L01 1 <#FLOB:L01\>He had a similar small apartment in Nice under yet L01 2 another name.

L01 3 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.

L01 10 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.

L01 15 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.

L01 21 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.

L01 30 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.

L01 33 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.

L01 37 Jacko struck Gorley quite hard, grabbed him, and in a stronger L01 38 cockney twang than usual, said, "I'm sorry, mate. My fault; L01 39 in too much of a bloody hurry." He held on to Gorley's arm L01 40 and added, "You all right?"

L01 41 Gorley straightened himself; Jacko had winded him but not L01 42 enough to prevent him saying, "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."

L01 45 "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.

L01 52 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?

L01 56 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.

L01 61 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.

L01 64 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. "Mr West? This L01 70 is the police. Can I come up?"

L01 71 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.

L01 77 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.

L01 80 A voice called out, "It's open." 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.

L01 85 "Come in. And close the door behind you."

L01 86 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.

L01 91 "What's the matter with you? Afraid of an old man? Come L01 92 right in."

L01 93 Gorley was against the door wall and had the Steyr in his L01 94 hand.

L01 95 "You got a licence for that thing?" 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.

L01 98 "I'm not sure. I might have one somewhere. But that L01 99 won't matter to you. Have you got one for yours?" L01 100 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. "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."

L01 106 "You already have, sonny, so what's your L01 107 game?"

L01 108 "My identity card is in my inside pocket. May I take it L01 109 out?" As Gorley hesitated Jacko added sharply, "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."

L01 112 "You might have moved it. Okay, go ahead. You know the L01 113 rules." L01 114 Jacko took out his police card and handed it over.

L01 115 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 "Put me through to Detective Sergeant Willis of Special L01 120 Branch." He did it as if he had done it many times before. L01 121 After quite a long wait he said, "Out? No message, I'll L01 122 ring back later."

L01 123 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 "I've seen better forgeries than that. You're no cop. Who L01 126 sent you after me?"

L01 127 "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."

L01 132 Gorley smiled, but from affection for the gun. "Put L01 133 your hands on the arms of the chair and keep them there." 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.

L01 137 "You're in serious trouble," said Jacko. L01 138 "Holding a police officer at gun point could get you L01 139 life."

L01 140 "Balls," Gorley responded. "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."

L01 143 "No one has sent me to kill you. I say again, I don't L01 144 even know who you are."

L01 145 Gorley glanced at the Steyr; his thin lips tightened. L01 146 "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."

L01 151 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. "I still haven't been L01 154 sent to kill you or anyone else for that matter."

L01 155 "You mean it was a coincidence you bumped into L01 156 me?" Gorley's attitude had hardened, his tone dangerous.

L01 157 "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."

L01 162 "So you are sticking to the cop story. Okay; why were L01 163 you watching him?"

L01 164 "That was my question. I asked first."

L01 165 "But I have the gun. And this is my apartment, and you L01 166 are my unwelcome guest."

L01 167 "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."

L01 171 "That's a dangerous thing to say in your present L01 172 situation." And far too near the truth. For once Gorley was L01 173 not quite so comfortable.

L01 174 "My situation hasn't changed since I came through the L01 175 door."

L01 176 "Hands on your head and down on your knees." L01 177 Gorley picked up the Steyr.

L01 178 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.

L01 181 "Lie flat and keep your hands where they L01 182 are."

L01 183 "There's not enough room."

L01 184 Gorley removed a small table and stood well clear.

L01 185 Jacko lay prone, his hands still on his head. Gorley stepped L01 186 round him and then straddled him, still standing.

L01 187 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.

L01 191 9 L01 192 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.

L01 196 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.

L01 202 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\>3 L02 2 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.

L02 5 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.

L02 11 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.

L02 16 He might try writing letters.

L02 17 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?

L02 20 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.

L02 22 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.

L02 24 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.

L02 33 Or did he stay with Peter?

L02 34 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.

L02 39 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.

L02 43 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.

L02 50 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.

L02 54 "You can't be too careful," 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.

L02 62 "She used to live on a council estate not far from L02 63 where they are, until she hit the big time," said Mrs L02 64 Turner, polishing away. "You never know your L02 65 luck."

L02 66 "Up one minute, down the next, isn't it, in that L02 67 world?" Felicity said.

L02 68 "Unles you're that Meryl Streep," said Mrs L02 69 Turner. "She's always up."

L02 70 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.

L02 80 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.

L02 84 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.

L02 91 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.

L02 102 "Your help's so regal, Felicity. Aren't you terrified L02 103 of her?" one of Felicity's acquaintances, married to a L02 104 marketing executive, had enquired.

L02 105 "Not in the least," Felicity had answered, with L02 106 some hauteur.

L02 107 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.

L02 119 "Who would you be friends with, if you choose?" 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.

L02 122 "What a strange question!" 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 "Who would you?" she countered.

L02 126 "Oh, I do choose my friends," 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. "There's Doris Jones, for L02 133 instance, who I go away with, and Mary Plumb, and the Fosters L02 134 -" She ran off a list of people she had known for years. L02 135 "Some of us were at school together," she said. L02 136 "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."

L02 140 "True," said Felicity.

L02 141 "You and the judge don't get that freedom," Mrs L02 142 Turner observed. "Seeing who you are. You can't be having L02 143 just anybody in for a meal."

L02 144 "Why not if I liked them?" Felicity challenged, L02 145 smiling.

L02 146 "Well," Mrs Turner contemplated a silver photograph L02 147 frame surrounding a picture of the judge's mother. "Pretty, L02 148 wasn't she?" she said, at a tangent, and then went on, L02 149 "Oil and water can't be mixed."

L02 150 "Well, I don't suppose the judge would be too pleased L02 151 if I asked a few ex-prisoners in," said Felicity. L02 152 "But you wouldn't be doing that, either."

L02 153 "Not knowingly," agreed Mrs Turner. L02 154 "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." 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. "He couldn't bring L02 161 himself to upset either of them by telling them about the L02 162 other." She was laughing as she spoke. "One lived L02 163 here, and the other one lived in Dorset, where he went for L02 164 weekends."

L02 165 "How complicated," said Felicity. L02 166 "You'd think they'd get suspicious."

L02 167 "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," said Mrs Turner. L02 170 "We've all got so many numbers now, no one can get really L02 171 lost."

L02 172 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.

L02 181 After Mrs Turner left, Felicity thought about the bigamist she L02 182 had mentioned, with the wife in Dorset and the one in Rambleton.

L02 183 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?

L02 186 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.

L02 189 What would she do, if that proved to be the case?

L02 190 She decided to put it to the test.

L02 191 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.

L02 200 Having got so far, she could not leave it there. She dialled L02 201 the other number, and a man replied.

L02 202 "Is Mrs Kent in?" she asked calmly.

L02 203 "Yes," 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.

L03 5 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?

L03 8 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.

L03 12 Though anything that had been there would probably have been L03 13 tidied up in the course of the investigations into her death.

L03 14 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.

L03 21 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.

L03 26 The police had not been involved, but then, in a case of L03 27 industrial accident why should they be?

L03 28 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.

L03 32 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.

L03 40 Or was he getting paranoid?

L03 41 "That one's the actor, is it?" he heard a loud, L03 42 crackly voice say as he was leaving the canteen.

L03 43 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.

L03 48 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 "There's no need to be so loud. He'll hear you," L03 54 she hissed.

L03 55 Her mother was not a whit perturbed. Seeing Charles looking in L03 56 their direction, she immediately addressed him. "Hello. My L03 57 daughter says you're in this film they're making."

L03 58 He admitted that he was. Heather blushed even deeper as her L03 59 mother said, "Would you like to sit down with us? There's L03 60 still tea in the pot."

L03 61 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.

L03 65 "Get the gentleman a cup."

L03 66 Heather seemed relieved to have somewhere to take her blushes L03 67 and moved obediently across to the beverage counter.

L03 68 "My name's Charles Paris." He proferred<&|>sic! L03 69 his hand.

L03 70 The old woman shook it. Hers was dry and scaly. "Mrs L03 71 Routledge. I'm Heather's mother."

L03 72 "I thought you must be."

L03 73 "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."

L03 76 "Yes."

L03 77 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.

L03 81 "I was just telling Mr Paris what a good daughter you L03 82 are to me, Heather."

L03 83 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. "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 ..."

L03 88 Charles just managed to interpose an "Ah" into this L03 89 stream of consciousness.

L03 90 "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?" It was clear that most of Mrs Routledge's L03 93 questions were rhetorical, as she steamrollered on, "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?" But again she supplied her L03 96 own answer. "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?"

L03 99 Assuming that, despite this sudden change of direction, Mrs L03 100 Routledge's conversational method would not alter, Charles said L03 101 nothing.

L03 102 His tactics were proved to be correct. "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?"

L03 112 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.

L03 116 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.

L03 122 "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."

L03 128 He managed to slip in an appreciative nod at this point.

L03 129 "Yes, I'm very lucky. Every lunchtime. And she talks L03 130 for a long time."

L03 131 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.

L03 136 "Every lunchtime," Mrs Routledge repeated. L03 137 Then, confident of the total subjugation of her audience, she L03 138 allowed herself a slurp of tea. "Ooh, this is getting very L03 139 stewed. Go and get us some more hot water, Heather, L03 140 love."

L03 141 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.

L03 144 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. "You say Heather rings L03 147 you every lunchtime?"

L03 148 "Every lunchtime, without fail."

L03 149 "So I dare say she's told you a bit about the video L03 150 we've been doing?"

L03 151 "Oh yes, all the details."

L03 152 "And I expect she rang you the day we were filming in L03 153 the warehouse a few weeks back ...?"

L03 154 "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?

L03 158 "Well, yes, I - "

L03 159 "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."

L03 162 "I'm not sure that - "

L03 163 "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 ..."

L03 167 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.

L03 170 "That day, Mrs Routledge," he interrupted L03 171 firmly, " - the day of the accident - do you remember what L03 172 time Heather rang you?"

L03 173 The old woman was so unused to being asked direct questions L03 174 that she replied instinctively. "Yes, I do. It was just L03 175 before half-past twelve. I know, because I'd been listening to L03 176 You and Yours 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."

L03 182 "And how long were you on the phone?"

L03 183 The direct questioning really seemed to be working. Mrs L03 184 Routledge replied, "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."

L03 187 "And did Heather say whether there was anyone with her L03 188 while she was talking to you?"

L03 189 "Anyone with her?"

L03 190 "Anyone else in the office?"

L03 191 "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 "

L03 196 Heather was moving back towards them with a pot of hot water, L03 197 so Charles cut short Mrs Routledge's reminiscence. "But L03 198 Heather didn't say there was anyone there during the rest of the L03 199 conversation?"

L03 200 "No, no, of course not." 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. "No, we've known L03 203 Brian Tressider since he was a boy. He went to a school near here L03 204 which ..."

L03 205 Heather looked at Charles curiously as she put the pot down. He L03 206 looked equally curiously back at her.

L03 207 What she was thinking he couldn't know. What he was thinking L03 208 changed the whole premise of his investigation.

L03 209 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.

L03 215 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?

L03 217 What possible motive could Heather Routledge have for lying to L03 218 protect Trevor?

L03 219 Chapter 9

L03 220 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.

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," Duncan warned, pleased L04 7 to see that Beth was receptive. "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," he L04 10 explained.

L04 11 "The 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." 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. "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 hope," Duncan took Beth's L04 19 hands, "not fear, that something will stop the L04 20 wedding."

L04 21 Beth snatched her hands away and her mouth opened in protest L04 22 but Duncan forestalled her.

L04 23 "I know - I 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 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'," Duncan smiled bleakly. "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'." "Mother-love's a L04 33 funny thing," Patterson had added, and Duncan had no L04 34 intention of mentioning it to Beth. "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."

L04 38 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.

L04 41 "So no wonder your control's slipping," he went L04 42 on, encouraged by Beth's silence. "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.

L04 47 "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 I needed to L04 55 help. I should've encouraged you to screech like a L04 56 fishwife," Duncan smiled fleetingly at an image that once L04 57 would have been unthinkable, "and throw things. Instead of L04 58 which I've sat around admiring your courage or being impatient now L04 59 because the strain 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!

L04 62 "Well, there you are," Duncan raised his hands and let L04 63 them fall as he sat back in his chair. "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."

L04 70 Duncan looked so worried and so loving that impulsively Beth L04 71 reached towards him.

L04 72 "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," Beth added with a wry L04 76 smile, "then I should be beaten soundly. But some of what L04 77 you've said 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!"

L04 81 "Quite. And that's Patterson's point," Duncan L04 82 was ready. "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 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."

