‘There doesn’t seem to be much point in me telling you anything, Miss Morrissey. I can sec you’re not going to believe me.’
Cooper had almost reached his car, but Morrissey moved too quickly. She was light on her feet, and she managed to get in front of him. She stood close to him — too close for Cooper s comfort.
‘I have no reason to believe you,’ she said. ‘But I want you to know that, whatever you do, you won’t make me give up. I’m in no hurry to go back to Toronto. No hurry at all. I’ll stay right here in Derbyshire for as long as it takes. I’ll keep trying until I wear down Zygmunt Lukasz and Walter Rowland. And I wi// wear them down in the end. I’ll certainly wear jou down.’
Cooper began to button up his coat. This wasn’t what he wanted to hear, not from Alison Morrissey. He had enough to cope with from Diane Fry. Fry was good at wearing him down, too.
‘I’ve spent enough time here. I’ve got other things to be doing,’ he said.
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‘Of course you have,’ said Morrissey. ‘You’re short of resources, aren’t you?’
‘Yes, we are. That’s why the boss told you we couldn’t help. To be honest, 1 think he’ll already have forgotten about you by now. He has other things to worry about. You’re not important to him.’
‘Well, thanks.’ She looked at him searchinglv. Then the dismissive comment finally seemed to make her accept that he might be telling the truth. ‘So what then?’
‘Sorry?’
‘So why do you keep popping up asking questions wherever I go?’
Cooper didn’t know how to answer her. He wasn’t sure of the reason himself. Maybe it was something to do with his fascination tor family ties, the sense of loyalty that drove people’s lives. He sensed in himself a need to understand it when he saw it in others. He saw it in the Lukasz familv, certainly. And he saw it in Alison Morrissey, too.
Morrissev was still watching him. ‘You’re a strange cop, aren’t you? I can’t make you out.’
Cooper inclined his head, accepting the judgment. ‘You’ve nothing to worry about from me,’ he said.
‘Walter Rowland has talked to you, hasn’t he?’ she said.
‘Yes.’
‘These people will talk to you when they won’t give me the time of day. They see me as a threat. But not you. There’s something strange about that. Why isn’t a cop a threat?’
Cooper only shrugged.
‘What did he tell you?’
‘Who?’
‘Rowland, of course. What did he say to you?’
‘You don’t know what 1 was asking him about.’
‘No, but it’s a pretty safe bet it was something to do with the crash.’
‘Not directly.’
Morrissey fixed him with her grey eyes. ‘You could help me,’ she said.
‘Could I?’
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‘I mean, if you’re not here to hinder me, like you say, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t help me. These people won’t talk to me, but they’ll talk to you. You could get them to tell the truth.’
‘My Chief Superintendent has already told you, Miss Morrissey —’
‘Yeah, yeah. No resources to spare. His officers don’t have the time, blah, blah. But you’re already putting in the time here. For what reason, I don’t know. But if you’re already putting in the time with Lukasz, and with Rowland, then I’m not using up your Superintendent’s precious resources, am I?’
‘I’m sorry, I can’t help you.’
‘Your boss said he n-ou/Jhclp me, if he could,’ said Morrissey.
‘No. I’m sorry. You’ll get me into trouble.’
‘And I wouldn’t want that, would I?’ she said.
Cooper felt he ought to get in the car and drive away, but something kept him. He knew she hadn’t quite finished what she wanted to say. After a second, she took a small step closer and put her hand on his arm.
‘At least give me a chance to tell you why it’s so important to me/ she said.
Cooper hesitated. He wanted to say ‘yes’. He wanted to hear her explain it, to know what was driving her, to share her passion for finding the truth. Instead, he finished pulling on his gloves.
‘I don’t have the rime,’ he said.
Diane Fry and Gain Murfin drove into the Buttercross area and parked in front of one of the antique shops. A vanload of uniforms as due to meet them at Eddie Kemp’s house, which they would be going over hoping for some sign of Baby Chloe.
Fry had chosen to stop by Decker and Miller Purveyor of Antiques and Collectibles. From here, she could see Ben Cooper’s red Toyota halfway up a steep, cobbled street, which was still covered in a sheet of compacted snow. Her Peugeot would never make it up there. It had never occurred to her when she bought it that she might have need of a four- wheel drive.
And there was Ben Cooper himself, standing at the top of the street in his thick-soled boots and ridiculous poacher’s coat. He vas talking to a woman Fry didn’t recognize. She was wearing a
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