"We're sorry." Caffery mirrored Souness and sat down on the bed, conscious of the intimacy of sitting so close to Peach. "We're here to say that we're sorry 7'm sorry, but there's still something you're not telling us, Alek. Something happened in your house…" He cleared his throat. "Something happened before Rory was kidnapped. We've got an idea what but we'd like to hear it from you because '
He stopped. Carmel had suddenly sat bolt upright. Without a word she slammed down the napkin, got to her feet, stuffed her feet into a ragged pair of trainers, the backs pressed down under her heels, and walked jerkily around the room, humming loudly to herself, a snatch of music from a car advert, picking things up and putting them down, opening the bedside cupboard and pulling objects out, noisily rearranging them. Seeing her expression Alek put his face in his hands and shook his head despairingly. Caffery leaned forward and spoke in a low voice, above the noise, "I'm sorry, Alek, if this seems insensitive, but it has to be done."
"Da da da daV Carmel sang the tune out loud. Caffery looked up to find her glaring angrily at him. "Da-da da-daV
"Carmel, love," Peach said, 'go and wait outside."
Furiously, silently, she grappled in her handbag for cigarettes and a lighter, not taking her eyes off Caffery, and stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. It took him a moment or two, staring at the closed door, to get rid of that angry, war-mask image. He shifted a little, and glanced over at Souness, who shrugged.
"Mr. Peach…" He tried again, straightening up his voice. "Alek."
Peach's jaw moved, as if his tongue was a piece of obstinate gristle that he'd like to swallow or spit out. He pushed away the bowl of soup and didn't answer.
"We do understand how you feel. We've got a specially trained officer he's done a course, a special course for, uh, this sort of thing."
Peach pointedly turned his head to Souness. "Is that all he's come here for? To tell me about your training schemes?"
Caffery sighed. "I understand why it's difficult, Alek."
"Oh, yeah?" He turned cold eyes back to Caffery. "You really think you understand, do you?"
"Yeah, I think I '
"You really think you understand." He bunched up his fists. "Fucking filth come here and tell me they can understand what happened to me. You haven't got a clue what we went through…"
"What I mean is '
"No!" He pointed a finger in Caffery's face. "No, let me tell you about understanding." His head was twitching, the sinews on his neck stood out. "Because I'll tell you this for nothing, I hope one day you do understand. I hope one day the same thing happens to you. I hope you feel this way so someone can come mincing in and preaching to you about under-fucking-standing. You've never had a choice like I had -never." He dropped back against the pillow, breathing hard. "You haven't got children I can see it in your eyes."
Caffery stared at Rory's drawing of Kenny. He knew he was supposed to be feeling sympathy for Alek Peach, knew he was supposed to be terribly, terribly sorry for what had happened to him, but there it was again, that maddening, bright anger moving down his limbs as if it had been injected like adrenaline from a gland into his heart. All he'd expected from his extended hand of sympathy was a straightforward, honest acceptance. He tried again. "Mr. Peach, all I '
"Don't tell me."
"I just want to '
"I don't want your understanding."
Shit. Caffery jumped to his feet, furious, pacing around the bed, opening his hands to appeal to Souness. "I'm only trying to help," he mouthed at her.
She turned her face away from Peach and reached over to touch Caffery on the wrist: "Let me deal with this, OK?"
"Go on, then." Caffery dropped into a chair in the corner. He'd given up with Alek Peach. He sat, his legs pushed out in front of him, his head dropped on one hand, and watched.
"Right…" Souness rubbed her forehead, trying to think how to put it. "Alek, we think the intruder made ye do something to Rory…" She paused. Peach was breathing hard, staring angrily at his hands. "Now, we've never come up against something like this, so we need you to work with us, and what I think we need to start with is an allegation."
Silence. Caffery watched sullenly from the edge of the room. She won't get through to him he's a dickhead.
"We're sorry, young man." She put her hand on his and squeezed it. "But we need to hear it in your own words."
Peach suddenly put his head back and tears lit up in the corners of his eyes, running down his face. He heaved in a breath. "It doesn't matter anyway. I've died now," he muttered. "I've died now, so it doesn't matter what I tell you. I'm dead. I know you can see me." He lifted one bruised hand and touched the fingertips to his chest. "You can see me, sitting here, inside my skin, but really I'm not here, see? I'm not really here." He used the heel of his hand to press the tears back into his eyes. "Oh, God, oh, God '
When it was over Caffery and Souness paused outside the ward to check their watches. They were both pale. When Peach had finally begun to talk he had given them the whole ugly thing at once: dragged it out by its tail and slapped it down in front of them, teeth, blood and claws. He'd admitted it all admitted that somewhere there were photographs of what had happened, that he'd lied about not hearing or seeing Rory, said that he hadn't been dehydrated because he and Rory had both been given a little water in those three days, because the intruder had a reason to keep them strong. And finally, his head drooping, tears falling on to his pyjamas, like a child, he admitted he'd been forced to do the worst, most unspeakable thing. The troll had told Alek he'd throw Rory out of a first-floor window on to the concrete patio if he didn't.
By the time the interview was over all three of them were shaking. Caffery realized now how little he'd thought through what it had been like in number thirty. To hear it come out of Peach's mouth awed and silenced him. Maybe that was why Peach had given him the bullshit about his eyes maybe he'd been afraid that Caffery would look right into him and see all the lies he'd had to tell about Rory.
They walked down the stairs in silence. Souness bought them both coffee from a vending machine and they went out into the shocking sunshine. The car was too hot to drive, so they opened the doors and sat on the seats with their feet on the tarmac, sipping their drinks.
"So," Souness said, after a while, pulling the rear-view over to check her face, removing a little fleck of dirt from the corner of her eye, 'where does that put us now?"
Caffery was silent. He sat with his feet apart, elbows resting on his knees, staring into the coffee. Peach had told them how panicky the troll had got when the doorbell rang, how he'd whimpered and barged around the kitchen trying to get out. But Peach had still been blindfolded and was unable to give them a better description of him. Still, one thing he had said was jammed in Caffery's head.
"Jack? I asked you a question."
"Yeah sorry." He drank his coffee down and crumpled the plastic cup. "How are we doing for tick-tocks?" He checked his watch. "Right, my lads'll be back from door-to-door by now you feel like going through their statements for me?"
"And where are ye going to be?"
"I'm going home."
"Ye're just going tae dump me here in the middle of shagging Camberwell?"
"No. I'll drive you back first." He took the keys out of the door and put them in the ignition. "You deserve a lift after what you just did."
Souness, who was holding her collar out and blowing air down it to try to cool down, stopped when she heard that. She turned to him, a suspicious look in her eyes. "Jack? That wasn't a wee compliment slipped through there, was it now?"