The want you to find out more about her,’ she said. The want to know what she’s been doing these last fifteen years. I need to know who she was mixed up with in Sheffield. I need to know what she’s doing now.’
Cooper sat back in his chair. The movement was partly to give himself a little more distance from Fry’s fixed stare, which he found unnerving. But it was also to provide a moment to think. He already knew more about Angie Fry than he’d told Diane. He supposed he’d tried to push the information to the back of his mind, in the hope that he would never have to tell her.
‘I don’t understand, Diane. She’s your sister. You haven’t seen her for fifteen years. You must have talked to each other since you met up again -‘
‘We’ve hardly done anything else but talk. I’ve told Angie everything about myself, everything that’s happened to me since Warley. And she’s told me a lot about herself, too.’
Cooper shook his head, puzzled. ‘So what’s the problem?’
‘I don’t believe her.’
‘What?’
Fry seemed to have trouble getting the words out a second time, as if her lips had gone numb.
‘I don’t believe her. I think she’s lying to me.’
337
She took another drink, then held her glass up to the light. It was empty. A bluebottle buzzed closer, attracted by the smell, and Fry swatted at it with a vicious side-swipe of her hand.
‘Why would she do that?’ said Cooper, trying to put conviction into his voice.
‘I don’t know. That’s what I’d like to find out.’
‘Have you told her you don’t think she’s telling you the truth?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Why not?’
Fry sighed. ‘You don’t understand. I’ve just found her after all these years. Or you found her for me …’ She paused and looked at Cooper, who tried to meet her gaze, but failed and dropped his eyes. ‘I might be wrong, and I can’t risk ruining it now. She’s my sister, and I love her very much. I don’t want to lose her again. But I need to know. I need to know the truth. Do you understand that, Ben?’
‘I think so.’
‘I could be wrong,’ said Fry. ‘But I don’t think I am.’
Cooper was aware of a fly in the ointment here. His best bet was to say ‘no’ to what Fry wanted him to do and hope that he could keep out of the situation entirely.
‘If you’re worried, you could make enquiries yourself,’ he said.
Fry shook her head. ‘There’s a big risk of her finding out that I’m checking up on her. I’m frightened she’d just walk away again. I get the feeling she’s on a knife edge, that she hasn’t quite decided whether to stay or leave. She might just disappear from my life again. I couldn’t stand that.’
‘No.’
‘But you - I don’t think she’d be surprised if she found out that you’d been checking up on her. It would only confirm her opinion of you.’
338
I
‘I see. Basically, you want me to be the fall guy if anything goes wrong?’
‘Basically, yes.’
Cooper began to shake his head. But Fry fixed him with her direct stare again.
‘I think you owe me this, Ben,’ she said. ‘You owe me this, at least.’
He dropped his eyes. He’d always found it difficult to meet her stare.
‘Believe me,’ she said, ‘if there was anyone else I could trust …’
Cooper hesitated a moment longer. Perhaps it was a moment too long.
‘I’m sorry, Diane. I don’t think I can do that. I’ve already interfered enough, as you said yourself just now. My getting more involved wouldn’t do either of us any good.’
For the last few minutes Fry had been sliding her glass backwards and forwards across the polished surface of the table, as if intrigued by the sound it made against the wood, or the patterns formed by the streaks of condensation. But now, her hand became still.
‘I knew this would happen,’ she said. ‘It’s been like this all my life. No matter what you think you want, it turns out to be a disappointment when you finally get it.’ She looked at her glass as she spoke, addressing the remaining mouthfuls of vodka as if it were the spirit that had disappointed her, as if its taste was just one more thing that hadn’t come up to her expectations.
Will Thorpe heard the sound of a car engine on the road outside, climbing slowly up the hill above the cement works from Pindale. Quinn heard it, too. He let go of Thorpe’s jacket and straightened up. Thorpe watched him stoop under the connecting doorway and slip into the shadows near the entrance to wait for the car to pass. He suspected Quinn
339
I
wouldn’t have a car of his own, and wouldn’t want to risk walking along the road, where he’d be seen too easily. He would be intending to navigate his way across the fields back to Edendale or Castleton, or wherever he was heading next.
Thorpe smiled in the darkness. Quinn hadn’t taken the trouble to check what he had in the pack under his blanket. He hadn’t considered his old friend a threat.
