The Extremes

'I'm beginning to see why.'

'I thought you were interested in guns. We get a lot of people who are.'

'Mine's a professional interest.'

'Then why don't you buy the comprehensive shooting course? That includes targetpractice use, interdiction and arrest scenarios, you can choose terminal or nonterrminal, and you get full access to the scenarios. That sort of use is our breadandbutter business.'

'And for that I would have to talk to Mr Lacey?'

Patricia said with a smile, 'I'll arrange it for you.'

'OK. Thanks.' Teresa looked back at the screen, with its almost obsessively detailed arrays of scenario subjects. 'Do you mind if 1 go on browsing?'

'Help yourself,

CHAPTER 21

Nick was serving behind the bar when Teresa came in 'halfway through the evening. She asked him for a club soda. He passed her a glass with ice cubes, and the syphon. She sloshed the water into the glass, then gave him a direct look. He wondered what was conning; when Amy looked at him like that he was usually in trouble. He thankfully noticed another customer approaching the counter, so moved adroitly away to serve him. Teresa obviously got the message, because by the time he finished she had taken her drink to one of the tables.

Sitting alone, she read the book she had been carrying.

The bar gradually emptied, and half an hour before closing time there was hardly anyone left. He collected glasses and empties, washed them, wiped the bar counter. Teresa saw this, and came back and settled on her stool. There was no avoiding her any more.

'Do you mind if 1 ask you something, Nick?' she said.

'Do 1 have a choice?'

'I guess not. Why don't you or anyone else ever talk about the Grove shootings?'

'What is there to say?'

'Not a whole lot, it seems. It's like it never happened. OK, 1 know.' She took a sip of her drink.

'I'm a brash American and I've no right to ask any questions at all, but most people here have nothing to say.'

'I'm another of them,' he said.

'But why, Nick?'

'In my case, I wasn't actually in town when it happened. 1 was'

'No, you told me that before. It's just an excuse, and you know it. You might not have been physically present in the town when it happened, but the fact you stayed on afterwards suggests that you're a part of it, just as much as if you'd been living here.'

'lf you say so.'

'No, dammit. If you think that, why don't you get out?'

Nick said, thinking how often he had gone through this in his own mind, as well as with Amy, 'Because this was my parents' business, and 1 owe it to them to keep it going, and this town was my home '

'And you dated Amy when you were kids, and she's here for the same reason, and you can't leave because something's holding you back.'

Nick stared at her, reluctant to admit that she might be getting close to it, and wondering how she knew.

'That's right, isn't it, Nick?' she said.

'Sort of'

& Look, just once, can 1 ask you some questions about what happened that day? As you know it.'

He said again, 'I wasn't here. I didn't see anything.'

'No one saw it all,' Teresa said. 'Many of the people who did were killed. Even those who survived, they only saw their bit of it. Everyone's got the same excuse: I didn't see much. A lot of the surviving witnesses have left town. But everyone who's still here knows exactly what happened.'

'There you go then.'

'No,' she said. 'I've got a reason for this. I'm trying to work something out, because there's a big inconsistency somewhere. I've analysed, timed and placed everything that Grove is supposed to have done, and it doesn't add up. Can I run it by you, compare it with what you know?'

'It sounds as if you already know more than anyone else.' 'I need to straighten this thing out.'

Nick could feel himself backing away from her in his mind. Why should that be? lt was true that for him the Grove shootings would always have a thirdhand quality, but that obviously wasn't everything. He had been profoundly shocked by the way his parents died, and the depth and extent of his tormented feelings had been a revelation to him. He had lived away in London long enough to start believing he might no longer feel close to his parents, but that had turned out not to be so.

And there was a darker psychological level, one he rarely touched. That was something to do with the collective trauma in the town, the sharing of a shock that made everyone bury the memories they could cope with least well.

He plunged around in his mind, trying to find the words.

,Amy's out this evening,' he said. 'I'm on my own in the bar.' He indicated the rest of the room vaguely with his hand.

Teresa glanced around; the only other customers were a couple sitting at one of the corner tables, and two young lads playing pool. She gave him another direct look.

'We can break off if you have to serve someone. Anyway, it's not going to take long.'

He moved to the beer pumps, and drew himself a pint of best. He made a production of filling it carefully to the brim, not spilling any, aware all the time that Teresa was watching him. He went back and placed it on the counter between them.

'I've established what Grove was doing that day before he started shooting,' Teresa said. 'In fact, I can trace his movements right up to midafternoon, when he drove away from the Texaco filling station. He left there at twentythree

nimutes to three. That's an exact time because I've been through the police log, and that was when the police received the emergency call from the cashier. 1 can also trace him from the moment he began shooting. According to the police, and one of the eyewitnesses, he fired the first shots in London Road at four minutes to five. So the first thing 1 want to know is, what was he doing for those two hours in between?'

'But you surely know where he was?'

'I know where he was for part of the time,' said Teresa. 'He went to the ExEx building in Welton Road. Is that where you meant?'

'Yes.'

'He was only there a few minutes They keep a record of everyone coming and going, and the police have a copy and I've seen it. Grove was in the ExEx building for less than fifteen minutes. Then he left and he walked down the hill into the Old Town. I've done the same walk myself. even going slowly, it took me less than half an hour. Grove was carrying his guns, but even if they were heavy, and he had to rest for a bit, it still wouldn't add up to two hours.'

Two customers came into the bar from the street, and Nick broke away to serve them. When he went back to her he refreshed her ice, and she put another long shot of soda water into her glass.

'I gather you've been up at the ExEx place yourself,' he said to her.

She nodded, but looked surprised. 'How do you know that?'

He said, 'Small town. People notice these things. Virtual reality is still a novelty. Someone visiting the town who uses it is worth gossiping about, 1 assume.' In fact, Amy's brotherinlaw Dave Hartland had mentioned the other day that he had seen Teresa there, but Nick had no reason to

suppose that she would know the man. '

'It's not that much of a novelty any more, is it? There are ExEx facilities in most cities in America. One of the bookstore chains over there was starting to sell franchises when I left.