‘No. There was no reason to.’
‘Wasn’t the baby a reason?’
Now Kemp looked a little less comfortable. Fry watched him squirm. ‘I didn’t know anything about a baby,’ he said.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Sure/
‘Marie never contacted you to tell you about it? I would have thought she would be expecting some maintenance. If you were living with her until six months ago, we take it you’re the father.’
‘Is there any proof ?’ said Kemp.
Fry stared at him. ‘I’m sure you know that we haven’t been able to find the baby.’
‘No, well. ‘. .’
‘Did she tell you she’d had a baby previously?’
‘No.’
In the absence of any evidence otherwise, Fry changed tack. ‘Mr Kemp, why did you break your bail?’
‘All I did was go to spend a bit of time with my brother,’ he said. ‘Vicky was fed up with me for getting in trouble again. To be honest, that’s why she kicked me out the first time. So I cleared out for a day or two to let things calm down. I was still in town, though — I was staying with our Graham.’
‘All right. Now I need to ask you about an assault on a police officer last night.’
o
Kemp shook his head. ‘As for that/ he said, ‘you definitely have no proof.’
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29
Den Cooper could see Alison Morrissey waiting for him by his car. He could sec her from a long way off, as soon as the track levelled out on the last quarter of a mile across the peat moor. Her yellow coat stood out against his red Toyota like a splash of mustard.
‘Your friend doesn’t deter easily, does she? said Jane Caudwcll. She nudged Cooper and dimpled at him. ‘Do you want me to set Nash on her again?’
o
PC Nash sniggered behind them. Li/, Petty had keen very quiet since they had set off hack from the crash site.
Cooper was embarrassed. He hoped his flush wasn’t noticeable in the cold. All the way across the moor, he alternately wished Morrissey would go away, then hoped she wouldn’t.
‘Funny how she knows which is your car,’ said Caudwell.
Cooper turned and glanced at Liz. She glowered at him. It wasn’t any better for her she had to walk with Nash. His stride was twice the length of hers, but he was holding back deliberately so that they were shoulder to shoulder on the narrow path.
When they reached the cars, he found Alison Morrissey pale and shivering with the cold. She had her hands tucked under her
o
armpits and her chin shoved into the collar of her coat to minimize the amount of exposed skin. Strands of her hair had escaped from her hat and were hanging in her eyes.
‘Are you mad? You’ll freeze to death,’ said Cooper. ‘Where’s your car?’
‘I haven’t got one. Frank dropped me off.’
He noticed that she mumbled her words because her lips were so numb. There was hardly any colour to her lips at all.
‘That was stupid,’ he said. ‘When is he coming back (or you?’
‘I told him not to. I thought you would give me a lift back to Edcndale, Ben.’
‘I can’t do that.’
‘Think of it as part of your service to the public, right?’
325
Liz Petty got into her van ant) drove away first, without looking back. As Caudwe.ll and Nash changed out of their walking boots, Caudwell said something over the bonnet of their car, and Nash sniggered again.
‘You’re determined to get me in trouble, aren’t you?’ said Cooper. ‘You can see I’m on duty.’
‘You re worried what your colleagues will say. But they don’t really care, do they? Not those two.’
It wasn’t Caudwell and Nash that Cooper was worried about. He knew they would take the first opportunity to tell Diane Frv - if Li/ Petty didn’t get there first.
‘You’re making it difficult for me to help you.’
‘Oh, is that what you’re trying to do?’ said Morrissey.
She was so pale that she looked very vulnerable. But a thought sneaked into Cooper’s mind. He wondered whether her shivering was a little overdone, for effect. Caudwell and Nash drove past them. Nash played a little tune on the horn of their car, and Caudwell waved from the passenger seat, smiling graciously, like the Queen. They disappeared down the AS7 towards the Snake Inn.
‘They can’t see us now,’ said Morrissey. Her pale lips parted slightly, so that he could see her perfect teeth and the tip of her tongue. He felt her breath on his face and realized he was standing much too close to her.
