‘What’s the weather like there, anywav, Ben?’
‘ j j
‘Warming up a bit,’ he said.
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23
At least Diane Fry had the sense to let Cooper drive them to Harrop in his Toyota. She had glanced at the road map and seen the clustering of contour lines that indicated the steep descent on the other side of the Snake Pass and the even steeper climh to Harrop. There were still patches of snow and lurking corners of black ice that would be worsening now as it grew dark again.
On the way to Harrop, they passed an empty patrol car parked in a lay-by near Irontongue Hill. The car displayed the force’s website address on the side — www.derbyshire. police.uk. Members of the public were able to visit the site and read the Chief Constable’s report and news of the Bobby of the Year Award. Cooper’s favourite was the recruitment section, which stated that candidates had to be proficient in the use of ‘everyday technical equipment’, like telephones and riot shields.
A few yards further up the road, two officers in fluorescent jackets were walking up and down the road opening the yellow grit bins placed on the verges by the council. They were still looking for Baby Chloe.
‘I was thinking about Marie Tcnnent yesterday,’ said Cooper.
‘Oh, yes?’ said Fry.
‘I was trying to understand why she did it. Why she went up there, I mean, to leave the baby clothes.’
‘And did you succeed in understanding, Ben?
‘No,’ he said. ‘It didn’t seem enough of a reason to me.’
‘Nor me,’ said Fry.
‘I wish there were more time to spend on her. I’d like to be able to understand.’
‘Finding the baby is what’s important, for now. We can leave that to others.’
Despite Fry’s words, Cooper didn’t think she sounded entirely convinced. She, too, wanted to know about Marie Tcnnent. But there were procedures to be followed, priorities to be observed.
2S8
A need to understand why people behaved the way they did was not enough to justify their time.
They drove on in silence for a while, following the twists and turns of the Snake Pass.
‘So how’s the new place?’ said Fry. ‘Settled in OK?’
‘Sure. It’s very handy.’
‘You won’t have any (.rouble getting into work on time, anyway.’
‘I never did/ said Cooper.
‘A lot of people don’t think it’s a good idea to live on your own patch. The customers can get to know where your home address is. It’s been on my mind out at Grosvenor Avenue, but you’re really in the thick of it where you are. Right on the doorstep for any tankcd-up hooligan who staggers out of a town-centre pub and fancies throwing a brick through a copper’s window. I know you’re everybody’s favourite bobbv, but even you must have a few enemies, Ben.’
‘I don’t mind that,’ said Cooper. ‘I’ll put up with that risk. I prefer to feel part of the community.’
‘Oh/ said Fry. ‘Community.’
‘It’s not a dirty word/
‘It isn’t something real, though, is it? It’s a word that we use in the titles of reports. Community liaison. Working with the community. Understanding the ethnic community. It’s a word, Ben. It’s not something you actually live in, not these days. You’re living in the past. You should have been born fifty years earlier. You’d have loved that, wouldn’t you? The days when a bit of friendly advice or a clip round the ear would solve most things.’
o
‘Friendly advice still doesn’t go amiss now and then.’
The Toyota crested the hill above Glossop, and the view over Manchester opened up in front of them. From here, the road wound down over western-facing moors to where the drystone walls ended and it became a different kind of country.
‘Ben, I’m concerned that your mind seems to be on other things.’
‘Like what?’
‘I don’t know. I wondered whether it was something to do
2S9
with moving nut of the farm. I know it’s a big wrench for you.
O O V
I know it’s not easy living on your own (or the first time.’
Cooper looked at her in amazement. This sounded horribly like a caring Diane Fry. Rut it wasn’t really him she cared about. It was a question of doing the job right. No doubt she had been told to take an interest in the personal welfare of the officers under her supervision. He was probably her first attempt, a bit of practice.
‘Ben? You were miles away again. What were you thinking about?’
‘Nothing/ he said.
‘And that’s the trouble,’ she said. Her voice had changed suddenly.
‘What is?’ asked Cooper, surprised.
‘You never want to share what you’re thinking. I don’t know what’s going on in your head, Ben, but sometimes it’s obviously nothing to do with your job. There’s a part of your life that you won’t let anybody into.’
