The Extremes

And they're opening all over the place in this country.'

'Maybe, but ExEx is still new,' Nick said. 'Most people don't appear to understand what it's used for. I'm not even completely sure myself You presumably are?' Teresa's expression gave nothing away. 'Since the branch here has become associated with Grove, some of the locals say it should be closed down.'

'lf he'd been renting Xrated videos they'd say the same.'

'I know.'

'OK,' Teresa said. 'Let's get back to Gerry Grove. Do you know what the police were doing during this time?'

'Presumably looking for the killer of Mrs Williams and her little boy, and the man who shot up the filling station.'

'That's the second thing 1 don't understand. The police say they reacted promptly and efficiently, taking all the problems into account. 1 interviewed the station superintendent last week, and he maintained the police operation had been cleared by the enquiry. That's broadly true, and I've read the enquiry report. But 1 think they really screwed up. They weren't anywhere around. They had more than two hours to figure out there was a gunman on the loose, and yet when Grove started shooting it took them completely by surprise. A patrol car had gone out to the Texaco station but until emergency calls came through from the town there were no extra police on duty. just the local force, and most of them were on normal duties around the town. Since last June most of the officers involved in the shooting have transferred to other divisions. For a body that's been given a clear, they're sure acting like they want to cover something up.'

'A lot of people have left town since last year,' Nick said. 'Yes, but the police are different. Or should be.'

'The police in this county are moved around all the time. Some would have applied to go to another division, others would have been due for a transfer anyway. Do 1 have to explain that?'

'No, I'm sorry. What 1 want to do is talk. 1 keep going over this in my mind, and 1 want to hear myself saying the words.'

'And I'm handy for it.'

'Yeah ... but you also know a lot about what went on.'

'Less than you may think,' Nick said.

'Even so. Let me finish this, because there's a third thing 1 don't understand. Grove only possessed two guns, the ones he used that day. This has been established beyond doubt. The girl he knew, Debbie'

'Debra,' Nick said.

'Right. Debra. See what I mean about you knowing things? OK, Debra says Grove only ever had those two guns, and he was obsessed with them, always cleaning them and oiling them.

But they were the only ones he had.

'No one's ever disputed that.'

'Listen, because someone's about to. As far as I can tell he had four guns, not two. There were the two he used in the streets, and two more were found in the luggage compartment of the car he stole.'

' Is this relevant?'

'I don't know about relevant, but it mystifies me. The guns he used were a handgun and a semiautomatic rifle. The handgun was called a Colt AllAmerican: it's well known in the US.

The rifle was an M16 carbine, the great American rifle. Set aside the problem of how he got hold of them in this country in the first place 1 guess there are ways if you want them bad enough. Why should he have two of each?'

'But did he?'

'The police found an M16 and a Colt in the back of the stolen car; they found an M16 and a Colt with his body.'

'Exactly the same?'

'Same makes, yes. Same models, probably. 1 can't get it any more exact than that.'

'I'm sorry, 1 don't think it's much of a mystery,' Nick said. 'They're probably the same ones, and somebody made a mistake.'

'Grove's car was found in Welton Road, about a hundred yards from the GunHo building. lt was unlocked. Grove's fingerprints were all over it. They found the rifle and the handgun inside, and his prints were on them too. I've seen the sceneofcrime officer's report. There's no mistake on this. Anyway, the forensic and ballistic reports prove that the handgun was the one used on Mrs Williams and her boy, and the M1 6 was the rifle he fired at the cashier in the filling station. Right, so far so good. But the problem is, identical weapons were found at the end of the massacre.'

'With the same forensic evidence?'

'Yes.'

'So did he have four guns or two?'

'The police say he had four.'

'Have you looked at them yourself?'

'They're not in town any more. The police said they'd try to find out for me where they are now, but they didn't sound too interested.'

'So what's your point? Surely the only thing that matters is that he had guns from somewhere?'

' OK,' Teresa said. 'Let me ask you something else. Did you know Gerry Grove?'

'No, 1 never met him, even when 1 lived here.'

'Do you know anyone who did know him?'

'Yes, a lot of people. Some of them come in here.' Nick

nodded towards the pool table, where the two young men were still playing. 'Those lads were at school with Grove. Amy also knew him, 1 think. He was one of the locals. Most people only knew him by sight, though. He didn't have many friends. After the massacre, when it was known who had done it, there was a feeling of shock. You don't expect someone you've seen around town for half your life to go mad with a gun in his hand.'

'So you think no one could have predicted what happened?' Teresa said.

'How could they? Grove was typical of a lot of young people who come off the estate up there on the hilclass="underline" he was unemployed, he was often in trouble with the police, but never anything really serious, he did drugs when he had a bit of spare cash, he liked a drink or two. But he was quiet. Afterwards, everyone said how quiet he was. He was an only child, he stayed at home a lot, always looked a bit lonely and distracted when you saw him, never had much to say for himself A bit of an obsessive, someone said. Always collecting things and making lists.

When the police searched his house they found a pile of notebooks, full of numbers he had written down. He never threw away magazines, and the house was full of them.'

Nick paused, staring down at his glass of beer.

'That's not a lot,' Teresa said. 'What it amounts to is it basically lets the police off the hook.

They got away with a crappy investigation.'

'What do you mean?'

'Isn't it obvious? For starters, which guns did Grove actually use while he was killing people?

Which guns did he pick up from his house, which ones did he leave in the car when he went into the ExEx building, and which ones did he use afterwards in the town? Was the rifle he used at the filling station the same one he used here? And the handgun, in the woods, was that the same one he used later? If not, where did he get them from? Which ones did he leave in the car? How can two sets of guns give identical ballistic test results? Then you've got the lousy police response to explain. When there was a shooting at the filling station, why didn't they put up roadblocks and haul him in straight away? When he started shooting in the town, why didn't they have armed marksmen out on the streets within five or ten minutes?'

'We don't do that sort of thing over here, 1 suppose,' Nick said, hearing the primness in his voice even as he spoke. 'Not straight away, at least.'

'Right, and so Gerry Grove gets away with it because you're a bunch of tightassed Brits.'

Nick said, defensively, 'People get away with it in America too.'

'Sometimes.

At last he realized what he had been getting at, if only subconsciously. He said, 'That's how your husband was killed, wasn't it?'

She turned away, looked across the almost empty bar to where the kids were playing pool.