroom upstairs I 
L23  85 discovered that none of those things which ladies use had been 
L23  86 removed from her dressing-table, and the clothes she kept in her 
L23  87 wardrobe were still hanging there."<quote/><p/>
L23  88 <p_><quote_>"Do you know where she has gone?"<quote/><p/>
L23  89 <p_><quote_>"I don't doubt she's gone to her sister."<quote/> There 
L23  90 was a bitter harshness in Yafford's use of the word 'sister'. He 
L23  91 did not mention that the sister had married a radiologist who was a 
L23  92 black man, but Pelligrew had been told by Ada that when Yafford 
L23  93 heard of this he ordered Ada never to invite her sister into his 
L23  94 house again. Pelligrew guessed that Yafford's reason for not 
L23  95 explaining why he heated the sister was his awareness of 
L23  96 Pelligrew's disapproval of racism. Yafford did not want to appear 
L23  97 in a bad light to him.<p/>
L23  98 <p_><quote_>"What are you going to do now?"<quote/> Pelligrew 
L23  99 asked.<p/>
L23 100 <p_><quote_>"I have got in touch with the Vicar of St 
L23 101 Saviour's,"<quote/> Yafford said. <quote_>"It was he who married us 
L23 102 and it is up to him to persuade her that it is her Christian duty 
L23 103 not to desert her husband."<quote/> He became vehement, <quote_>"I 
L23 104 would never have chosen a church wedding if I hadn't thought that 
L23 105 it would bind her more securely to me."<quote/><p/>
L23 106 <p_>Pelligrew said nothing.<p/>
L23 107 <p_><quote_>"I am not the only husband in Belton Street to have 
L23 108 been deserted by his wife recently,"<quote/> Yafford said. 
L23 109 <quote_>"Mr Veale's wife spilt a cup of tea over him the other day 
L23 110 as she handed it to him at the breakfast table. Then he gave her 
L23 111 the fireman's chop, and she walked out on him."<quote/><p/>
L23 112 <p_><quote_>"What is the fireman's chop?"<quote/> Pelligrew 
L23 113 asked.<p/>
L23 114 <p_>Yafford clasped his hands together and made a downward chopping 
L23 115 movement with them. He explained, <quote_>"That's what firemen do 
L23 116 when people they are trying to rescue get panicky - hit them on the 
L23 117 back of the neck."<quote/><p/>
L23 118 <p_>Pelligrew began to feel he'd had enough of Yafford for the 
L23 119 present. He said, <quote_>"Forgive me, Victor, but I shall take 
L23 120 this load of shopping back to my house now and get myself some 
L23 121 lunch."<quote/><p/>
L23 122 <p_><quote_>"I hope I shall see you again quite soon,"<quote/> 
L23 123 Yafford said, giving Pelligrew a strangely contrite look.<p/>
L23 124 <p_><quote|>"Yes," Pelligrew said; then walking away from him he 
L23 125 thought, <quote_>"Yafford has realized that the way he has just 
L23 126 been speaking to me might lower my opinion of him, and he regrets 
L23 127 it. That is why I can't really dislike him, in spite of all that 
L23 128 Ada has told me about him. This is why, for the first time ever, I 
L23 129 called him Victor just now. But he will never call me James, 
L23 130 because he respects me too much."<quote/><p/>
L23 131 <p_>When Pelligrew was unloading his shopping-basket in his kitchen 
L23 132 he began to think of more things that Ada had told him about 
L23 133 Victor. On the second day of her marriage to him she went into the 
L23 134 upstairs room which he called his study to have a look round it 
L23 135 while he was out in the garden, but somehow he became aware of what 
L23 136 she <}_><-|>as<+|>was<}/> doing and hurried up the stairs to say 
L23 137 very sharply to her that she must never open the door of that room 
L23 138 again.<p/>
L23 139 <p_><quote_>What did you see inside it?"<quote/> Pelligrew had 
L23 140 asked her. <quote_>"Not the corpses of his previous wives, I 
L23 141 hope."<quote/><p/>
L23 142 <p_><quote|>"No," Ada said with a brief laugh, <quote_>"I 
L23 143 recognized a lathe and a drill and a vice, and there was a chaos of 
L23 144 other tools and bits of metal. I knew that he'd worked for years as 
L23 145 a personnel manager for an important engineering firm and that he 