L04 91 "But I am happy, Duncan. Truly. And Jennetta's L04 92 certainly not the only person in my life."

L04 93 "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."

L04 99 "Idiot!" Beth snorted with sudden laughter.

L04 100 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 good man, Beth acknowledged L04 104 remorsefully to herself.

L04 105 "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."

L04 111 "No, you can't win," Duncan laughed as he stood L04 112 up to go. "Just try and be your usual honest self with L04 113 Patterson, that's all I ask. I know he can help."

L04 114 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.

L04 117 "Why don't you and Jonquil stay on for an hour or so L04 118 when you drop Penny off?" Beth invited, first clearing a L04 119 few perfunctory civilities out of the way.

L04 120 "Why, Beth, of course!" 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. "It's been L04 124 ages!" Jane echoed her thoughts. "I've been L04 125 expecting to hear more about our haute couture L04 126 crawl."

L04 127 "Yes, we must discuss that," Beth murmured L04 128 vaguely, remembering the suggestion that Jane should help her L04 129 choose her wedding outfit. "See you after school, L04 130 then."

L04 131 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.

L04 144 "Make a stranger of Jane," Beth warned herself L04 145 aloud, "and you simply won't know what's going on behind L04 146 your back."

L04 147 "Seems to me you could do with a let-up." Jane L04 148 gazed clinically into Beth's face as later they settled themselves L04 149 on the patio. "Gamboge around the gills, my dear - An iced L04 150 drink? What a heavenly idea!" She took the frosted glass L04 151 Beth held out to her and drank gratefully. "My L04 152 God!" she gasped, awed. "What is L04 153 this?"

L04 154 "My mother-in-law's recipe," Beth smiled. L04 155 "She calls it Singapore Swamp, on account of the floating L04 156 vegetation." She poured a glass for herself. "It's L04 157 reasonably innocuous."

L04 158 "It's absolute ambrosia, Beth - and not all L04 159 that innocuous. What's under the cover?"

L04 160 "Your cake," Beth murmured, uncovering the L04 161 plate.

L04 162 "Not - my cake? How I've missed you!" L04 163 Jane laughed. "So. Last lap? Only just in time, I'd say. L04 164 Aren't you sleeping?"

L04 165 "Much better now the heat's less," Beth tried L04 166 not to sound irritated. Why did people imagine they showed their L04 167 concern best through bossy personal remarks? "But I had - L04 168 rather a shock today," she admitted, "and I suppose L04 169 I'm tired enough for it to show."

L04 170 Jane looked away towards the paddock where the girls could be L04 171 heard.

L04 172 "Anything you can talk about?" she asked L04 173 quietly.

L04 174 "Oh, it's nothing private," Beth assured her. L04 175 "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 me after all this time." She glanced L04 180 uncomfortably at Jane."You know - a sort of Big Brother L04 181 sensation. Well, good heavens - I've changed my name twice since L04 182 then."

L04 183 "Hell, how unnerving!" Jane sympathised. L04 184 "But I'm sure you've the right to ask how he managed L04 185 it."

L04 186 "Well, he did say in passing - Are you ready for some L04 187 cake?"

L04 188 "Need you ask?" Jane grinned.

L04 189 Beth helped her to cake and sat back with her own plate while L04 190 Jane moaned appreciation.

L04 191 "So what did the solicitor say?" she prompted L04 192 thickly.

L04 193 "Oh, he'd traced my friend to a hostel in south London, L04 194 a place called High Bank." Beth munched tidily on and L04 195 ignored Jane's quiet exclamation. "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 they were enough for the solicitor to work on. Amazing, L04 203 really." 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.

L04 206 "When was it you lost touch with your friend?" L04 207 she asked in a strained voice.

L04 208 "About - about twenty years ago," Beth gave her L04 209 a puzzled stare. "Jane, is something wrong with the L04 210 cake?"

L04 211 "No, - Just let me think a minute. I mean - it's L04 212 lovely. About 1969?" she muttered, calculating. L04 213 "Did this solicitor mention the Warden's name?" L04 214 Beth shook her head wonderingly. "Can you remember what she L04 215 told you about your friend?"

L04 216 "Er - that she'd gone to find work in East Anglia, as I L04 217 recall. Look -"

L04 218 "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?" Jane leaned forward, her eyes L04 221 intent.

L04 222 "She was seeing her foster-sister," Beth L04 223 nodded, wondering how much detail Jane knew to fill in that outline. L04 224 L04 225 L05 1 <#FLOB:L05\>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.

L05 4 "Hello," she said. "You're up late L05 5 ..."

L05 6 "And you."

L05 7 "Ach, no. I was fast asleep until a minute ago - little L05 8 Piet woke up, wanting a drink."

L05 9 "I could bloody do with one," muttered Kramer, L05 10 before adding: "Good night, hey?"

L05 11 "Top shelf, pantry," she said. "Behind L05 12 where the box of birthday-cake candles is kept."

L05 13 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.

L05 16 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: "To my beloved Pik, Happy Christmas! L05 20 XXX."

L05 21 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.

L05 26 "So you found the bottle OK," said the Widow L05 27 Fourie, returning to the kitchen with an empty glass.

L05 28 "Like some?"

L05 29 "No, not for me, thanks."

L05 30 "Have just a drop," he insisted. "One L05 31 tiny drop! It'll help you get straight back to sleep L05 32 again." And he looked at her in the eye.

L05 33 "No, honest," she said, turning quickly L05 34 away.

L05 35 "Suit yourself!"

L05 36 "You sound upset," she said, rinsing the glass L05 37 at the sink. "Why's that?"

L05 38 "All right if I have another?"

L05 39 "It's there to be drunk."

L05 40 "So am I," said Kramer.

L05 41 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.

L05 46 "If you're staring at these spots," she said, L05 47 <}_><-|><+|>"<}/>it's my time of the month, that's all. You L05 48 don't have to be so blatant about it."

L05 49 Kramer dug out a Lucky. "Ach, L05 50 no!<}_><-|><+|>"<}/> he said. "I was thinking of L05 51 something else entirely: Short-arse."

L05 52 "I beg your pardon!"

L05 53 "Hell, not you, hey? Just some kaffir."

L05 54 "What kaffir?"

L05 55 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.

L05 60 "Oh," she said, and became silent again.

L05 61 "Don't just sit there - talk!" he said. L05 62 "Keep on talking. Tell me how bloody stupid I'm L05 63 being!"

L05 64 "I can't," she said. "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."

L05 68 They were both quiet after that, while the kitchen clock kept L05 69 up its ponderous loud ticking.

L05 70 "This native," said the Widow Fourie, abruptly L05 71 brisk and businesslike, pouring herself a small tot of brandy. L05 72 "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 "

L05 75 "Look for him?" echoed Kramer. "What L05 76 the hell else do you think Hans and me have been doing half the L05 77 night?"

L05 78 "You didn't tell me that. How am I supposed to L05 79 know?"

L05 80 "We searched everywhere, high and low. Gone! Vanished, L05 81 just like that ..."

L05 82 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 "You say," she said, "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?"

L05 88 "Oh, ja," said Kramer. "Excellent."

L05 89 "You're sure?"

L05 90 "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."

L05 101 "Yirra," said the Widow Fourie, "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!"

L05 104 Kramer nodded. "My reaction was the same," he L05 105 said. "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?"

L05 111 "Hmmm," said the Widow Fourie. "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?"

L05 114 "Ja, outside the magistrate's court," muttered L05 115 Kramer, then realized what he had just said.

L05 116 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.

L05 129 "Tromp?" said the Widow Fourie, sounding very L05 130 concerned. "Trompie, are you all right?"

L05 131 "Ach, fine!" he said, blinking, reaching for L05 132 more brandy. "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 - "

L05 136 "But why?" asked the Widow Fourie. L05 137 "That's the part I don't get. I can't see how a native L05 138 could possibly have been mixed up in - "

L05 139 "Then I'll have to just bloody ask him!" said L05 140 Kramer, testily, needing time to think, feeling the pressure. L05 141 "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!"

L05 144 "I know a way," she said.

L05 145 "Pardon?"

L05 146 "I know a way of catching him, if he's still in the L05 147 area," said the Widow Fourie. "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 - "

L05 154 "Ja, ja, set a trap!" said Kramer, nodding.

L05 155 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.

L05 162 "Can Dingaan have your fat, please?" Piet asked L05 163 him at the breakfast table.

L05 164 "I'd sooner he had my head," said Kramer, L05 165 waving aside the milk that the maid had been about to add to his L05 166 coffee. "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."

L05 168 "Ja, my ma warned me," said Piet, forking the L05 169 bacon over on to his bread plate.

L05 170 "Warned you about what?"

L05 171 "She said you'd probably be like a bull who had backed L05 172 into a big cactus this morning."

L05 173 "That ma of yours ..."

L05 174 "She's nice, isn't she?" said Piet. L05 175 "Sometimes I think Fanie Kritzinger's got a better one, but L05 176 not always."

L05 177 "Oh, ja? Any views on his pa then?"

L05 178 "He's dead. Kicked the bucket. Everyone knows L05 179 that."

L05 180 "Who told you, hey?"

L05 181 "I don't know - one of the kids, down by the L05 182 river."

L05 183 "Was his pa a nice man?"

L05 184 Piet shrugged.

L05 185 "Come on," said Kramer. "What was he L05 186 like?"

L05 187 "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 him have a uniform L05 190 either."

L05 191 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.

L05 194 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.

L05 203 "Goat, goat, goat ..." Kramer murmered, trying L05 204 to think of something simple.

L05 205 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!

L05 213 "Perfect," said Kramer.

L05 214 Terblanche had on his harassed look. "Morning, L05 215 Tromp!" he said, scraping a splash of maize porridge from L05 216 his tie. "Goodness, what a start to the day ..."

L05 217 "You should try eating slower, Hans."

L05 218 "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 "

L05 224 "That's fine, man! I'll see you after. I just need to L05 225 borrow one of your blokes and a boy."

L05 226 "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?"

L05 229 "To help me find Short-arse."

L05 230 "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?"

L05 233 "Man, I know it will."

L05 234 L06 1 <#FLOB:L06\>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? 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.

L06 7 "If I bring it off- and I 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."

L06 12 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 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- 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.

L06 32 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 hurry through L06 36 them, which is what Edwin was always trying to do.

L06 37 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 not do the hoovering without remarks about crumbs on the L06 46 carpet and the place looking like a pigsty!

L06 47 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...

L06 52 And me? I was going to have a once-in-a-lifetime holiday from L06 53 endlessly pouring oil on eternally troubled waters.

L06 54 What bliss!

L06 55 That was all I thought, in those first euphoric hours: what L06 56 bliss!

L06 57 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.

L06 61 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.

L06 68 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.

L06 72 One last evening of peace. I tried not to think of it that way, L06 73 I really did. But what can you do?

L06 74 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 need say?

L06 79 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.

L06 88 "What?" I shouted into the receiver, "Excuse L06 89 me, hang on a moment, I must go to the other phone..."

L06 90 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 International Focus, the paper L06 98 destined to be the recipient of Edwin's 'biggest scoop of the L06 99 season'.

L06 100 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...

L06 110 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 him L06 114 a few questions. Did he know where Edwin was right now? Had he L06 115 had any sort of report from him yet?

L06 116 "Yes... That's the trouble, really, Mrs Wakefield. We L06 117 have had a report... he was phoning it from Stuttgart, so he L06 118 said..."

L06 119 "Why 'so he said'?" 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.

L06 125 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. 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.

L06 136 "Yes, well, I'll let you know if I hear L06 137 anything," I said, scribbling down the number that was L06 138 being dictated to me. "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..."

L06 141 Jason received the news appropriately though slightly L06 142 off-handedly. "Great." 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.

L06 149 There were several more phone calls, of course, as the evening L06 150 went on, all of them congratulatory.

L06 151 "Yes, isn't it thrilling!" I kept saying, and L06 152 "Yes, I'm sure he'd love you to ring."

L06 153 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.

L06 158 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.

L06 165 "Hullo?" I said, a little perfunctorily, I fear; I'd L06 166 already said it so many times, you see, the "Yes, isn't it L06 167 thrilling!" bit. "Hullo, Clare Wakefield L06 168 speaking..."

L06 169 The voice was strange to me: young, eager, and with a quality L06 170 of lightness which was instantly endearing.

L06 171 "Oh, Mrs Wakefield- or may I call you Clare? I feel we L06 172 know each other so well already, though of course we L06 173 don't, if you see what I mean."

L06 174 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.

