and chose to hide his receding hairline under a green tractor driver’s cap with a long peak like a baseball cap and the words ‘John Deere’ on the front.
‘Those were two good shots, Ben. Who were you picturing when you hit the clays?’
‘What?’
‘From the expression on your face, you had someone you really hate in your sights. Did it help to let it out?’
‘Yes, a bit.’
Matt studied his younger brother. ‘It’s really getting you down, isn’t it? We don’t often see you like this. We will get Mum sorted out, you know. Wait till you see her this afternoon — I bet she’ll be more like her old self, and you’ll feel a whole lot better about it.’
‘Maybe, Matt. But it isn’t only that.’
‘Oh. Woman trouble, by any chance? Not Helen Milner, is it?’
Cooper stared at his brother in amazement. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘It’s obvious you must have bumped into her on this Vernon case. I put two and two together when I read about it in the paper. Her dad works for Graham Vernon, doesn’t he? And the old man, Harry Dickinson — that would be her grandfather, right?
‘ j o 7 o
If you’ve been hanging around there, I guessed you must have renewed old acquaintances.’
257
Matt grinned as his brother looked at him, lost for words. ‘What do you reckon, then? Should I have been a detective?’
‘I don’t know how you worked all that out.’
‘Mmm. Helen Milncr, eh? I always thought she had a bit of a thing about you, little brother, a few years back.’
‘All water under the bridge. She’s different now. You should see her.’
‘Oh, but I have seen her. She’s a teacher at Amy and Josic’s school now. We talked to her at a parents’ evening not so long ago. I hate to give away my secrets, but that’s how I know about her dad and all that. We talked for quite a long while, actually. Some of it was about old times, some about the Vernons too.’
‘Well then. You know what she looks like. She’s probably got half a dozen blokes she’s sleeping with. Why should she bother with me?’
‘Do I detect a hint of bitterness? Is it a case of a heifer in heat and too many bulls to choose from?’
‘People aren’t like cattle, Matt.’
‘It’d be better if they were sometimes. Come to think of it, it’s a pity you can’t put raddle on people like you do on rams, then you’d know straightaway who was tupping who.’
Matt looked at his brother expectantly, raising his eyebrows, but saw he hadn’t even raised a smile.
‘But there’s more still, isn’t there? Problems at work, is it?’
‘Yeah, you’re right. I’ve made a couple of bad cock-ups in the last few days.’
‘They’ll understand you’re under a lot of stress, though, won’t they?”
Cooper fished the keys of the Toyota out of his pocket and looked at his watch. It was past the time he should have been setting off for Edendale to start his shift. But the chance to try Matt’s new shotgun had been too much of a temptation.
‘You’ve told your bosses about Mum, haven’t you?’
‘No, I didn’t think they needed to know.’
‘But you have got time off this morning to go to the hospital?’
‘I just told them I had a doctor’s appointment.’
‘Bloody hell. They probably think you’re going to see a
258
psychiatrist or something, the way you’ve been these last few days.’
‘I’d rather keep the police force out of Mum’s life, that’s all.’
“I see. Things arc a bit bad, then.’
Cooper sighed. ‘Let’s put it this way — I’d much rather stay here shooting rabbits with you, Matt, than go into the office this
mornincr.’
t>
Matt walked back with his brother to his car, parked in the crewyard. ‘I take it the Vernon case isn’t sorted out yet, then?’
‘It feels as though it’s running into the ground, Matt. We always dash round like mad at the beginning, of course. We collect masses of information, do dozens of witness interviews, house-to-house surveys and TIE enquiries, getting background detail. God, there’s so much in the computer after the first few days. Usually you get some clear lines of enquiry opening up that you can follow. But sometimes every one seems to be a blind alley and you get nowhere. Once a murder enquiry stalls, you can be looking at months and months before you get a result. If ever.’
‘And this is one of those, is it, Ben?’