L23 146 was keen on making metal models of cars and steam 
L23 147 locomotives."<quote/><p/>
L23 148 <p_>Later, when Victor had heard of her sister's marriage to a 
L23 149 black man he not only banned this sister from his house but he 
L23 150 demanded that Ada should take down from the wall of her bedroom all 
L23 151 the framed photographs she'd hung there of various other relatives 
L23 152 of hers.<p/>
L23 153 <p_>A few days afterwards Yafford started his quarrel with Jack 
L23 154 Derwent - a neighbourly enough man not known to lose his temper 
L23 155 easily.<p/>
L23 156 <p_>One of Jack's sons had become a classical jazz enthusiast and 
L23 157 had joined a band formed by three other equally enthusiastic young 
L23 158 friends of his. On those Saturday evenings when the band gave a 
L23 159 performance in the town his friends had begun to make a habit of 
L23 160 walking back to his home with him, and sometimes they all stood 
L23 161 talking rather loudly outside it. Yafford leant out of his bedroom 
L23 162 window once and shouted to them to be quiet, but although this did 
L23 163 quieten them temporarily they were almost as loud next time they 
L23 164 came.<p/>
L23 165 <p_>Yafford after this had called in on Jack Derwent to complain 
L23 166 about his son. Derwent momentarily felt inclined to be apologetic, 
L23 167 but nettled by the insulting coldness in Yafford's tone he confined 
L23 168 himself by saying stiffly, <quote_>"I will have a word with 
L23 169 him."<quote/><p/>
L23 170 <p_>The word was ineffective. The son and his friends were soon too 
L23 171 noisy yet again. On the next morning Yafford went to see Derwent 
L23 172 once more, but found he had gone out in his car. Between their two 
L23 173 houses there was a narrow lane owned in common by the various 
L23 174 nearby houses round the back gardens of which it extended. Formerly 
L23 175 it had been used on Wednesdays by the municipal dustmen who 
L23 176 collected refuse from the domestic dustbins left out there, though 
L23 177 now the bins were left in front of the houses. At the point where 
L23 178 the lane turned to go round the back gardens, Jack Derwent, without 
L23 179 asking his neighbours whether they minded, had built a garage for 
L23 180 his car. Yafford before trying to visit Derwent this morning 
L23 181 positioned his own car directly across the entrance of the lane. 
L23 182 The youngish woman who opened the door to him, and who was a friend 
L23 183 of Ada's without his knowing she was, told him that Mr Derwent had 
L23 184 gone out in the car to do some shopping but that she didn't expect 
L23 185 him to be out for long. He asked her if she would give him a 
L23 186 message as soon as he returned. She said that she would; then a 
L23 187 doubt came to him about her reliability, and he said, <quote_>"May 
L23 188 I ask who you are?"<quote/><p/>
L23 189 <p_><quote_>"I am the cleaning lady here,"<quote/> she said.<p/>
L23 190 <p_>He didn't guess that she used the words 'cleaning lady' merely 
L23 191 because she knew that this was what he and her employer would call 
L23 192 her (though not to her face), but the confidence and correctness 
L23 193 with which she spoke, in spite of her slightly plebeian accent, 
L23 194 disposed him to believe she would pass on his message to Derwent 
L23 195 correctly.<p/>
L23 196 <p_><quote_>"Tell him <}_><-|>I that<+|>that I<}/>have left my car 
L23 197 across the opening of the lane, and that I shall leave it there 
L23 198 until his son stops making a noise outside the house after midnight.
L23 199 
L24   1 <#FLOB:L24\>She lay with the bedclothes thrust back for coolness' 
L24   2 sake, and because her posture was the result of chance she had not 
L24   3 that precision and equilibrium of the bodies he was used to, but 
L24   4 was clumsily skewed towards him. Gravity had taken control of the 
L24   5 breast on the uphill side and tugged it almost free of her 
L24   6 nightdress so that it hung like a leaking balloon across her chest. 