L06 182 "Thanks goodness I've got you at last!" the L06 183 voice continued. "Your line's been engaged the 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 all right, Mother! I've got her! Yes- I L06 187 told you- it's 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\>Drewitt left them still squabbling and went up to L07 2 Harkness's office. He knocked. L07 3 "Come!" 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 "I'll get to you," he said, and turned back to L07 9 Stevens. "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." L07 12 Stevens said: "We did a pretty thorough job last week. All L07 13 the statements are there and..." L07 14 Harkness cut in incisively: "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." L07 17 "Excuse me, sir, but we have one lead. The gypsies were L07 18 only a few miles south..." L07 19 Harkness's glare silenced him. "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." L07 22 "I suppose they could have come over to Calderon..." L07 23 "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." L07 30 "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?" said Stevens. "Maybe to confuse us. I L07 33 mean, nobody believes in witchcraft today." L07 34 Harkness kept glaring at him. "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 we believe. L07 37 What matters if the character who stuck that pitchfork into L07 38 Gideon's throat, he believes! Now, get everything organised. L07 39 We're going into Calderon again this afternoon." L07 40 Eyes averted, Stevens went out. L07 41 Harkness turned to Drewitt. L07 42 "My report's on your desk, sir." L07 43 "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... they believe, that's what L07 47 counts. And this Agram woman..." L07 48 "You want I should go and see her, sir?" L07 49 "No, think I'll do that myself." 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 "Does it worry you, lad?" L07 53 "No, not really." He couldn't conceal the hesitancy L07 54 in his voice. L07 55 "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." L07 58 "But sir. I do know Calderon." L07 59 "And I'm getting to know it. After two nights." 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 "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." L07 66 Drewitt hesitated. "I would like to go on." L07 67 "I wouldn't like you to. So that's it! Better get your L07 68 uniform on and report to the duty sergeant. "Bye." 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 Chapter Twelve

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 "Could I have a glass of water?" Drewitt said. He'd L07 94 finished his whisky. "Too much alcohol seems to lead to a L07 95 kind of dehydration." 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 "I've told you everything I know. I hope you'll not bother L07 99 my mother again?" L07 100 "I'm sure I won't. And you've been a great help," L07 101 Braden replied. L07 102 "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." L07 106 Braden forced a grin. "I suppose I wouldn't be writing this L07 107 article if it hadn't." L07 108 Drewitt didn't return the grin. His face assumed, if anything, a L07 109 mournful look. "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." L07 112 "What was that?" L07 113 Drewitt rubbed his left hand over his eyes, trying to remember. L07 114 "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." L07 125 "Cynical way of looking at it," Braden said. L07 126 "That was Harkness. Better, he said, that ten innocent men L07 127 go to jail that one villain goes free." L07 128 "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." L07 131 "Anyway, what does it matter? He's gone now." L07 132 "Harkness is dead then?" L07 133 "He was very ill just after. I'm supposing he's dead. L07 134 Something happened to him in Calderon..." L07 135 "What happened to him?" L07 136 "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." L07 140 Drewitt stood up and looked at his watch. "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?" L07 143 "Some of it. Need more." Deliberately casual. L07 144 Drewitt, swaying slightly at the door, said: "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." L07 147 "I'll bear that in mind. Of course, there is somebody else L07 148 I could talk to..." L07 149 "Who would that be?" L07 150 "Jennet Agram." 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: "Hello." L07 177 The child did not respond to him but, steadily gazing on him, L07 178 called "It's a man, Mum!" L07 179 "Coming!" A woman's voice from above. Then more L07 180 footsteps on the stairs, and Jennet Agram faced him. L07 181 "Yes?" she said, not unpleasantly. L07 182 He explained he was from the Comet. She was in shadow, but he L07 183 could make out she was a tall, well-built woman. L07 184 "The Comet?" she said. "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." 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 "I'm afraid you haven't won any competition," he L07 192 said. "Actually, I wonder if I could talk to you?" L07 193 "You are talking to me." 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 "My name is Braden. Eric Braden. I'm writing an article on L07 197 the Calderon murder," he said. "I believe you knew L07 198 the victim, and was hoping you might talk about it to me." L07 199 She showed no sign of surprise."That was twelve years ago. L07 200 Hardly news today." L07 201 "It's for a series on unsolved murders." L07 202 "I don't think I want to be involved in sensational L07 203 journalism," she said. L07 204 "I hope it won't be particularly sensational," L07 205 Braden persisted. "Although it could become that if I L07 206 discovered the identity of the murderer." L07 207 "Indeed it could," she said. "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." L07 210 She turned to the child. "Go and see if Isabel's in, and L07 211 ask her mother if you can stay there and play for a while." L07 212 Pleased, the child nodded and ran around to the front of the L07 213 building. L07 214 "Pretty girl," said Braden. "Yours?" L07 215 "One and only," she said, and indicated that he L07 216 should follow her up the stairs. Halfway up, she stopped. L07 217 "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?" 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\>"Because I'm a little old lady? It's easier L08 2 than you'd think. You'd be surprised."

L08 3 "Would I? How little you know me..."

L08 4 They stared at each other in silence. They both began to smile L08 5 together.

L08 6 "You're a dark horse, Philip Fletcher."

L08 7 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.

L08 10 "What now?" she asked wanly. "I suppose L08 11 you're going to call the police."

L08 12 He took a moment to think about it, and then he pulled a face L08 13 suggestive of mild disgust and said, "Now whyever would I L08 14 want to do that?"

L08 15 He got up and walked to the door. He stuck his head out and L08 16 called upstairs.

L08 17 "Kate! Would you come down now, please?"

L08 18 He went to the sideboard and took out another glass.

L08 19 "You've an eye for an accomplice, I'll say L08 20 that," Martha commented wryly.

L08 21 "She gets the job purely on merit," he L08 22 replied.

L08 23 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.

L08 26 "Cold?"

L08 27 She nodded. He turned back to Martha.

L08 28 "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."

L08 31 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.

L08 34 He continued: "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?"

L08 47 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.

L08 50 "Of course," he said, returning to Martha, L08 51 "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?"

L08 55 "So I was right. You do intend to blackmail L08 56 me."

L08 57 "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."

L08 61 "What then?"

L08 62 "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."

L08 66 "Not many," 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.

L08 69 He went on: "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 Macbeth opens on Broadway, I will of course be appearing in L08 75 the title role."

L08 76 "I see. Is that all?"

L08 77 "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."

L08 82 "Tony won't like it."

L08 83 "No, but I think you'd like prison less. These L08 84 conditions are non-negotiable, I'm afraid."

L08 85 "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."

L08 88 "Gets my vote for understatement of the year... My L08 89 third and final condition concerns Twelfth Night. You can L08 90 stop looking for an Olivia right away. Kate gets the L08 91 part."

L08 92 He squeezed Kate's hand. She seemed to have gone numb. Martha L08 93 appeared scarcely less shell-shocked.

L08 94 "I must say, Philip, for an apprentice blackmailer L08 95 you're pretty quick off the mark."

L08 96 "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."

L08 104 "Yes. Yes, I see what you mean..."

L08 105 She gave him the benefit of a long hard stare. And then she L08 106 threw back her head and laughed.

L08 107 "You're a cynical, ruthless, unscrupulous bastard, L08 108 Philip!"

L08 109 "Coming from you, my dear, I can only take that as a L08 110 compliment."

L08 111 Martha shook her head wisely. She got to her feet, affecting L08 112 weariness but unable quite to conceal relief.

L08 113 "Is it a deal?" he asked.

L08 114 "Of course it's a deal, you've got me by the L08 115 balls." She turned to Kate. "Stick with him, honey, L08 116 and you'll make out OK. Can I offer you two a ride?"

L08 117 "No thanks, we've got a car. I hope you haven't kept L08 118 your chauffeur waiting all this time?"

L08 119 "No, I thought I'd give him the night off... OK, I'll L08 120 see you tomorrow then. Onstage if not before."

L08 121 "I'll be there."

L08 122 She walked over to the french windows.

L08 123 "Oh, Martha!"

L08 124 She stopped. He went over to her, taking the gun out of his L08 125 pocket.

L08 126 "You can have this back. It's not my style."

L08 127 She extended a hand, but just before he passed it to her he L08 128 whipped out his handkerchief and wiped the handle.

L08 129 "Sorry, force of habit."

L08 130 He held the french windows open for her, and when she had gone L08 131 out, closed and locked them.

L08 132 "It's late," he said. "We'd better L08 133 think about getting back too."

L08 134 Kate stirred on the sofa. She didn't seem quite with it.

L08 135 "Yes, I suppose so..."

L08 136 "OK. Well, if you tidy a bit in here I'll pack up in L08 137 the bedroom."

L08 138 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.

L08 148 "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-"

L08 151 Philip switched off the machine and laughed softly to L08 152 himself.

L08 153 "Seymour Loseby! The thought!"

L08 154 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.

L08 158 "Philip?"

L08 159 She sounded awkward. The frown on her face was etched deep.

L08 160 "Philip, what you told Martha at the end... does that L08 161 mean I'm an accessory too?"

L08 162 He sat down on the bed and pushed the box away with his L08 163 feet.

L08 164 "No, my dear. An accessory is an extra. You're Olivia. L08 165 That's a leading part."

L08 166 She smiled with him. Her smile was a little on the coy side, L08 167 and he found it very appealing.

L08 168 "You're not frightened, are you?"

L08 169 She thought about it for a moment.

L08 170 "No. No, I don't think I am really. Should I L08 171 be?"

L08 172 "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."

L08 174 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.

L08 176 "Well, perhaps I could be a little bit..."

L08 177 She sat down on the bed next to him. He took her hand.

L08 178 "There's no need to hurry back into town, is L08 179 there?"

L08 180 She shook her head. She whispered softly, "I almost L08 181 called the police, you know, when I realised she had a L08 182 gun."

L08 183 "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."

L08 186 "Are you sure it's going to be all right? She did L08 187 threaten to kill you."

L08 188 "Oh, that was just professional etiquette. She didn't L08 189 mean it personally."

L08 190 "Philip!" She laughed. "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."

L08 193 "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."

L08 199 "You're a very wicked man, aren't you?"

L08 200 "If you say so. Does it turn you off?"

L08 201 "No."

L08 202 He thought not. He could see it in her eyes. She looked quite L08 203 refreshingly wicked herself.

L08 204 "Aren't you going to hug me then?"

L08 205 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.

L08 210 "You know," he said softly, "I think L08 211 this is the most ridiculous costume I've ever seen."

L08 212 "I could take it off, if you like."

L08 213 "Yes, I think I'd like that very much."

L08 214 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.

L08 218 The bed was a great deal smaller and far less suggestive than L08 219 the one back in his hotel room. It sufficed.

L08 220 Seventeen L08 221 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.

L08 226 "Simply knockout, darling!" Seymour roared L08 227 above the chatter, giving him a hug and a kiss. "Have you L08 228 met my son Nigel?"

L08 229 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.

L08 232 "He's an MP, you know!" Seymour added with a L08 233 wink, as if the initials stood for something altogether L08 234 risqu<*_>e-acute<*/>.

L08 235 "Oh yes," said Philip, offering his hand. L08 236 "Pleased to meet you."

L08 237 Nigel Loseby murmured something shyly about his performance. L08 238 Philip looked modest, inasmuch as he was able.

L08 239 "We're very lucky to have him, you know!" L08 240 Seymour boomed. L08 241 L09 1 <#FLOB:L09\>"Then what has happened to it?"

L09 2 "Perhaps," suggested the corporal, "the river L09 3 has washed it away?"

L09 4 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.

L09 9 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.

L09 16 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.

L09 21 "It can't have!" said the watchman angrily. L09 22 "It was lying right up on the shoal."

L09 23 "How did it get there, then?" asked the L09 24 corporal. "Did it jump up there like a fish?"

L09 25 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.

L09 28 "This isn't anything to do with me," he said. L09 29 "This is not for the Mamur Zapt."

L09 30 "Quite right, effendi!" said the corporal L09 31 smartly. "Only a woman."

L09 32 That was not what he had meant.

L09 33 "This is a matter for the Parquet," he said.

L09 34 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.

L09 41 "Has the Parquet been notified?" he said L09 42 sternly.

L09 43 The corporal scratched his head.

L09 44 "I expect so," he said.

L09 45 "Expect so?" Owen boiled over with L09 46 fury. "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?"

L09 50 "I don't know anything about it," said the L09 51 corporal hurriedly.

L09 52 "One said that you were near, effendi," said L09 53 the watchman forlornly, "and the Chief thought L09 54 -"

L09 55 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!

L09 61 "Tell the Chief," he said ominously, L09 62 "that I'll be wanting a word with him."

L09 63 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.

