“And Tim? And Gracie? What of them?”
“I can’t have them here.”
It was Freddie who spoke. “What d’you mean?”
“They remind me. Always. I can’t bear it. Them.”
Manette’s lips parted. She took in the meaning behind Niamh’s words. She finally said, “Why on earth did he choose you? Why did he not see?”
“What?” Niamh demanded. “What? What?”
“From the very first, you were totally about yourself. Even now, Niamh. That’s how it is.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Niamh said.
“Don’t worry about that,” Manette said. “I finally do.”
LANCASTER
LANCASHIRE
Deborah felt a twinge of guilt about Lynley, but a twinge was all she allowed herself to feel. He would arrive at the Crow and Eagle, and she wouldn’t be there, but he wouldn’t know she’d gone to Lancaster since her hire car would still be sitting in the car park. She reckoned he’d think at first she’d gone for a final walk round Milnthorpe, perhaps over to the town’s market square or beyond it to the church to have a look at the graveyard. Or perhaps, he’d think, she’d gone along the route to Arnside for a stroll to watch the marsh birds. For the tide was out, and the mudflats were thickly populated at the moment with flocks of every sort of bird one could think of, wintering in Britain from harsher climes. There was the bank, as well, just across the road from the hotel. He might think she’d be there. Or perhaps still at breakfast. But in any case, it didn’t matter. What mattered is that she wouldn’t be there for him to cart home to Simon. She could have left him a note, of course. But she knew Tommy. One indication that she was on her way to Lancaster for another go with Lucy Keverne on the subject of Alatea Fairclough and he’d be after her like a hound chasing down a hare.
After her phone call to him, Zed Benjamin arrived in record time. She was waiting for him just inside the doorway of the inn— having booked herself in for at least one more night— so she stepped outside and into his car as soon as he’d made the three-point turn that would put them in the direction of Lancaster.
She didn’t tell him she’d lied to him earlier about why Lucy Keverne and Alatea Fairclough had been together at Lancaster University. The way she reckoned it, she didn’t owe any tabloid reporter a thing, be it the truth, a pack of lies, or even a spurious apology.
She made the situation simple for Zed: She reckoned that Lucy Keverne had lied to her on the previous day. Her tale about some kind of female problem needing to be looked into by someone at the university didn’t make sense the more Deborah had thought about it. After all, Lucy had gone to a reproductive centre and why would she need the support of a friend for that? She might want the support of a husband or a partner if she had reproduction on the mind, but a friend …? No, it seemed more likely that there was something more going on between Lucy Keverne and Alatea Fairclough and she— Deborah— needed Zed’s presence in order to find out.
Being orientated towards The Source, Zed immediately jumped to a secret lesbian liaison between Lucy Keverne and Alatea Fairclough. Looking for a connection with the death of Ian Cresswell, he went from there to the dead man knowing about the secret lesbian liaison and threatening to tell Nicholas Fairclough about it. Zed offered several variations on this theme, most of which included Lucy Keverne and Alatea Fairclough managing to do away with Ian Cresswell together, which was fine with Deborah as it kept Zed occupied and away from questioning why on earth a putative detective from New Scotland Yard would welcome The Source into the midst of an ongoing investigation.
What she did tell him was that she reckoned it was going to come down to money. What she didn’t tell him was that if Lucy Keverne had been advertising herself as an egg donor, as she claimed, then she hadn’t been doing it out of the goodness of her heart but rather for the cash. Zed was going to hand over tabloid money for her story, whatever her actual story was. He didn’t know that yet, but he would soon.
The one subject Deborah didn’t think about was why this part of the Cresswell case was important to her. The local coroner had been convinced that the death of Ian Cresswell had been an accident. Simon was absolutely certain of that fact, and it was his job to be certain of such things. Tommy had agreed. It seemed as if the entire reason for Tommy to be in Cumbria had relatively little to do with Ian Cresswell’s death in the first place, so for her to be tenaciously maintaining that there was more here than met the eye was a matter calling for close introspection. Deborah knew that at heart but she didn’t want to go there in mind. The chain of thought created by such self-examination was not going to be pleasant.
At the Kent-Howath Foundation for Disabled Veterans, she said, “Here’s how it has to be,” to which Zed replied, “Wait a bloody minute,” doubtless at the thought that once again he would be playing chauffeur while she gathered information that she might or might not share with him. Well, who could blame him for being miffed? she asked herself. The last time they’d gone this route, he’d ended up with little more than a half-empty tank of petrol.
“I’ll ring you once I have her alone,” she said. “If she sees us both at once, I guarantee, she’ll not say another word about Alatea Fairclough. And why should she? If she’s up to something illegal, she’s hardly going to confess it, is she?”
He didn’t ask why the hell they were there at all, then, which was just as well. Deborah knew she was going to have to do some considerable fancy dancing with Lucy Keverne, and she needed most of her wits to do that, not to create fictive reasons for why Zed had to play the part she was going to orchestrate for him. She didn’t really know if she’d get that far with Lucy Keverne anyway. She was flying without radar on this one.
The same old gentleman who’d welcomed her on the previous day did so today. He remembered her because of her hair, which was one of the few benefits, she reckoned, of being a redhead. He asked if she wanted to speak with Miss Lucy Keverne again. He held up a sheaf of papers and said, “Reading ’er play, I am, and lemme tell you if it’s not a West End winner, then I’m the Queen of Sheba.”
So she was a playwright, Deborah thought, perhaps supporting herself by working here at the disabled soldiers’ home and topping up her funds with the occasional donation of eggs? That was the grimmest sort of news to be had, since perhaps the only action she’d been taking in the company of Alatea Fairclough was in the nature of research. Well, one way or another they had to know, Deborah thought. Meanwhile, she had no intention of letting on that she’d been told about the playwriting. No need to give the woman in advance a direction in which to spin her story.
Lucy’s face registered surprise when she walked into the lobby and saw who was waiting to speak to her. Then her face altered at once to suspicion.
Deborah didn’t give her a chance to speak first. She quickly strode to her and placed a hand on her arm. She said to her quietly, “Here’s what you need to know, Ms. Keverne. New Scotland Yard is here in Cumbria and so is a reporter from The Source. One way or another you’re going to end up telling your story— the true one this time— and it’s up to you how and when you want to tell it.”
Lucy said, “I can’t— ”
“You’ve no choice any longer. I deceived you yesterday. I apologise for that, but I’d hoped to get to the root of the matter without bringing in anyone who might make you uncomfortable. Obviously, Alatea Fairclough’s being investigated. The trail has led directly to you.”