Gareth would want to kill anyone. When the conversation didn’t go as Gareth planned, he lunged at Hinds. At that moment, Deirdre came out of the house and screamed, and Hinds took Gareth off guard and knocked him out. When he woke, he was trussed up and lying on the log cutter, waiting to be turned into sausage meat. He pleaded for his life, but Hinds wasn’t in the mood for mercy. Deirdre begged him, too, but he smashed her cheekbone and she crawled away in case he decided to slice her up for good measure. Hinds didn’t switch on the machine at once, that we do know. He let Gareth sweat for a good ten minutes. Christ, it must have seemed like an eternity. And when he saw Hinds reaching for the lever to start the saw …’
For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.
‘It can’t be right,’ Daniel said. ‘Fleur didn’t lay a finger on anyone, but morally …’
‘The police avoid getting too hooked up on morality,’ Hannah said gently. ‘Ben must have told you that. Upholding the law is difficult enough as it is.’
‘But if Fleur gets away with this …’
‘Tough shit, she gets away with it. Orla has had justice, sort of, and that makes me feel marginally better about messing up when she called me. But justice is always messy, ask any lawyer.’
In his frustration, he punched the tree trunk. Stupid, really. It hurt his hand, for no good reason, but somehow he didn’t care.
‘It’s so wrong.’
‘You know what they say, Daniel.’ Hannah’s smile was wan. ‘History is written by the survivors.’
‘I almost forgot.’
Hannah wound down the driver’s window of her car. Daniel was seeing her off after she’d declined an offer of dinner. Things to do back at the house in Ambleside. It was true, yet it wasn’t the whole truth. She wasn’t ready to insert herself any further into his life.
‘Yes?’
‘Marc gave me a present.’ She lifted the copy of
‘Oh God, my juvenilia.’
‘Hey, I like poetry. Everything from John Donne to Thom Gunn. Not every police officer is a philistine, you know. I’ll let you into a secret — I wrote a few verses myself, when I was a student. But they were lousy, not like yours.’
‘So Marc tracked the book down for you? It’s pretty scarce. Deservedly so, I’m afraid.’
‘He wanted to surprise me. For once, he succeeded.’
Daniel shoved his hands deeper into the pockets of his chinos. ‘What’s the latest with the two of you?’
She shook her head. ‘That’s the most difficult question you’ve asked me all day.’
‘Sorry, I don’t mean to pry.’
‘I’m not trying to be evasive.’ She ground her teeth. ‘My mate Terri thinks it’s about — you know, the miscarriage. I don’t agree; that was ages ago, but she reckons I still haven’t got over it.’
‘A loss like that,’ he said, ‘you don’t get back to normal any time soon.’
‘And you lost Aimee. To say nothing of Miranda.’
‘You’re right there, let’s say nothing of Miranda. That was a mistake, pure and simple. My fault, not hers — I dived into another relationship far too fast after Aimee killed herself.’
Hannah blushed. ‘I wondered if you’d sign the book for me?’
‘Love to, but I didn’t bring a pen out with me. Hang on, and I’ll nip back to the cottage.’
‘Don’t worry, it will do another time. I’m sure we’ll see each other again before long.’
‘I’d like that — if you’re sure?’
‘Why not? We’re friends, aren’t we?’
She watched his face fall. ‘Well, yes. Of course.’
‘Fine. And — thanks again for a lovely afternoon.’
‘The pleasure’s mine.’
She thought he would kiss her goodbye; instead he took a step backwards, and waved. She raised her hand as she put her foot down and accelerated out of Tarn Fold.
A mile later, Terri rang. It took five minutes for her to get to the point. She coughed nervously, and the timid build-up was so out of character that Hannah guessed what she was about to say.
‘I just wanted to mention … I bumped into Marc last night. There was a book signing at his shop, and I was at a loose end, with Stefan working. Marc and I went for a quick drink later on. I mean, that’s absolutely all there was to it. He talked about you the whole time; he’s still besotted, you know.’ She paused. ‘Honest, it was totally innocent. You don’t mind, Hannah?’
‘Course not.’ Why was her upper body rigid with tension?
‘Thanks, Hannah. I knew you’d understand.’
Half a minute later, she’d rung off. It might have been the shortest phone chat she and Terri had ever had.
On the radio, Carole King sang ‘It’s Too Late’. Hannah remembered Marc, turning up at their home the other night, and the hard time she’d given him. The lane was narrow and winding, and Hannah realised she was taking the bends too fast. She stamped on the brake just in time to avoid a collision. The drystone walls were a hazard, the lane barely wide enough to take a single vehicle, let alone offer latitude for careless driving. If you encountered a car coming in the other direction, you had no choice but to reverse until you came to a passing place. Trouble was, Hannah hated going backwards.
At last she reached the main route through Brackdale that would take her out of Daniel’s valley and home to Ambleside. As she drove through the small settlement of Brack, her phone rang again. She hadn’t been this popular in years. Unless it was Terri, determined that, having dug herself into a hole, she would keep digging.
‘What is it?’
‘Blimey, Hannah. Not like you to sound so tetchy.’
Greg Wharf — how about that for a turn-up for the book? Surely not a call about work on a Saturday evening?
‘You still there, Hannah?’
‘Uh-huh.’
‘Everything all right?’
‘Yeah, yeah, of course. I’m in the car, on my way back home after a day out.’
‘OK, it’s just that … I’m in Kendal at the moment. I was planning to call in at Westmorland General, and see Mario Pinardi. I wondered if you wanted to come along too.’
Hannah tightened her grip on the steering wheel. ‘Actually, I’m less than ten minutes away.’
‘Well, then!’ Greg brightened. ‘We don’t need to stay long. I mean, visiting time finishes at eight and Alessandra is sure to be there anyway, along with all the little Pinardis. I just want him to know he’s in our thoughts.’
‘Good plan.’
‘We could have a quick drink afterwards, if you have half an hour to spare.’
‘Sure,’ Hannah said. ‘Why not?’