L09 69 He set off back up the bank.

L09 70 After a moment's hesitation the other two ran after him.

L09 71 "Effendi! Effendi!"

L09 72 "You stay here. Wait for the Parquet. You can tell it L09 73 all to them."

L09 74 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.

L09 78 "Effendi!" he gasped. "A message! From the L09 79 Bimbashi!"

L09 80 "Yes?"

L09 81 "You are to go to the river."

L09 82 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.

L09 86 "Well," said Owen, "I'm at the river. But why L09 87 on earth ...?"

L09 88 The Bimbashi arrived shortly afterwards.

L09 89 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.

L09 94 But that was battered and sober: this one was new and, well, L09 95 spectacular.

L09 96 "Green," said the driver of the car, noting with L09 97 satisfaction Owen's interest. "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?'"

L09 100 The Bimbashi, McPhee, pink and fair and anxious, rushed L09 101 forward.

L09 102 "This is Captain Owen, Prince. Owen, Prince L09 103 Narouz."

L09 104 "Ah!" said the Prince. "The Mamur Zapt. You got L09 105 here quickly. Efficient of you. But then -" he smiled L09 106 ambiguously - "we know the Mamur Zapt to be efficient, L09 107 don't we?"

L09 108 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.

L09 114 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.

L09 118 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.

L09 121 The Prince and McPhee had walked on to the top of the bank and L09 122 were standing looking down at the river.

L09 123 "What's all this about?" whispered Owen.

L09 124 "Don't know. Someone else was going to do this one and L09 125 then they suddenly switched me on to it."" L09 126 They joined the others. L09 127 "What's going on?" Owen asked. L09 128 McPhee turned a concerned face towards him.

L09 129 "Something absolutely frightful has happened," L09 130 he said. "The Prince was on a dahabeeyah last night coming L09 131 back from Karnak and someone fell overboard."

L09 132 "A woman?"

L09 133 McPhee nodded.

L09 134 "As soon as we got the report we suspected - well, we L09 135 knew, I suppose. She couldn't swim."

L09 136 "You got the report?"

L09 137 "The Prince phoned Garvin first thing this L09 138 morning."

L09 139 Garvin was the Commandant of the Cairo Police force. McPhee was L09 140 his deputy.

L09 141 "What about the Parquet?"

L09 142 "We got the report in the ordinary way," said L09 143 Mahmoud. "At that stage it was just that a body had been L09 144 found. I imagine," he said to the Prince, "that you L09 145 yourself rang up later?"

L09 146 "After I had spoken to Garvin." The Prince L09 147 hesitated.

L09 148 "You see, I didn't want this to be ... clumsily L09 149 handled."

L09 150 "Oh, of course not!" said McPhee L09 151 sympathetically. "The poor girl! And the family, of L09 152 course!"

L09 153 "Yes. And the Khedivial connection."

L09 154 "Of course. Of course."

L09 155 "It could be embarrassing, you see. Politically, I L09 156 mean."

L09 157 "For you?" asked Owen.

L09 158 The Prince looked at him coolly.

L09 159 "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 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?"

L09 164 "Assuredly not. The Khedive is a valued friend and L09 165 ally."

L09 166 Not only that. He was the fa<*_>c-cedille<*/>ade which L09 167 concealed the realities of British power in Egypt.

L09 168 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.

L09 174 Like the Commandant and Deputy Commandant of the Cairo L09 175 Police.

L09 176 Like the Mamur Zapt.

L09 177 "That's what the Consul-General thought too," L09 178 said the Prince. "I spoke to him this morning."

L09 179 "We are to give whatever help we can," McPhee L09 180 told Owen.

L09 181 "How far does the help extend?" asked Owen.

L09 182 The Prince smiled.

L09 183 "Not as far as you are evidently supposing," he L09 184 said. "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."

L09 190 "I have complete confidence in Mr el Zaki."

L09 191 "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."

L09 194 "I see. And you would like me to provide that L09 195 management?"

L09 196 "Who better?"

L09 197 Owen could think of lots of people he would prefer to see L09 198 handling this particular case. Most people, in fact.

L09 199 The Prince was watching his face.

L09 200 "It's not as bad as all that," he said. L09 201 "We're not asking you to do anything you shouldn't. It's L09 202 mainly a matter of controlling the Press."

L09 203 "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."

L09 206 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.

L09 210 "That's why I spoke of ... management."

L09 211 "I see."

L09 212 "Good!" said the Prince briskly. "Then that's L09 213 all sorted out."

L09 214 He looked down at the river bed below him.

L09 215 "Well," he said, "I suppose we ought to go L09 216 down. You'll be needing an identification."

L09 217 "There's just one thing," said Owen.

L09 218 "Not there?" said the Prince incredulously.

L09 219 "Not there?" echoed McPhee.

L09 220 Mahmoud did not say anything but started immediately down the L09 221 slope.

L09 222 By the time they got there he was already talking to the L09 223 watchman.

L09 224 "I don't understand," said the Prince. L09 225 "Are you saying that this is all a mistake?"

L09 226 "A body was reported," said Owen.

L09 227 "A false report?"

L09 228 Owen shrugged.

L09 229 The watchman fell on his knees.

L09 230 "It was true, effendi," he protested L09 231 vehemently. "I saw it. I swear it. On my father's L09 232 ..."

L09 233 "I begin to doubt," said the Prince coldly, L09 234 "whether you had a father."

L09 235 The watchman swallowed.

L09 236 "It was there, effendi," he said, pointing to L09 237 the shoal. "There! I swear it."

L09 238 "Then where is it?"

L09 239 The watchman swallowed again.

L09 240 "I don't know, effendi," he said weakly. L09 241 "I don't know."

L09 242 "The river effendi," insinuated the corporal L09 243 sotto voce. "It could be the river."

L09 244 <}_><-|> Bur<+|>But<}/> the Prince had already turned away.

L09 245 "This is awkward," he said.

L09 246 "It could have been somebody else," said Owen. L09 247 "It needn't have been the girl."

L09 248 "The report was of a woman's body."

L09 249 "Another woman, perhaps."

L09 250 The Prince shrugged.

L09 251 "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."

L09 254 "Oh no, effendi," said the corporal hastily.

L09 255 "Awkward," said the Prince again. "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."

L09 258 "I'll get on to it right away," promised L09 259 McPhee. "I'll alert all the police stations -"

L09 260 L10 1 <#FLOB:L10\>Walsh shrugged his shoulders. "Can we L10 2 ignore the possibility at this stage?"

L10 3 "What about someone we haven't considered at all yet, L10 4 Chief?" Brenda asked, her brown eyes looking shrewdly at L10 5 Walsh.

L10 6 "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."

L10 10 "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," Brenda L10 15 suggested.

L10 16 "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?"

L10 20 "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," Walsh replied, anxiously.

L10 23 "Maybe there's something in what Mrs Dubonis was saying L10 24 about evil spirits being out and about," Brenda L10 25 suggested.

L10 26 "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," Finch remarked.

L10 30 "We'll keep the evil spirits out of this, if you don't L10 31 mind!" Walsh instructed. "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." L10 41 He reached out to feel the coffee pot, which was cold.

L10 42 "It's all right, Chief, I'll get some more," L10 43 Brenda offered. "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," 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.

L10 49 "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."

L10 61 "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."

L10 64 "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."

L10 67 Brenda Phipps came back into the office with a fresh pot of L10 68 coffee. She put it on the desk.

L10 69 "Thanks, Brenda, you're an angel," Walsh said, L10 70 smiling at the slim Detective Constable.

L10 71 "With all this devil stuff about, the odd angel won't L10 72 come amiss, boss," Finch smiled.

L10 73 "Less of the odd," Brenda scowled.

L10 74 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.

L10 77 "Thank goodness for that, that's one problem the L10 78 less," Walsh said, relieved. "Reg, pass me those L10 79 aerial photographs again."

L10 80 "There's couple of these I'd like my own copies of, L10 81 boss. See here on this one," Finch pointed to an aerial L10 82 print of the ruin in the wood, and the field to the south. L10 83 "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," Finch continued, enthusiastically. "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."

L10 93 "There're other marks on some of these photos too, Reg. L10 94 What do they signify?" Brenda asked.

L10 95 "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."

L10 100 Walsh interrupted. "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."

L10 103 11 L10 104 It was a tall, elderly, silver-haired lady who opened the front L10 105 door of the big house to Reginald Finch.

L10 106 "You'd better come in then, Sergeant. We can't stand L10 107 here talking on the doorstep, can we?" she exclaimed, when L10 108 Finch had told her why he had come.

L10 109 "The estate was so much bigger, in my grandfather's L10 110 day," 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. "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?"

L10 117 "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," 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.

L10 122 "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. "I know there are more kinds L10 130 of worship in this world than my own," he said, L10 131 "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." 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."

L10 137 "Do you mean that you know who these people are? That L10 138 they come each year?" Finch asked, in surprise.

L10 139 "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," L10 146 she added.

L10 147 "I'd very much like to talk to the Leader, myself, if I L10 148 may. Do you know his name?"

L10 149 "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?"

L10 153 "Perhaps I might telephone her, instead, if you'd be L10 154 good enough to let me have her number?"

L10 155 "Of course. Was that one or two lumps of L10 156 sugar?"

L10 157 "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?" Finch asked, L10 160 reasonably.

L10 161 "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?" the other replied L10 165 truculently, his eyes glinting with anger.

L10 166 "Well," Finch said, "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."

L10 171 "I went out for a coffee, yes, that's what I L10 172 did."

L10 173 "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?"

L10 177 "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."

L10 183 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.

L10 186 "Satisfied?" Tomkins scowled.

L10 187 "Not really," Finch admitted. "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."

L10 190 "Triton Roofing, they wanted the whole format of their L10 191 sales analysis changed."

L10 192 "When did you give it to them?"

L10 193 "Yesterday."

L10 194 Finch said "Thanks," got up, and walked out.

L10 195 <*_>star<*/>

L10 196 The fleeting expression of annoyance on Richard Packstone's L10 197 face as Walsh opened the door signalled a warning.

L10 198 "Five minutes, Richard? That's all. I just want to know L10 199 how things are going," Walsh said, apologetically.

L10 200 Packstone sighed reluctantly, but lowered himself into his L10 201 chair and leaned forward, with his elbows on the desk.

L10 202 "It's pretty hectic in here," 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\>"Probably."

L11 2 "OK. So any better luck with Sharon?"

L11 3 "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."

L11 7 "I assume you eventually got her around to L11 8 that?"

L11 9 She nodded. "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."

L11 12 "And then..."

L11 13 "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." She L11 16 smiled. "Doesn't sound quite right, does it? You can't have L11 17 an aural voyeur, can you?"

L11 18 "Depends how you spell aural," I deadpanned.

L11 19 She laughed. "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."

L11 22 "As I'm not just anybody, I take it you will pass a L11 23 little of it on to me."

L11 24 She pulled a schoolmarm frown. "What parts may be L11 25 relevant to our quest, Mr Marklin, yes."

L11 26 "Right, Miss Trench, I'm all ears."

L11 27 "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?"

L11 30 "On sitting room sofas when their parents were out, on L11 31 the beach...?"

L11 32 "Not even warm."

L11 33 "Well, it wouldn't be, on the beach."

L11 34 She slapped my hand.

L11 35 "Where, then?"

L11 36 "In the Penwarden's garden."

L11 37 "In their garden?"

L11 38 "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."

L11 41 This time I frowned. "They made love when he was L11 42 supposed to be gardening?"

L11 43 "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."

L11 47 "Well, well, well. Could be that Blondie is not so very L11 48 wrong about our Stover."

L11 49 "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."

L11 53 I held up a finger. "Motive number five. He was killed L11 54 for not succumbing to advances."

L11 55 "Don't laugh," Arabella cautioned. L11 56 "Stranger things have happened." She put on her L11 57 'still waters run deep' voice once more. "There's none so L11 58 deadly..."

L11 59 "Yeah, yeah, yeah," I intoned.

L11 60 "You sound like a Beatle."

L11 61 "Didn't mean to."

L11 62 "Well, you did."

L11 63 "Back to Sharon?"

L11 64 "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 café, she admitted, she L11 67 even threw a cup of Coke all over another girl who tried to flirt L11 68 with him."

L11 69 I looked at her. "We wouldn't have motive number six L11 70 there, would we? The great green god."

L11 71 "Jealousy?" Arabella shook her head. L11 72 "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."

L11 77 "Anyway, any more intimacies?"

L11 78 "No, not really. I guess you're more interested in what L11 79 she said about Sadler and London."

L11 80 I perked up. "So she did say something?"