L24   7 Adam gazed absently at the large pink nipple pointed accusingly at 
L24   8 him and the last refinement to his plan swam complete and perfect 
L24   9 into his mind. Happily, he swung the bedclothes back from his own 
L24  10 body and silently slipped out.<p/>
L24  11 <p_>At work Adam busied himself preparing for the three jobs which 
L24  12 were scheduled. He checked over his preparations, making sure the 
L24  13 machines were connected up, the power switched on to the saws and 
L24  14 drills, the temperature in the freezers and refrigerators correct. 
L24  15 Then, casting his experienced eye round the stark room, he decided 
L24  16 everything was in readiness, and went through to his room to switch 
L24  17 on the kettle for coffee. On the way he pulled out the mortuary 
L24  18 drawer and checked that his memory had not been at fault. It had 
L24  19 not. The plan, which he complimented himself had a certain elegance 
L24  20 to it, could proceed.<p/>
L24  21 <p_>After coffee things hotted up. A set of relatives came, 
L24  22 accompanied by the coroner's officer and a practised, sombre 
L24  23 undertaker, to view their departed through the little window in the 
L24  24 anteroom, set up to serve as an office while looking vaguely like a 
L24  25 chapel. As soon as they had made the formal identification, Adam 
L24  26 drew the little curtain and left them to the ministrations of the 
L24  27 coroner's officer while he wheeled away the corpse, whisked off the 
L24  28 sheet which cloaked its nakedness and hid the identification tag, 
L24  29 and began transferring it on to the grooved marble of the table, 
L24  30 ready for Dr Speed's attention.<p/>
L24  31 <p_>They got the first post-mortem finished before lunch, Dr Speed 
L24  32 living up to the well-worn joke his name inspired. The body was 
L24  33 that of a man in his forties who had died unexpectedly under 
L24  34 anaesthetic: the hospital had been very worried that some mistake 
L24  35 had been made which might result in litigation. Fortunately, as 
L24  36 soon as the cadaver was opened up, the reason was apparent.<p/>
L24  37 <p_><quote_>"Looks like old Boulders is off the hook,"<quote/> 
L24  38 Speed remarked cheerfully. Boulderstone was the anaesthetist. Adam 
L24  39 didn't bother to reply. All Speed required of him was that he 
L24  40 should be efficient, which he was: there was no real point of 
L24  41 contact between the two men. Speed turned away and began to peel 
L24  42 off his gloves, saying, <quote_>"All yours, Adam."<quote/><p/>
L24  43 <p_>Adam prided himself on his skill in putting bodies back 
L24  44 together after they had suffered at the pathologist's hands, and 
L24  45 quickly did his usual workmanlike job. The organs and specimens 
L24  46 which had been removed were carefully labelled and put into 
L24  47 storage. It didn't look as if there would be any need to send them 
L24  48 for analysis in this instance, but Adam decided as he ate his 
L24  49 sandwiches in his room and absently leafed through the pages of 
L24  50 bodies in <tf|>Penthouse that it would be as well to play safe. You 
L24  51 never knew what might be necessary in these cases where there was a 
L24  52 possibility of legal complications.<p/>
L24  53 <p_>By two the mortuary began to seem distinctly crowded as the 
L24  54 coroner's officer, an anxious GP, and a bored police sergeant 
L24  55 squeezed along the walls.<p/>
L24  56 <p_>Tony Beecham had only been in his thirties, a partner in a 
L24  57 small but flourishing electrical contractors' business. Beecham's 
L24  58 firm had secured a lucrative series of contracts with the Health 
L24  59 Authority to refurbish the hospital lighting. Adam had seen Beecham 
L24  60 in the hospital corridors several times over the previous couple of 
L24  61 months; a brash, physical man who leered at the nurses and called 
L24  62 them 'darling' and gave them the full benefit of his handsome blue 
L24  63 eyes. When Adam first came to suspect that Jenny was having an 
L24  64 affair, the guilty partner was not hard to guess.<p/>
L24  65 <p_>Then, within a period of only two weeks, Beecham seemed to 
L24  66 sicken and become listless. Eventually he took a few days off work 
L24  67 to shake off 'this irritating bug'. Within twenty-four hours he was 
L24  68 dead. As had to happen, the coroner was informed and a post-mortem 
L24  69 examination arranged. Jenny had seemed quite shocked when she 
L24  70 learnt from a colleague that the post-mortem on Beecham, whom they 
L24  71 all knew, was going to be done in their own hospital where Adam 
L24  72 would have to assist. It seemed, she said, almost indecent. Not 
L24  73 that there was any reason, she added hastily, why it should 
L24  74 particularly concern her; she doubted if she had so much as spoken 
L24  75 to the poor man. It was that day that her convenient 'hay-fever' 
L24  76 had begun, and she walked round with red eyes and tissue to face. 
