Minutes later, he let himself into Eadie's apartment building. Up on the third floor, the door to her flat was open, and Faraday caught the breathless tones of the BBC newscaster while he was still on the stairs. Coalition forces were attacking the Iraqi port of Umm Qasr.
Preliminary reports from the advancing columns of armour suggested that the city's defenders were on the point of surrender. Tony Blair, meanwhile, had returned from an EU summit to stiffen the nation's resolve.
Faraday walked into the flat. Eadie was stretched on the sofa, engrossed in the news report, the remains of a takeout curry on a tray on her lap. After a while, Faraday moved into her eye line 'Hi.' She barely looked up.
'Hi.' Faraday stared down at her. He'd rarely felt angrier. 'Are we going to talk or shall I come back later?'
'Give me a minute, OK?' She nodded at the screen. 'Then you can get it all off your chest.'
'No.' Faraday shook his head and reached for the zapper. When he couldn't find the mute button, he turned the whole set off. Eadie was about to react, then had second thoughts. There were a couple of tinnies in the fridge. Maybe, for the sake of his blood pressure, a cold Stella might be wise.
Faraday ignored the suggestion.
'You knew,' he said thickly. 'You knew this morning and you didn't tell me.'
'Knew what?'
'That the kid was dead.'
'Ah… young Daniel.' She nodded. 'My apologies. Mea fucking culpa.'
'So is that it?' Faraday couldn't believe his ears. 'You step into this kid's life, drag my son with you, tape the lad while he kills himself, and leave him to die? Endgame? Finito? Too bad?'
'You're being dramatic' 'Dramatic? The boy's dead, Eadie. That's big time. We cops sometimes call it murder. In fact, this afternoon they very nearly did.'
'They?'
'Yes, they. Thanks to you, I've just spent a couple of hours trying to keep my son out of the remand wing at Winchester prison. That might mean nothing to you but I'm telling you now it made a very big hole in my day.'
'I know.'
'You know} How do you know?'
'J-J told me. There's not a lot you can get into a text but I caught the drift.'
'What did he say?'
'He said you tried to shut him up. You and a lawyer.'
'He's right. We did.'
'And he said he thought that was bullshit. So he went right ahead and told them the way it had been.'
'That's right, too. Completely reckless.'
'Really?' She raised an eyebrow. 'So how come he's still a free man?'
'Christ knows. I've left guys in the cells for thirty-six hours on less evidence. That could have been J-J. Easily. Thanks to you.'
There was a long silence. A lone car whined past outside. Finally, Eadie put her tray to one side.
'I thought this was about Daniel Kelly?' she muttered. 'Or is he division two compared to J-J?'
'That's cheap.'
'Sure, and you're being irrational. Listen Joe, you're right. The kid's dead. It happened to happen last night. Equally, it could have happened last week, or last month, or tomorrow, or fuck knows when. All I know is the thing was inevitable. He was a funeral on legs. I hate to say it but we're not talking big surprise here.'
'And that makes it OK? When you've supplied the gear?'
'I didn't supply the gear.'
'No, but J-J did, or helped to, at least. And you know why? Because otherwise you wouldn't have got your precious bloody interview. That's called pressure. And in the end the pressure came from you.'
'OK.' Eadie conceded the point with a nod. 'So I believe in what I do. Does that put me in the wrong? When the kid would have scored in any case?'
'You don't know that.'
'You don't? You think I'm making all this stuff up? You want to see the way he looked? The state of him? Be my guest. We'll run the rushes again. Evidence, Joe. Pictures you can't fucking dispute. If J-J hadn't run the errand for him, he'd have found someone else. It's called money, my love, and it'll buy you anything.'
'Don't patronise me.'
'I'm not. I'm pointing out the facts of life. You don't believe me?
OK, so here's something else for that poor aching head of yours. What tells me we've taken the right decision, done the right thing, are those.'
'What?'
'Those.' She was pointing at the pile of video cassettes beside the TV. 'I've told you. Poor bloody Daniel Kelly was a basket case. He'd lost it. He didn't care any more. But the way things turned out we might at least be able to rescue something from the wreckage, offer some kind of hope for the future. Not Daniel's but maybe other kids', lots of other kids'. When you've calmed down you're going to ask me whether I regret what happened last night but I'm telling you now the answer is no.' She looked up at him, weary now. 'Can't you see that?'
'No, I can't. But that's not the point.'
'It isn't?'
'No. The point is that you didn't tell me.'
'You're right.' She nodded. 'I didn't. I knew, and you were in the flat when I took the call, and I didn't pass the message on.'
'Exactly.' He took a deep breath. 'So explain to me why.'
'You're sounding like a cop.'
'That's because I am a cop. It's what I do. But that makes it complicated, doesn't it? Because I'm also a father. And I'm also..
' he began to founder, gesturing at the space between them '… part of whatever this is.'
'Really?'
'Yeah, really.'
'So what is this?'
'Oh, for fuck's sake ' 'No, seriously, if it all boils down to this morning, then we ought to get down to basics, strip the thing off a little. OK, I should have told you. For a thousand reasons, I owed you that news. But, hey, hands up, I didn't pass it on. And why didn't I pass it on? Because I knew that it would lead to this. Not tonight but this morning. And to tell you the truth, the absolute truth, I had more important things to sort out.'
'Like what?'
'You don't want to know.'
'Try me.'
'There's no point.'
'No point} See? You're doing it again.'
'Doing what?'
'Keeping it all to yourself. Keeping me at arm's length. We're supposed to be having a relationship here. I know it's old fashioned but that involves just a little bit of trust. I've been here before, my love. If you won't tell me about Daniel Kelly, and about whatever else, then I just might start thinking.'
'You do that.'
'Yeah…?' Faraday gazed down at her for a long moment, then turned away. The view from the window, for once, made absolutely no sense at all. Random lights. Lots of darkness. Then he sensed a movement behind him, felt a hand on his shoulder.
'Listen, Joe…' For once in her life, Eadie sounded unsure of herself.
'Listen what?'
'Haven't we had good times?'
'Of course we have.'
'And isn't that important?'
'Yes.' Faraday nodded. 'But good times are the easy bit. I'm just asking you to be honest with me.'
'I'm sorry. I apologise.'