L11 81 But Arabella then knocked me off my perch by saying, L11 82 "Well, I suppose she did."

L11 83 "Oh, great."

L11 84 "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."

L11 88 "London, you mean?"

L11 89 "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."

L11 92 "That all?"

L11 93 "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."

L11 97 "And vans can carry lots of things other than L11 98 newspapers."

L11 99 "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."

L11 103 "It doesn't rule it out completely, either."

L11 104 "No. I suppose it doesn't."

L11 105 "That it?"

L11 106 "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."

L11 112 I thought for a moment. "How big is this child's room? L11 113 Did she say?"

L11 114 Arabella grinned. "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."

L11 121 I looked at Arabella. "But why should anyone keep their L11 122 child's room locked?"

L11 123 "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'."

L11 128 "Do you know if Sharon had discussed any of this with L11 129 Elvis?"

L11 130 "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."

L11 134 "And Elvis's reaction?"

L11 135 "As far as I can gather, more of less L11 136 indifference."

L11 137 "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."

L11 140 Arabella sighed. "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."

L11 144 "Let us pray..." 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.

L11 147 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.)

L11 152 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.

L11 162 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.

L11 172 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 The Times 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.

L11 188 It was around five a.m. that Arabella woke up to my tossing and L11 189 turning.

L11 190 She rolled over and asked, "You all right?"

L11 191 "Grand," I eyebrowed. "You know L11 192 something. To think I've wasted thirty-nine years..."

L11 193 "The last, recurring," she nudged.

L11 194 I ignored her. You have to at my age.

L11 195 "...thirty-nine years doing day work, when I could have L11 196 been on night shift."

L11 197 She snuggled up to me. "Couldn't sleep, eh?"

L11 198 "Brilliant girl. Go to the top of your L11 199 class."

L11 200 "I am at the top of my class," she L11 201 grinned. Our modesty is one of the things that united us.

L11 202 "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."

L11 205 "Marghanita Laski is dead."

L11 206 "Well, there you are."

L11 207 She didn't laugh. "Besides, I would be if you didn't L11 208 keep moving the mattress springs about."

L11 209 "Sorry."

L11 210 She propped herself on one elbow. The early morning sun dappled L11 211 the down between her breasts.

L11 212 "Stover?"

L11 213 "Yep."

L11 214 "I dreamt about him."

L11 215 "Oh yes?" I yawned. "But you never met L11 216 him."

L11 217 "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."

L11 220 "Would it be indelicate to ask what your dream was L11 221 about?" I smiled.

L11 222 "Filthy devil," she retorted. "I do L11 223 have dreams occasionally, you know, that aren't L11 224 hard-core."

L11 225 I looked at my fingernails. "Oh, really..."

L11 226 She slapped my hand, then went on. "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."

L11 231 "Then what?"

L11 232 "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."

L11 238 L12 1 <#FLOB:L12\>Chapter 70

L12 2 "WHAT I COULD do is sleep in the Nissan," Anna L12 3 said. It was getting dark and she had had a couple of beers. L12 4 "Elaine will be going home soon and I don't want to hang L12 5 about here after dark."

L12 6 "It should be safe," Rule said. L12 7 "Probably." 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.

L12 12 "What's safe?" she asked. "Anyway, L12 13 'probably' safe isn't safe enough."

L12 14 "That little creep thought we blew Hugh L12 15 away," Rule said. "So he isn't in touch with the L12 16 guys who did blow Hugh away."

L12 17 "But what about Lara?" Anna said.

L12 18 "I'll take you back to Nancy's house," Rule L12 19 said. "We can start again in the morning."

L12 20 "We left the Nissan on Bay Beach," Anna L12 21 said.

L12 22 "But I have all my stuff in my vehicle."

L12 23 "You sound like Dave Douglas," Anna remarked. L12 24 "Stuff!"

L12 25 "Fucking toe-rag," Rule said. Anna began to L12 26 giggle. He watched her for a moment, smiling patiently.

L12 27 Anna said, "You were going to ask me L12 28 something."

L12 29 "What?"

L12 30 "I don't know. You said you wanted to ask me something L12 31 before Dave Douglas came."

L12 32 The phone rang. Rule got to it first.

L12 33 "Yes?" he said. Then, "Okay Elaine. L12 34 Good work." He put the receiver down.

L12 35 "White Mercedes," he told Anna. "Ms L12 36 Crowther, she thinks. No passengers, she thinks. How d'you want to L12 37 play it?"

L12 38 "Buggered if I know," Anna said. "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."

L12 41 "You okay?"

L12 42 Of course," Anna said. "I mean I just L12 43 want to keep her honest."

L12 44 "I know what you mean," Rule said. L12 45 "It's just you had a coupla beers and every time you say, L12 46 'of course' you seem to mean the opposite."

L12 47 Anna stared at him. He said, "I'll get lost. Right? She L12 48 probably won't talk to you unless she thinks you're L12 49 alone."

L12 50 He stoop up and they heard a car door slam below.

L12 51 "Not too far," Anna said.

L12 52 "I'll be there," Rule said. "Don't L12 53 worry."

L12 54 "Of course not," Anna said. And then to cover L12 55 up, she added, "Don't forget your cigarettes."

L12 56 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.

L12 59 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.

L12 61 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.

L12 63 "Hi, Anna," she said. "Why didn't you L12 64 come down and let me in?"

L12 65 "This is your house," Anna said. L12 66 "You've got your own keys. You can come in whenever you L12 67 like."

L12 68 "That's right," 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. "Well?" she said.

L12 72 Anna waited, watching her.

L12 73 She had on pale green eye shadow which went well with the gold L12 74 hair and tan. A colourful woman, Anna thought.

L12 75 "Look," Lara said, "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."

L12 81 "So you came," Anna said. L12 82 "Why?"

L12 83 "Why?" Lara said. "Because I thought L12 84 you might be in trouble. It sounded as if you were in L12 85 trouble."

L12 86 "How kind," Anna said. "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."

L12 89 "So?" Lara said.

L12 90 "So what?"

L12 91 "So, have you anything to report?" Lara asked, L12 92 like a very patient woman. "I don't want to waste my trip L12 93 entirely."

L12 94 "Have some coffee," Anna suggested. "It L12 95 won't take a minute."

L12 96 "Look, I'm sorry I didn't call you right back," L12 97 Lara said. "If that's what's bugging you."

L12 98 "I'm not bugged," Anna said. "Where L12 99 were you last night?"

L12 100 "I'm sorry?" Lara said in offended tones.

L12 101 "With your mum again?" Anna asked politely. L12 102 "Is she any better?"

L12 103 "As it happens, yes, I was visiting with my L12 104 mother." Lara frowned.

L12 105 "I could verify that?" Anna asked. "I L12 106 mean, are there three independent witnesses to this L12 107 visit?"

L12 108 "I don't get it," Lara said. "I feel L12 109 this terrific hostility from you."

L12 110 "Hostility?" Anna asked. "Of course L12 111 not."

L12 112 "Quit fencing," Lara snapped. "If you L12 113 have something to say to me, say it."

L12 114 Anna looked puzzled. "I haven't got anything to say to L12 115 you," she said. "You came to me. I didn't come to L12 116 you."

L12 117 "I'm paying you to report to me," Lara said. L12 118 She was getting angry.

L12 119 "No, you're not," Anna said, thinking - fifteen, L12 120 love. It had taken a while, but sometimes even a single small point L12 121 took patience.

L12 122 "What do you mean?" Lara said. "I am L12 123 your employer."

L12 124 "No, you're not," Anna repeated. "It's L12 125 all over."

L12 126 "It's all over when I say it is, not before," L12 127 Lara said angrily. "Now where is Cynthia?"

L12 128 "I don't know," Anna said.

L12 129 "What do you mean you don't know?"

L12 130 "I just don't know," Anna said pleasantly. L12 131 "They didn't tell me where they took her."

L12 132 "Who took her?" Lara asked. She looked L12 133 shaken.

L12 134 "They didn't tell me their names."

L12 135 "You took her," Lara exclaimed. "They L12 136 didn't take her."

L12 137 "Now we're getting somewhere," Anna said, L12 138 relieved. "Thirty, love."

L12 139 "Are you crazy?" Lara shouted. "What L12 140 has come over you?"

L12 141 "It's something you told me once," Anna L12 142 said.

L12 143 "What?"

L12 144 "You told me not to ignore the mental game. I always L12 145 pay attention to what you say. I'm a big admirer."

L12 146 "That was tennis," Lara said.

L12 147 "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."

L12 151 "Jesus!" Lara said. "It was only a L12 152 game."

L12 153 "Isn't that what I'm supposed to say?" Anna L12 154 asked. "That's what the loser says, right?"

L12 155 "What are you talking about?" Lara said, L12 156 exasperated. "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?"

L12 159 "Ah, the old shoelace trick," Anna said L12 160 approvingly. "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."

L12 163 "I told you I never cared for Cyn," Lara said. L12 164 "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."

L12 167 "You don't believe me, do you?" Anna said L12 168 calmly. "I told you, they took her away."

L12 169 "They did not take her away!" Lara raged.

L12 170 "I was there, you weren't."

L12 171 Lara fell silent. Anna waited. Lara rearranged the pleats, and L12 172 then leant forward to pick up her handbag.

L12 173 "I could make you tell me," she said quietly. L12 174 She put the handbag on her knee and undid the clasp.

L12 175 "How?" Anna asked, watching carefully.

L12 176 "Your Mr Brierly may not look like much, but one word L12 177 from me..."

L12 178 "That wouldn't work."

L12 179 Lara sighed. She fiddled with the clasp of her handbag. In the L12 180 end she said. "This is ridiculous. What do you L12 181 want?"

L12 182 "Nothing," Anna said. "I've got L12 183 everything I want."

L12 184 "More money?" Lara suggested. "A bonus? L12 185 Cash."

L12 186 "I've got loads of money," Anna said. L12 187 "Enough to stuff a duvet."

L12 188 Lara's eyes narrowed. "I see," she said slowly. L12 189 "You switched sides. They paid you. Now I understand. This L12 190 is a hostage situation."

L12 191 "No, it isn't," Anna said.

L12 192 "I thought you were straight," Lara said. L12 193 "I got to hand it to you - I didn't see this coming at L12 194 all."

L12 195 "I thought you were straight too," Anna L12 196 replied.

L12 197 "Why?" Lara asked. "I thought we got L12 198 along."

L12 199 "You made a convenience of me," Anna said.

L12 200 "Pride," Lara said. "I should have L12 201 known."

L12 202 "One of the first strategies of the game," Anna L12 203 told her cheerfully. "Know your opponent. I slipped up L12 204 there myself. I should've checked the details - like who you were L12 205 married to..."

L12 206 "You know about that?"

L12 207 "And how much you were paying him in the L12 208 settlement."

L12 209 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.

L12 212 "You understand then," she said. "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."

L12 217 "You divorced him."

L12 218 "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."

L12 223 "He wasn't a nice man," Anna agreed.

L12 224 "Nice!" Lara made an explosive sound in her L12 225 throat. "He... I can't tell you..." She began to L12 226 count on her fingers. "He was a cheat, a thief, a liar. He L12 227 was sexually promiscuous. He used drugs. He smoked. He sold L12 228 drugs."

L12 229 "You knew about that?" Anna asked.

L12 230 "Sure I did. It was the final straw. He was importing L12 231 steroids and God knows what else in consignments of 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.

L12 236 People knew!" Lara said emphatically. "He was L12 237 talked about. And it was my goddamned reputation."

L12 238 "You should have told Penny," Anna said. L12 239 "You could've saved her a lot of grief."

L12 240 "I'm talking about my reputation!" Lara L12 241 snapped.

L12 242 "I'm talking about your friend!"

L12 243 "I guess you're right," Lara said tiredly. L12 244 "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."

L12 247 "So poor Cynthia was sacrificed to your L12 248 reputation."

L12 249 "I don't think you have the right to talk to me like L12 250 that," Lara said. "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."

L12 253 "No, I don't," Anna said.

L12 254 "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."

L12 258 "That's exactly what Hugh said." Anna sighed. L12 259 "Poor Cynthia. She isn't worth very much to anyone. Except L12 260 her mother, perhaps."

L12 261 "She can't pay you-," Lara said quickly. L12 262 "She's had no income for over a year. Why, I'm practically L12 263 keeping her."

L12 264 "More fool you," Anna said.

L12 265 "What do you mean?"

L12 266 "I don't really know," Anna said. "It's L12 267 just an instinct. I could be wrong."

L12 268 "Penny loves me," Lara said. "We've L12 269 been friends for years."