L24  77 Now Adam looked down at Beecham's inert body with satisfaction. No 
L24  78 doubt he had thought himself out of reach of death for a good few 
L24  79 years yet; yet here he was, and his flirting days were over.<p/>
L24  80 <p_>Adam assisted at Beecham's post-mortem unobtrusively. On 
L24  81 occasions like this he seemed to blend into the cream and green 
L24  82 painted walls, so well did he efface himself. As he anticipated 
L24  83 Speed's requirements and passed him the instruments he idly totted 
L24  84 up the number of autopsies he had attended; it must be near a 
L24  85 thousand, surely? Enough, certainly, to be absolute master of the 
L24  86 necessary procedures. Silently and efficiently he labelled 
L24  87 specimens, weighed organs, padded to and from the refrigerator, 
L24  88 while the onlookers shifted from foot to foot and cracked the usual 
L24  89 jokes or talked with careful nonchalance about the prospects for 
L24  90 the Third Test.<p/>
L24  91 <p_><quote_>"Looks as if it's all down to the laboratory 
L24  92 tests,"<quote/> Speed remarked to his audience as he nudged the tap 
L24  93 on with his elbow to wash his hands. Adam began sewing up while the 
L24  94 others chatted. Speed had dictated his findings into a machine as 
L24  95 he worked, so everyone was aware of the absence of obvious injury 
L24  96 or disease. It looked as if Beecham might have died of something he 
L24  97 ate or drank. There had been several cases of salmonella and 
L24  98 botulism recently. The tests would show.<p/>
L24  99 <p_>Adam glanced sardonically at the violated features of the dead 
L24 100 man. You never thought <tf|>you were mortal, did you? And he pulled 
L24 101 the thread tight with a vicious tug, as if the dead man were still 
L24 102 capable of feeling the violence of his fury.<p/>
L24 103 <p_>Later, when the mortuary had emptied of all the visitors, they 
L24 104 came to the final 'client', a woman who had fallen as she tried to 
L24 105 get off a train before it had quite stopped in the station. She had 
L24 106 stumbled and the carriage door had knocked her to the ground, 
L24 107 fracturing her skull. Her blue eyes still looked startled as she 
L24 108 lay on the grooved slab; and well they might, Adam thought 
L24 109 whimsically, to find herself lying here naked like an offering laid 
L24 110 out for sacrifice when she had expected to be enjoying a visit to 
L24 111 her older sister in Harrogate. She was much of Jenny's build and 
L24 112 size; and even something of her tangled hair was reminiscent of 
L24 113 Jenny's fashionable windswept curls. How ironic, he thought, if it 
L24 114 should have been <tf|>Jenny lying there!<p/>
L24 115 <p_>Speed raced through the post-mortem, muttering about his golf 
L24 116 match. There was no real doubt about the cause of death, and the 
L24 117 rest of his examination was perfunctory. Throwing a cursory goodbye 
L24 118 to Adam, Speed dashed off to change and a few minutes later Adam 
L24 119 heard the engine of his car roar as he hurried away.<p/>
L24 120 <p_>In the silent mortuary Adam plied his needle skilfully, and 
L24 121 then stood a moment looking down at his handiwork, going through 
L24 122 everything in his mind. Finally, with a last glance at the dead 
L24 123 face with its eyes now shut for ever, which he and Speed between 
L24 124 them had rendered bland and almost featureless, he manhandled the 
L24 125 corpse on to the trolley, wheeled it through to the bank of 
L24 126 refrigerators, slid out the drawer, transferred the body and shut 
L24 127 it away.<p/>
L24 128 <p_>Back in the mortuary he worked quickly, for it was getting late 
L24 129 and keeping to his routine was important to him. Carefully, he made 
L24 130 sure the labels on the specimens for the laboratory and the 
L24 131 clinical chemistry department read as they ought, and placed them 
