Rut his wife’s face was already growing pale. ‘The man found dead on the Snake Pass, she said. ‘Rut that’s the man who called here at the bungalow on Monday, isn’t it?’
‘Jx if?’ said Cooper.
They both stared at him wordlessly. A faint sheen of sweat glistened on Peter Lukasx’s forehead. He seemed to find it too warm in his own bungalow.
‘I’m aJraid I’ll have to ask you to come in and have a look,’ said Cooper. ‘In case you’re able to help us identity him.’
Grace Lukasx. shook her head. ‘Rut that wasn’t Andrew,’ she said. ‘Surelv that’s not what you’re saying?’ She gave a short laugh. ‘I know my own son.’
Peter Lukasx seemed to understand better. ‘It’s ridiculous,’ he said. ‘Quite ridiculous. Rut I’ll do it, if it helps to get the idea out of your head.’
‘Thank you, sir. However, 1 think we’ll need both of you. Your wife was the only one who saw the man who came to your door.’
Cooper got ready to leave the bungalow. The sky was looking heavy again outside. Peter Lukasx saw him out, but paused on the doorstep in his slippers. Lukasx seemed as though he might have something else he wanted to say, but Cooper didn’t know what question he should be asking him.
‘How long has your father been working on his story?’ said Cooper.
‘About a week.’
‘Is that all? What made him decide to start it now?’
‘Oh, I think that’s because he knows he’s dying,’ said Lukasx. ‘He has advanced liver cancer, and all that can be done for him now is to control the pain. We’ve been told that he’ll be dead within a few months.’
Ren Cooper stood in the C1U room as he stripped off his coat and stared at his shoes, which were turning a strange grey where they had once been black. He flicked through the messages and
216
memos on his desk, allocating them to three piles in order of priority. He had learned the technique on a time-management course. Important and urgent, important but not urgent, urgent hut not important. In this case, only the first would get dealt with. Towards the bottom, he stopped and read a telephone message more carefully. There was no pile this one would fit into. It didn’t tit into his duties at all.
He put the message aside carefully on his desk while he dealt
ith the important and urgent tasks. A GPS lawyer needed a
port for an assault case that was due before the magistrates
first thing on Monday morning; a family in Eclendale whose
burglary he was supposed to be investigating had been burgled
o .’ r i o o o
again and needed calming clown; a superintendent had invited him to volunteer for a farm security working group and wanted an answer yesterday.
Diane Fry watched Cooper going through the ritual. She wasn’t sure why it was that she found him every bit as irritating as Gavin Murfm. Murfin was stupid and la/y, but she could understand that. Ben Cooper was neither of those things.
‘Ben, you took a long time at the Snake Inn,’ she said.
‘Sorry.’
‘Do you realize how stretched we arc here?’
‘Of course,’ he said.
‘I’m not asking you to cut corners,’ she said, ‘but I need you to be making the best use of your time. So let me know where you are in future, it you’re goin^J to be delayed.’
‘Listen, Diane, I’ve asked Peter and Grace Lukasx. to try an identification on the Snowman.’
She stared at him. ‘Have you now? Ben, are you working this enquiry on your own?’
‘No, but ‘
‘So how come you talked to the Lukasz family again? Was that on your list of actions?’
‘No. I used a bit of initiative.’
‘Well, don’t.’
‘They don’t know the whereabouts of their son. They haven’t seen him since Sunday.’
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Fry stopped and stared at him. ‘Have they reported it?’
‘No.’
‘Description?’
‘It’s a rough match with the Snowman. Besides, Grace Lukas/, is the only one who saw this man who’s supposed to have visited Woodland Crescent on Monday.’
‘.SuppojeJ to have?’
‘I don’t think she’s telling the entire truth,’ said Cooper. ‘Her husband wasn’t home, and her father-in-law is in some world of his own. As for the neighbours, it seems the man who called at the Lukasz bungalow didn’t visit anybody else in the street. That doesn’t sound like any salesman I ever heard of. It will be interesting to see what she makes of the Snowman, anyway/
‘All right,’ said Fry. ‘But for Cod’s sake let me know what you’re doing in future, Ben.’
‘There’s another thing,’ said Cooper.