L12 270 "Friends are equals. You made a dependant out of L12 271 her."

L12 272 "Penny loves me," Lara insisted.

L12 273 "But do you love Penny?" Anna asked. L12 274 "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\>"We both knew what we were doing," he L13 2 said soothingly. "And if one of us doesn't want to go on L13 3 doing it, then they're perfectly entitled to say so."

L13 4 "Thanks."

L13 5 "And perhaps you're right. Perhaps we do live a bit too L13 6 close for comfort."

L13 7 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.

L13 13 When he looked at her again, she was holding out a piece of L13 14 paper.

L13 15 "I've had some letters."

L13 16 "What?"

L13 17 "Some letters. Anonymous ones. This one arrived - L13 18 "

L13 19 "He took it from her, suddenly full of misgivings. L13 20 There was something amiss after all.

L13 21 "It arrived a few days ago. But there were four others L13 22 before that one."

L13 23 What she termed a letter was merely a sheet of unlined writing L13 24 paper with six lines of typing across the top.

L13 25 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.

L13 31 He looked at her, trying to find the question he wanted to ask L13 32 first.

L13 33 "There were four others before that," she L13 34 repeated. "I wasn't going to tell you but-"

L13 35 "Four?"

L13 36 "Yes. Oh, not all like that. Not all telling me to send L13 37 money. That's the second one that's done that."

L13 38 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.

L13 42 "Why didn't you tell me?"

L13 43 "Because the others didn't... I mean, they weren't like L13 44 that one."

L13 45 "So what were they like? What did they say?"

L13 46 "Well, they said the same sort of thing, yes," L13 47 she conceded. But not asking for money."

L13 48 "But they were about us? About our L13 49 relationship?"

L13 50 "Yes," she admitted.

L13 51 "Like this one? Saying it must stop? That kind of L13 52 thing?"

L13 53 "Yes."

L13 54 "Jesus," he said quietly. "You've been L13 55 getting letters about us?"

L13 56 "Yes, but not all like this one-"

L13 57 His fears flared into anger. "But why the hell didn't L13 58 you tell me? Why?"

L13 59 She muttered something.

L13 60 "What?" he demanded.

L13 61 "I didn't want to worry you."

L13 62 "Worry me? Christ! Worry me?" He wanted to take L13 63 her by the shoulders and shake her. "You're being L13 64 blackmailed and you didn't want to worry me?"

L13 65 "I'm sorry, Philip, but-"

L13 66 "How many-" But of course, she had already told L13 67 him that. "I mean, how long is it since you got the first L13 68 of these?"

L13 69 "A few weeks. Three or four weeks."

L13 70 "Jesus," 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.

L13 73 "I don't know who's sending them," she said, L13 74 near to tears. "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."

L13 77 "It must be somebody who knows you." She said L13 78 nothing, so he went on, insistently. "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?"

L13 81 "No."

L13 82 "I don't mean about the letters. About us? Did you tell L13 83 anybody about us?"

L13 84 "No. I swear I didn't, no."

L13 85 "You're sure?"

L13 86 "Yes! Philip, please, it's not my fault. I didn't write L13 87 the bloody things."

L13 88 She was distressed, fumbling with her box of matches and L13 89 lighting another cigarette, while tears coursed down her cheeks.

L13 90 "All right," he said. "Calm down. Just L13 91 calm down."

L13 92 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.)

L13 99 "And this is the real reason you want us to stop L13 100 meeting, is it?"

L13 101 "No. It isn't, no."

L13 102 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.

L13 106 He handed her the letter back.

L13 107 "What should we do, Philip?"

L13 108 "I don't know," he muttered, resenting the 'we' L13 109 that sought to drag him into the morass.

L13 110 "Should we go to the police?"

L13 111 The look he gave her answered that.

L13 112 "Well, no," she stammered. "So what do L13 113 you think?" Do you think we should pay it then?"

L13 114 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.

L13 119 "I don't think you should pay it, no."

L13 120 "No?" she said, seizing on that. "So L13 121 what should I do? If I don't pay it, then he might write to L13 122 Gerald."

L13 123 It was the first time her husband's name had been mentioned L13 124 between them.

L13 125 "Well, pay it then if you think you have L13 126 to."

L13 127 "But I can't. I haven't got a thousand pounds, not that L13 128 I can pay without Gerald knowing."

L13 129 Meaning he should pay it? Was that what she was angling L13 130 after?

L13 131 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.

L13 136 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.

L13 139 "Well, then I don't know what you should do," L13 140 he said.

L13 141 "But can't you at least tell me what you L13 142 think?" she appealed.

L13 143 "Angela, look this is your problem. You have to solve L13 144 it. But, however you do that, don't involve me, OK?"

L13 145 She stared at him, stunned.

L13 146 "If you'd involved me from the beginning it might have L13 147 been different." Though he was grateful she hadn't, since L13 148 it was that which now gave him his excuse for bowing out. L13 149 "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." And he reached for his jacket.

L13 152 "You can't... you can't just walk out," she L13 153 said, finding her voice.

L13 154 "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-"

L13 157 "Because I was frightened of Gerald finding L13 158 out!"

L13 159 "Yes, well -"

L13 160 "Well, now he's going to, isn't he? If I have to pay L13 161 this fucking money!"

L13 162 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.

L13 166 Still, he wasn't giving in to it.

L13 167 "Whether you pay it or not, that's your business. Just L13 168 leave me out of it."

L13 169 "Bastard!"

L13 170 "And I'm sorry but -"

L13 171 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.

L13 177 "Stop that!" he gasped.

L13 178 "Fucking bastard!"

L13 179 "I said stop it!"

L13 180 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.

L13 183 "Will you stop being so damn stupid!"

L13 184 "You're a rat!"

L13 185 "I'm trying to be sensible."

L13 186 "A fucking rat!"

L13 187 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.

L13 191 "You don't know what you're saying," he urged. L13 192 "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."

L13 194 "For you," she said. "It might make L13 195 sense for you."

L13 196 She had remained on the bed, though bringing her arms down.

L13 197 He picked up his jacket and dusted it off.

L13 198 "For both of us," he said. "You'll see L13 199 that."

L13 200 "I thought you'd help me. I honestly thought you'd help L13 201 me."

L13 202 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.

L13 205 "Right," he said briskly, "I'm going L13 206 now. I'm sorry we've had this unfortunate scene but -"

L13 207 "You've got to help me pay him, Philip. You've got L13 208 to."-

L13 209 "I don't think so, no. And I'm sorry but I'm not going L13 210 to argue the point any longer," he said, turning towards L13 211 the door. "Goodbye."

L13 212 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.

L13 217 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.

L13 222 "Yes, go on, hit me," she taunted, the tears L13 223 running down her face. "Hit me, you fucking L13 224 coward."

L13 225 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.

L13 229 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.

L13 232 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.

L13 235 Philip stared down at her, regaining his breath. A refrain - L13 236 "She deserved it, she brought it on herself" - 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.

L13 239 "Angela," he said, once he had regained his L13 240 breath, "stop it, please." 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. "Oh, Christ," he L13 243 said, and dropped to his knees beside her.

L13 244 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.

L14 4 "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: "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?" She felt her heart thump and her L14 9 voice go shrill.

L14 10 "Is Mr Yeo not home yet?" John McLeish was L14 11 sounding tense, she thought.

L14 12 "No, I don't think so, or he'd have answered the L14 13 door." 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.

L14 16 "I'll just wait, then, for a few minutes till you're L14 17 ready."

L14 18 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.

L14 21 "You're a good girl," he said, shakily. L14 22 "Give us a kiss, then." They embraced and she L14 23 understood that he was calm again, his face and hair still damp L14 24 from his wash.

L14 25 "Claudia." He stopped kissing her, moved his hands to L14 26 her shoulders and made her look at him. "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."

L14 30 "Peter!"

L14 31 "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." He held her as she burst L14 35 into tears again. "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." He L14 39 held her away from him. "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." He held Claudia while she L14 43 quietened, listening to the silence outside.

L14 44 "Sorry, sorry. Let me wash my face, and I'll come with L14 45 you."

L14 46 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.

L14 49 "I have Sergeant Davidson and Sergeant Crane with L14 50 me," he said gently.

L14 51 "I'll come with you," Peter Yeo said.

L14 52 "We'll come with you," his wife corrected L14 53 him.

L14 54 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.

L14 63 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.

L14 66 "It's Catherine."

L14 67 Epilogue

L14 68 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.

L14 82 "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."

L14 85 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. "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?"

L14 91 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.

L14 94 "Absolutely not. Too naff!"

L14 95 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.

L14 98 "What else do you suggest, darling?" The L14 99 question was plainly rhetorical, but Francesca, McLeish could see, L14 100 was giving it careful thought.

L14 101 "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." The clear voice was totally assured, L14 104 and the producer was heard to say sotto voce 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.

L14 111 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.

L14 116 He stopped immediately, the spell broken, and looked anxiously L14 117 towards the front row.

L14 118 "Take it again from D, Jamie." 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.

L14 123 "Tea break?" 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.

L14 126 "Ten minutes."

L14 127 Francesca went straight to Jamie, and McLeish watched as the L14 128 two of them disappeared through a door in the north transept.

L14 129 "The voice is breaking, that's the problem," L14 130 the producer observed in a high drawl to the rest of the row. L14 131 "Lucky if we get through today. Better not book him for any L14 132 more, Sally. When it goes, it goes."

L14 133 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.

L14 142 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.

L14 149 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.

L14 154 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.

L14 164 "I can't go on with singing, can I?" the boy L14 165 said painfully into Francesca's shoulder.

L14 166 "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."

L14 169 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.

L14 171 "Well, I had to use it for Perry and Tris. I should L14 172 know."

L14 173 Francesca found a handkerchief and gave it to him. L14 174 "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."

L14 176 "What sorts of things?" Jamie enquired L14 177 innocently, blowing his nose.

L14 178 "Get on with you, you bad thing you."

L14 179 "Anyway, what's so great about growing up?" The L14 180 boy, remembering, stroked her shoulder apologetically.

L14 181 "There are bad patches," she acknowledged, L14 182 grimly. "But it's still better than being a kid and being L14 183 pushed around without anyone telling you what's happening." 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.

L14 188 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.

L14 194 "Frannie?" the boy said anxiously, ignoring him.

L14 195 "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." 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.

L14 206 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.

L14 209 "How are you, John?" she said, pushing her L14 210 hands hard into her pockets to keep herself from shivering. L14 211 L15 1 <#FLOB:L15\>"Let's get it done before the pub throws L15 2 out<&|>sic!," I said, leading off.

L15 3 "Fine by me," said Crackle, "I'm not L15 4 needed till the finale."

L15 5 "What does the band do for an encore?" I asked L15 6 as we walked.

L15 7 "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."

L15 10 I wondered why he'd stopped writing music reviews, but I kept L15 11 it to myself.

L15 12 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.

L15 16 I did the obvious and checked the doors first. Locked, of L15 17 course.

L15 18 "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."

L15 20 That would be a laugh. Crackle towered over the Mercedes and L15 21 could probably lift it if he wanted to.

L15 22 "Will it take long?"

L15 23 He eyed the front of the sports car professionally.

L15 24 "Naw, easy."

L15 25 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.

L15 29 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.

L15 33 "Is that how you usually break into a car?" I L15 34 hissed at him.

L15 35 "That's the way I've been doing it for fifteen L15 36 years," he said, drawing himself up to his full awesome L15 37 height.

L15 38 "Well... fine. Been successful?"

L15 39 "Yes... and no," he said thoughtfully. L15 40 "Yes, I got into the cars. No, I kept getting L15 41 arrested."

L15 42 I shook my head. Why me?

L15 43 "Get the boot open, will you?" L15 44 Quietly."

L15 45 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.

L15 49 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.

L15 54 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.

L15 61 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.

L15 66 I wrapped the headphone wired around the Whisperer and stuffed L15 67 it into my jacket, then levered myself out of the car.

L15 68 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.

L15 72 "Cameras?" asked Crackle, thinking of loot.

L15 73 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.

L15 76 "Allow me," said Crackle, leaning forward with L15 77 the chisel and hammer.

L15 78 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.

L15 81 "Worth anything?" breathed Crackle suddenly L15 82 deciding to be secretive.

L15 83 "No, they're not," I said, but mostly to L15 84 myself.

L15 85 Because they weren't. They were good, cheap, automatic cameras, L15 86 sure, but not worth the expense of such a case.

L15 87 "Gimme the chisel."

L15 88 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.

L15 91 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.

L15 94 So the mysterious Mr Gronweghe was armed.

L15 95 We already knew he was dangerous.

L15 96 "So what do we do now?" 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.