L24 132 aside for despatch the following morning. One glass jar he set 
L24 133 apart from the others.<p/>
L24 134 <p_>Jenny was still out when Adam reached home, working a shift 
L24 135 which would not finish until late in the night. Adam reflected on 
L24 136 his own gullibility, his readiness to believe Jenny when she used 
L24 137 her rota as a general-purpose excuse to cover her absences. Well, 
L24 138 he told himself with satisfaction, she wouldn't be so ready to do 
L24 139 so in the future.<p/>
L24 140 <p_>Adam climbed the stairs to the empty bedroom. The curtains were 
L24 141 still drawn, lending the unremarkable room a queer aura of 
L24 142 sensuality. His eye fell on Jenny's silk nightdress; he picked it 
L24 143 up and it slithered evasively from his grip. Letting it fall, he 
L24 144 looked around the room, making up his mind. He considered the 
L24 145 chest-of-drawers: in front of the mirror among Jenny's make-up 
L24 146 things might be a good spot. In the end Adam set what he had 
L24 147 brought on the little bedside cabinet on Jenny's side of the bed, 
L24 148 removing a photograph of her parents to make room. Estimating 
L24 149 angles, he turned it a little this way and that until he was 
L24 150 satisfied.<p/>
L24 151 <p_>Adam was in bed when Jenny came home. He heard the car, and 
L24 152 then the key in the door, and then the chain going on, and then the 
L24 153 distant clatter of the milkpan, and the clunk the toaster made as 
L24 154 it popped up. The room lightened slightly as the landing light went 
L24 155 on; and Jenny's footfalls mounted the stairs and passed the door. 
L24 156 Running water in the bathroom. The lavatory flushed. Jenny spitting 
L24 157 as she cleaned her teeth. Adam lay listening to it all, thinking, 
L24 158 it will never be the same again; not for her, though she doesn't 
L24 159 know it; nor for me, not any more.<p/>
L24 160 <p_>The landing light went out, and Adam smelt Jenny's scent and 
L24 161 the faint hospital aroma clinging to her as she softly came into 
L24 162 the bedroom. Cloth whispered. A zip whirred. Nylon whistled. A hand 
L24 163 groped for, and found, the silk nightdress. The bed creaked, and 
L24 164 sagged, as a body settled itself in next to Adam's in the dark. 
L24 165 Soon he heard Jenny's breath sink into its customary nocturnal 
L24 166 rhythm.<p/>
L24 167 <p_>Adam was buttering his toast in the morning and wondering when 
L24 168 it would happen, when Jenny's scream came. He smiled quietly to 
L24 169 himself and bit happily into his breakfast. After he had eaten it 
L24 170 he poured a cup of tea and took it up to the bedroom.<p/>
L24 171 <p_>The light was on, as he had left it when he came downstairs, to 
L24 172 make sure Jenny woke. Jenny stood with the bed between her and the 
L24 173 naked blue eye which stared slightly bloodshot and improbably large 
L24 174 from the fluid-filled glass jar on the bedside cabinet. Her own 
L24 175 eyes, he noted interestedly, were very nearly as large and as round 
L24 176 as that baleful specimen. The effect was quite what he had hoped 
L24 177 for, and he congratulated himself on the good fortune which had 
L24 178 provided him with a second blue-eyed corpse just when he needed 
L24 179 it.<p/>
L24 180 <p_>Adam walked across the room and put the cup and saucer down on 
L24 181 the chest of drawers before turning to meet his wife's horrified 
L24 182 gaze. The beautiful tangle of auburn hair which was her pride and 
L24 183 which had no doubt contributed to bringing her to this point would 
L24 184 be all his now; all his the wide mouth with its parade of tiny 
L24 185 white teeth; all his the flawless skin from which the blood had 
L24 186 receded; all his those brown eyes which stared in disbelief but 
L24 187 which could widen and soften into treacle pools of sensual abandon.
L24 188 
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