L15 99 "Three ways," I said. "Call the L15 100 cops..."

L15 101 "Get real," said Mitch.

L15 102 "Give him what he wants, then."

L15 103 "And just what the fuck exactly is it he's L15 104 chasing?" Mitch challenged.

L15 105 "That's not an option, Angel, is it?" Lu-Lu L15 106 came to the rescue.

L15 107 Mitch took it without question.

L15 108 "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." I tried to look modest.

L15 112 "What do you need?" asked Mitch, not trying to L15 113 talk me out of it.

L15 114 "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."

L15 118 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.

L15 122 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.

L15 126 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.

L15 131 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.

L15 134 At least I hoped so.

L15 135 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.

L15 140 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.

L15 147 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.

L15 151 That meant I was sitting on around <*_>pounds 225,000<*/> worth L15 152 of naughty substances. And I was gonna need a bigger suitcase.

L15 153 "It's me, Angel."

L15 154 "Come on in."

L15 155 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.

L15 158 "The guys are almost through," 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.

L15 161 I looked at my watch: 1.40 a.m.

L15 162 "Did Elvis do his stuff?" I asked.

L15 163 "Yep, but he says you're crazy."

L15 164 "Wouldn't be the first time. No hassle from the L15 165 college?"

L15 166 "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?"

L15 171 I nodded. "Then, about fifteen seconds later, he'll put L15 172 the fuse in, so make sure this switch is off."

L15 173 She pointed to the light switch which operated the internal L15 174 lights.

L15 175 "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?"

L15 178 "Ready as I'll ever be. Did you get those staging L15 179 blocks?"

L15 180 "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."

L15 183 "Snap and Crackle?"

L15 184 "They'll be around, though you won't see L15 185 'em."

L15 186 "Any problem there?"

L15 187 "Uh-uh." She shook her head. "I L15 188 promised them a bonus, but even so, they'd have done it for Stevie. L15 189 He was popular."

L15 190 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.

L15 193 "You sure you're gonna go through with this?" L15 194 She reached out and wiped the back of a soft leather driving glove L15 195 against my cheek.

L15 196 "You could talk me out of it, real easy."

L15 197 She put a black-gloved finger against my lips.

L15 198 "I hope the Wolfman is worth it," she said with L15 199 a smile.

L15 200 "It's close," I said.

L15 201 She pursed her lips.

L15 202 "Now I know you don't mean that," she said L15 203 primly, "but just how much shit did you find?"

L15 204 Over two hundred grand's worth," I said, L15 205 keeping my voice down.

L15 206 "She whistled. "Dollars?"

L15 207 "Pounds."

L15 208 "Werewolf who?" she said.

L15 209 I had been sitting in the dark for nearly an hour when he L15 210 came.

L15 211

L15 212 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 bona L15 219 fide 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.

L15 224 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.

L15 229 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."

L16 3 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.

L16 12 Ulla looked at him with exasperation, "Have you checked L16 13 the bar for this evening?"

L16 14 He didn't look up. "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."

L16 17 Ulla indicated a small easy chair. "Please, L16 18 sit." She rubbed her hands."Isn't it cold? Perhaps L16 19 we could have the fire on." She bent and switched on one L16 20 bar of a small electric fire. "This is Darina Lisle, Alex. L16 21 She could be interested in becoming a partner."

L16 22 The piercing eyes lifted their gaze from the atlas and looked L16 23 across. "Sell up, Ulla, get rid of the whole bloody L16 24 incubus. You're fighting a losing battle." The young man L16 25 stood up and tucked the book under his arm. "You've had a L16 26 good offer, take it." He strolled to the door.

L16 27 "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."

L16 30 He turned in the doorway, "Temper, temper! Be careful L16 31 or I could disappear right now and then what would you do, mother L16 32 dear?" The last words were given an ironic twist, then the L16 33 door was closed carefully behind him.

L16 34 Ulla made a noise somewhere between a screech and a growl and L16 35 banged her head with clenched fists.

L16 36 "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?"

L16 39 It was a question that required no answer. Darina watched her L16 40 seat herself in the chair Alex had vacated.

L16 41 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.

L16 49 "I take it Alex is your stepson?"

L16 50 Ulla nodded. "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."

L16 54 "Have you had your chef long?"

L16 55 "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."

L16 62 "You didn't try the dishes first?"

L16 63 Ulla looked crestfallen. "I didn't think it necessary, L16 64 I thought he knew his job. It all sounded delicious. What went L16 65 wrong?"

L16 66 "I'm afraid every dish was misconceived." L16 67 Darina briefly outlined their disastrous meal.

L16 68 Ulla looked more and more miserable. "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."

L16 71 "I think you'd better have a word with your L16 72 chef."

L16 73 She rose. "Will you come with me? You're such an L16 74 expert, I don't want him to confuse me."

L16 75 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?

L16 89 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.

L16 95 "Chef!" Ulla's voice made a brave bid for L16 96 authority.

L16 97 "Yes?" 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.

L16 107 Ulla glanced at the minion cleaning the floor, then back at the L16 108 chef. "I would like a word with you in the office." 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.

L16 114 Ulla sat herself behind the desk. Darina stood to one side, L16 115 watching the huge figure advance through the door.

L16 116 "Chef, I want a word about lunch."

L16 117 Astonishingly, a broad, beaming smile split the giant's L16 118 battered face. "You tasted it? Fantastic, wasn't L16 119 it?"

L16 120 "Well, actually, no. I have had several L16 121 complaints."

L16 122 The smile faded a little then composure was recovered. L16 123 "Pah, most of these people know nothing about food. They L16 124 can't appreciate my cooking."

L16 125 Ulla looked helplessly towards Darina. "But Miss Lisle L16 126 here does know about food and I'm afraid she didn't like it L16 127 either."

L16 128 The big head swung round to confront this new threat. L16 129 "You didn't like my cooking?"

L16 130 Diplomacy struggled with honesty. With Darina it wasn't much of L16 131 a struggle. "The flavours were appalling."

L16 132 Shoulders that a self-respecting ox could have been proud of L16 133 were squared. "Appalling!" The word could have been L16 134 heard several counties away.

L16 135 Darina gathered courage. Only blunt talking was any use in this L16 136 situation. "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," she added hastily.

L16 142 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.

L16 146 "You know nothing about food," he roared. L16 147 "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," he shouted at Ulla. She clutched at L16 151 the arms of her chair but said nothing.

L16 152 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.

L16 156 "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." But his confidence had been L16 159 shaken, there was an air of uncertainty about him now.

L16 160 Ulla glanced at Darina, who gave a tiny shake of her head. L16 161 Under strict supervision this chef manqué might just be able to L16 162 produce edible haute cuisine. On his own only disaster loomed.

L16 163 "I'm sorry," the Hotel Morgan's proprietor L16 164 said, "I need a competent creative chef and today shows you L16 165 are not suited."

L16 166 She reached behind her and pulled a wages book off a shelf. L16 167 "I give you two weeks' wages and you leave now." L16 168 She opened the book with a snap.

L16 169 A huge hand put the chef's hat askew and scratched at his head. L16 170 Ken Farthing seemed bewildered. "I can't stay?"

L16 171 Ulla looked up from her calculations. The balance of power in L16 172 the room had shifted. "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."

L16 175 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.

L16 181 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. "Come with me to the L16 184 kitchen?"

L16 185 The tall girl nodded and followed her back along the L16 186 passage.

L16 187 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 "It was no good, the food, really no good?"

L16 193 She hardened her heart. "No. Stick to plain cooking, L16 194 you seem able to handle that."

L16 195 "That's what they all say."

L16 196 Ulla held out her hand. "Goodbye, Chef, good L16 197 luck."

L16 198 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.

L16 203 "That's that.," she said. "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?"

L16 207 Chapter Three

L16 208 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.

L16 211 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.

L17 23 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.

L17 52 Welcome home to the old problem. What was Frank's resident L17 53 cliché? 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 ... "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."

L17 85 ... 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. "The only L17 87 thing I can do is go." 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.

L17 94 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.

L17 113 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.

L17 126 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.

L17 135 "I went to Finsbury Park," I heard myself say, L17 136 "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."

L17 139 She studied me for a moment, then said, "You don't have L17 140 to tell me, you know. I didn't ask."

L17 141 I nodded, then pushed one of the small piles of Amy's drawings L17 142 across the table towards her. "Maybe if you get a moment L17 143 you could read this before you stash it in the airing L17 144 cupboard."

L17 145 "What is it - a whodunnit?"

L17 146 I shook my head. "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."

L17 149 "Is that why you're going to France?"

L17 150 "Sort of."

L17 151 She smiled. "What happened? Did you fall for the bad L17 152 guy?"

L17 153 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 ...

L17 165 "I don't know," I said, after a while. L17 166 "I think that's one of the things I'm going to find L17 167 out."

L17 168 She nodded and shifted Benjamin to her other arm. She looked L17 169 down at him for a second, then back up at me. "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.

L18 5 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.

L18 13 Chapter Two

L18 14 BELGRAVIA

L18 15 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 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 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.

L18 27 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.

L18 36 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.

L18 48 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.

L18 57 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.

L18 68 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.

L18 73 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.

L18 90 "A question of residency rights for three displaced L18 91 persons," I grumbled to Timothy in the course of the day. L18 92 "And for that I have to traipse all the way over to L18 93 Belgrave Square to deliver the papers in person."

L18 94 "My neck of the woods," said Tim. "I'll L18 95 collect you later and we'll go together."

L18 96 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.

L18 115 We were close to Belgrave Square itself when Tim slowed down L18 116 and touched me on the shoulder.

L18 117 "Your appointment's for six, isn't it?" he L18 118 said. "Much too early yet. Come and see my L18 119 flat."

L18 120 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.

L18 128 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.

L18 145 I became conscious, as my mind photographed this room, of the L18 146 noise of water.

L18 147 "Oh Lord, Heinz is still here," said Tim. He L18 148 raised his voice. "Heinz - the boat train goes in an L18 149 hour!" he turned to me with an open smile. L18 150 "Coffee?"

L18 151 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.

L18 157 "Sorry!" he said when he saw me, and disappeared L18 158 through another door.

L18 159 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 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.

L18 166 "Heinz is a friend of mine," said Timothy, L18 167 appearing at the door into the kitchen.

L18 168 "Oh yes?" I muttered miserably. "Is he L18 169 German?"

L18 170 "That's right. He's from Dresden."

L18 171 I nodded, as neutrally as possible. Then suddenly I was struck L18 172 by a terrible thought, and I jumped up and faced him.

L18 173 "Dresden?" But that's in -"

L18 174 "East Germany?" Do you know, I believe you're L18 175 right."

L18 176 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, East Germany! And here I was, brought into a L18 179 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.

L18 186 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 "I go", 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.

L18 193 The phrase old ladies use, "I didn't know where to put L18 194 my face", 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.

L18 200 L19 1 <#FLOB:L19\>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 "Now that I've cut my finger."

L19 5 Mrs Mackay told her to stir the dip instead, a creamy-looking L19 6 sauce with a fish flavour, while she did the spiking. "But L19 7 put a plaster on your finger first. There are some in the L19 8 cupboard."

L19 9 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: "For stimulating my tastebuds so wonderfully, may L19 14 these flowery pans remind you of me and my gratitude." 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 "If I had my own home," Sally said, selecting a L19 19 Band Aid, "I'd like saucepans like those."

L19 20 "What goes into them matters," Mrs Mackay L19 21 jabbed a piece of cheese, "not how they look." 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 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?

L19 32 "Do you think they'll eat all these biscuits?" L19 33 Sally asked, "or may I have one?" 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.

L19 39 Mrs Mackay told her she could. "Just one."

L19 40 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. "Maivs," he had said bitterly, "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." 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.

L19 60 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. "Has he fucked L19 63 you yet?" 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. "I take it," he said gently, L19 66 "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."

L19 69 "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 "Dear Sally," he had reached out and held her hand, L19 73 "I'm so sorry." A nice simple apology that time and L19 74 she had accepted it. "Never get hurt," he had L19 75 added, "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."

L19 78 Maybe he was a little mad. She had smiled at him L19 79 doubtfully. He hadn't smiled back.

L19 80 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. "Then look," she had said, L19 99 "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." The atmosphere hadn't been L19 102 warm and cosy. He hadn't even mentioned the tracksuit.

L19 103 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?

L19 109 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?

L19 117 It was a reasonable suggestion - with possibilities. She had L19 118 smiled her happy Sally smile again and said, "Why L19 119 not?"

L19 120 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.

L19 150 She wished she would stop looking at them.

L19 151 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.

L19 165 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.

L19 168 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.

L19 185 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 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."

L20 6 "Funny," Kate said. "Most people think just the L20 7 opposite."

L20 8 "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 strange in the sense of alien, L20 14 something that can't be included in the original equation. It's L20 15 quite a frivolous little object otherwise."

L20 16 "Is that how you spend your time? Chasing frivolous L20 17 little objects?"

L20 18 "For months on end," Dobie said. L20 19 "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."

L20 23 "Poor little thing," Kate said. "I know L20 24 how it feels."

L20 25 "Yes," Dobie said. "So do I."

L20 26 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.

L20 29 "... I've just seen my wife off at the airport. She's L20 30 gone to Paris."

L20 31 Kate sat down opposite him, not properly but perching herself L20 32 on the upholstered arm. "Gone for long?"

L20 33 "No," Dobie said. "Not for long."

L20 34 "Is that another dismantling job you have to L20 35 do?"

L20 36 "I don't know," Dobie said.

L20 37 "Better dismantled than broken into pieces, don't you L20 38 think?"

L20 39 "That seems logical, Captain. But then we're not all L20 40 Mister Spocks. People aren't logical."

L20 41 "Women even less so than men?"

L20 42 "I didn't say that."

L20 43 "More subject to their emotions, perhaps?"

L20 44 "Perhaps. Or to strange attractors."

L20 45 "How long have you been married, anyway?"

L20 46 "Not quite a year."

L20 47 "Oh well, shit, you have to give it a bit more of a L20 48 chance than that."

L20 49 "That's what I can't help feeling," Dobie L20 50 admitted.

L20 51 The noise of an aircraft, passing high overhead, came to them L20 52 both as a distant whisper.

L20 53 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. "That should keep you busy through the L20 59 summer," Mary Mayfield said. Mary Mayfield was the L20 60 departmental secretary. She was very nice.

L20 61 "What about your own plans? Spain again this L20 62 year?"

L20 63 "Yes, I got an early booking. I'm off Monday. Six nice L20 64 long weeks on the Costa del Concrete, should be fun."

L20 65 "I'm sure it will be," Dobie said. "I L20 66 except my wife's got something up her sleeve for me. But I don't L20 67 know what it is."

L20 68 "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."

L20 71 "What, from Jenny?"

L20 72 "No. A Mrs Corder." Mary was checking the L20 73 indecipherable scrawl on her notepad. "Eight o'clock L20 74 tonight, was that right?"

L20 75 Yes, you needn't have bothered. I hadn't L20 76 forgotten."

L20 77 "Well, she says can you make it at her place instead of L20 78 yours?"

L20 79 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. "I suppose so."

L20 82 "That's good because I said you could."

L20 83 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 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.

L20 100 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.

L20 113 Tie straight? Flies zipped up?

L20 114 Yes.

L20 115 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:

L20 119 BACK SOON PLEASE GO IN MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME

L20 120 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.

L20 127 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 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 ...

L20 142 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.

L20 165 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.

L20 170 "Not here," he heard himself say in quite a L20 171 loud voice. "Gone to Parish<&|>sic!." 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.

L20 180 Dobie slept.

L20 181 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.

L20 188 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 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...

L20 198 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.

L20 210 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.

L21 11 "No," Cameron yelled. "Why? Oh why?" He L21 12 moved out from behind the lectern, the copy of The Friends of L21 13 Eddie Coyle, 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 "Mr Marques," he shouted, "you'll never get away L21 20 with this. Why don't we just talk it over like two sensible L21 21 people?"

L21 22 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.

L21 33 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.

L21 48 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 The Friends of Eddie Coyle - 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.

L21 66 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. "No!" an undergraduate cried. "My L21 70 God, Professor, he's armed. Let the police deal with L21 71 it."

L21 72 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 The Desperate Hours. 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.

L21 91 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.

L21 102 "Why? You ask why?" the man cried in a L21 103 strangely hollow, yet at the same time immensely powerful, L21 104 voice.

L21 105 "Yes, why?" Cameron answered. There could be a L21 106 remarkable strength from repetition in dialogue: the strength of L21 107 incantation.

L21 108 "I'll tell you why. Oh, yes, I'll tell you L21 109 why." Perhaps this man attended evening creative-writing L21 110 classes and also knew about incantation.

L21 111 One of the more promising students shouted: "What we L21 112 are seeing here is violence as an outcrop of fundamental L21 113 psychological disturbance. Character blazoned in L21 114 action."

L21 115 "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. "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?" 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.

L21 124 "It doesn't matter who I am."

L21 125 "But may I call you Mr Marques?"

L21 126 "Call me what you will. See me simply as someone with a L21 127 mission. I have fulfilled half of it."

L21 128 "Half?"

L21 129 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? 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 Presumed Innocent and Fatal L21 139 Attraction ravaged Cameron for a moment, though the actual L21 140 circumstances in those tales were very different, naturally.

L21 141 Marques followed him down to the lectern. Cameron replaced L21 142 The Friends of Eddie Coyle on it and addressed the class: L21 143 "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."

L21 149 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 London Fields 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.

L21 163 "She was moving away from me, losing me," L21 164 Marques declared. "That's why I am here."

L21 165 "Geraldine was?" Cameron asked.

L21 166 "And so I decided to bring her to rest. She is mine L21 167 again now, only mine, forever mine. Reclaimed at last." 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.

L21 172 He had placed the pistol on the copy of The Friends of L21 173 Eddie Coyle 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 force L21 184 majeure. This kind of touch was what produced resonances, L21 185 lifted even brutal crime to a significant plane.

L21 186 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?

L21 195 "How do you mean she's yours again now, only yours, L21 196 forever yours?" Kate Bilton called from the end of the back L21 197 row. "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?"

L21 201 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 "Death can supply a kind of resolution, surely, Kate. L21 206 L22 1 <#FLOB:L22\>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.

L22 5 "For heaven's sake! What's all this double Dutch? I L22 6 can't read a word of it."

L22 7 "Of course you can't." 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. "It's shorthand. I'll read you what it L22 10 says."

L22 11 Her hand had begun to tremble, but she forced herself to remain L22 12 calm. Slowly and clearly she read the message.

L22 13 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.

L22 18 "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!"

L22 21 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.

L22 25 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.

L22 29 "Get out, Gill - and you Pete - before I really lose my L22 30 temper ..."

L22 31 CHAPTER FOUR

L22 32 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.

L22 37 Pete came across to put his arms around her shoulders and said L22 38 coldly, "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..."

L22 41 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.

L22 44 "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-"

L22 49 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.

L22 52 Even without Pete's protective arm enfolding her any longer, L22 53 she was strong enough to say sharply, "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..."

L22 57 "Blast the letters." Still he glowered, but L22 58 looked less violent. "We'll deal with them later. But that L22 59 phone call-"

L22 60 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.

L22 65 She chose her words with care.

L22 66 "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..."

L22 69 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.

L22 71 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.

L22 75 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.

L22 80 "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?"

L22 83 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, "To change the L22 88 subject - what have you been up to with Brigitte Leconte, you old L22 89 womaniser?

L22 90 "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..."

L22 93 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.

L22 96 "That's it!" he said bouncily. "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?"

L22 100 Pete stood upright, still smiling. "Nice L22 101 going," 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.

L22 104 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.

L22 109 "Before we go, why don't we have a party? Brigitte and L22 110 I, and you two. Up at my place."

L22 111 Gill watched him appear to swell with pride as he continued, L22 112 "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?"

L22 116 Without waiting for an answer, he dropped the pen and got to L22 117 his feet.

L22 118 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?

L22 123 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.

L22 127 He shot her a smile that revealed nothing. "Good old L22 128 Graham," he said mildly. Always comes up trumps in L22 129 the end. You'll find his house - well, interesting ... and very L22 130 valuable."

L22 131 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.

L22 134 "I'm sure I shall! But, Pete..."

L22 135 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.

L22 139 "Better get back to work," he said abruptly, L22 140 and left.

L22 141 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.

L22 145 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.

L22 149 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.

L22 154 "Gill - you look marvellous!"

L22 155 "Thanks, Lindsey. Not too much, is it?" 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.

L22 159 "No, just right. Golly, wish I had your L22 160 figure!"

L22 161 There was friendliness on Pete's face as he offered his arm, L22 162 saying teasingly, "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."

L22 165 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.

L22 169 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.

L22 173 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.

L22 181 "Got to cling together tonight, love," he L22 182 whispered wryly. "You and me versus Graham. Ah, well, 'twas L22 183 ever thus ..."

L22 184 "I won't let you down." Gill pressed his L22 185 fingers in return. "I never did before, did I? And L22 186 nothing's different now ..."

L22 187 A uniformed maid smiled at them from the archway of light that L22 188 beamed out into the darkness. "Good evening. Please come L22 189 in. Graham is expecting you."

L22 190 "So there you are, Gill - my word, got your glad rags L22 191 on tonight, eh?" he greeted her.

L22 192 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.

L22 196 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.

L22 200 "I am so very pleased to see you again, Miss L22 201 Wayland."

L22 202 "Oh - Gill - please!"

L22 203 "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?"

L22 206 Gill smiled a little pensively. "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 ..."

L22 210 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?

L22 213 Brigitte put a sympathetic hand on her arm. "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 -"

L22 217 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.

L22 221 As if Brigitte read Gill's thoughts, her smile grew more L22 222 pensive, her gaze left Graham, and she added quietly, "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 ..." L22 226 L23 1 <#FLOB:L23\>People hate me

L23 2 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.

L23 15 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.

L23 25 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.

L23 27 He said, "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?"

L23 30 "He's no longer with us," she said.

L23 31 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, "Oh, I am so sorry to hear that."

L23 34 "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."

L23 37 Pelligrew could not think what to say to this.

L23 38 She went on, "I would be a hypocrite if I didn't admit L23 39 I feel nothing but relief now that he is dead."

L23 40 Pelligrew thought of something he could ask her: "Will L23 41 you still be living in this house?"

L23 42 "I can't afford to keep it up," she said. L23 43 "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."

L23 49 "If there is anything at all I can do for you please L23 50 tell me," Pelligrew said.

L23 51 "That is very kind of you." 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:

L23 64 "Well<}_><-|>'<+|>,<}/> I suppose I must go and do my L23 65 shopping. Can I come to see you again before too long?"

L23 66 "Yes," she said, giving him the warmest of smiles.

L23 67 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.

L23 75 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 "Can you spare me a minute or two?"

L23 78 "Of course," 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.

L23 81 "Yesterday my wife left me," Yafford said. L23 82 "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."

L23 88 "Do you know where she has gone?"

L23 89 "I don't doubt she's gone to her sister." 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.

L23 98 "What are you going to do now?" Pelligrew L23 99 asked.

L23 100 "I have got in touch with the Vicar of St L23 101 Saviour's," Yafford said. "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." He became vehement, "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."

L23 106 Pelligrew said nothing.

L23 107 "I am not the only husband in Belton Street to have L23 108 been deserted by his wife recently," Yafford said. L23 109 "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."

L23 112 "What is the fireman's chop?" Pelligrew L23 113 asked.

L23 114 Yafford clasped his hands together and made a downward chopping L23 115 movement with them. He explained, "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."

L23 118 Pelligrew began to feel he'd had enough of Yafford for the L23 119 present. He said, "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."

L23 122 "I hope I shall see you again quite soon," L23 123 Yafford said, giving Pelligrew a strangely contrite look.

L23 124 "Yes," Pelligrew said; then walking away from him he L23 125 thought, "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."

L23 131 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.

L23 139 What did you see inside it?" Pelligrew had L23 140 asked her. "Not the corpses of his previous wives, I L23 141 hope."

L23 142 "No," Ada said with a brief laugh, "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."

L23 148 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.

L23 153 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.

L23 156 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.

L23 165 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, "I will have a word with L23 169 him."

L23 170 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, "May L23 188 I ask who you are?"

L23 189 "I am the cleaning lady here," she said.

L23 190 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.

L23 196 "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.

L24 11 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.

L24 21 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.

L24 31 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.

L24 37 "Looks like old Boulders is off the hook," 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, "All yours, Adam."

L24 43 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 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.

L24 53 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.

L24 56 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.

L24 65 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.

L24 80 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.

L24 91 "Looks as if it's all down to the laboratory L24 92 tests," 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.

L24 99 Adam glanced sardonically at the violated features of the dead L24 100 man. You never thought 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.

L24 103 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 Jenny lying there!

L24 115 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.

L24 120 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.

L24 128 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.

L24 134 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.

L24 140 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.

L24 151 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.

L24 160 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.

L24 167 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.

L24 171 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.

L24 180 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