Bones and Silence

souvenir article he should have been the first to read, who had been picked to write it so that he would be the first!

. . . she was eighteen and just about to start drama school when her mother died. It was her father's suggestion that she should take her mother's name. 'Eileen Chung,' he told her, 'will be able to get away with things that Eileen Graham never could!' But, Chung adds, they both knew it wasn't just a showbiz decision. It was a way of extending the dead woman's existence for both of them . . .

Light again! The surface of the dream or the surface of reality was close. This light seeped down from above and grew stronger with every muscle-straining step. Up there somewhere was an open door. But open on to what?

... at twenty-six she was devastated when her father died, and she threw herself into her work with that unremitting energy which is the hallmark of everything she does . . . How old is Chung? I'm afraid that I cannot tell you, for in the only bit of coyness I encountered in this refreshingly frank and open woman, she refused to say! And why would she? For everyone who knows her is agreed that, like the great dramas she produces, time is meaningless in the case of someone as complete, as talented, as unique as Eileen Chung. We in Mid-Yorkshire are very lucky to have her. We should take care that we treasure her according to her worth, and when, as they surely will, pressures come upon her to leave us for new challenges elsewhere, we owe it to ourselves to make it very hard for her to go . . .

He burst through the doorway into the dazzle of the midday sun and reeled with the heat and the light and the joy of it. He caught at the door frame to steady himself and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he was still and no longer dazzled. And he was looking at Chung.

She was leaning backwards against the shallow parapet, looking towards him with a welcoming smile, beautiful beyond the scope of brush or pen.

She called, 'Hello, Pete, baby. I was beginning to think no one would make it.'

'Chung. Hi.'

He began to move towards her. She shook her head slightly. He stopped.

'Chung,' he said. 'There's no need for this.'

'Need for what? I'm just enjoying the best view in town. Will you listen to those cheers? They're just loving it, aren't they? And why not? It's just another show, a change from the telly. Let's go out and have a laugh at the God on wheels! Perhaps he'll give a wave as he passes! Do you think he'll give us a wave, Peter? Probably not. God doesn't need to look up, does he? What's the point when everything's below?'

Beneath the lightness, he sensed desperation. He said urgently, 'He did his best!'

'You're very loyal, Pete. I knew you wouldn't be right for Lucifer. Treachery's not your style. But no, he didn't do his best. You know it, I know it. But I'm not saying he deceived me. I managed that all by myself. I said I picked him because he wouldn't give a damn, so I can hardly complain about being right!'

Pascoe examined this and thought he saw a glimmer of hope.

'Chung, if you know it's a game, I mean, not a game, I realize it's deadly serious, but a gamble, a life and death gamble, if you know that...’

'Why does a bright girl like me carry on with it?' She laughed and then turned serious. 'Pete, the me that thinks it's in control never meant to lay this thing on Andy. That me was telling the truth in those letters. But there's another me .. . look, it's like when you're acting sometimes, something takes over, you become the part you're playing even though you know you're out there on a stage. What I mean is, if you're in my game, there's no problem to being two or three contradictory things at the same time!'

He tried another small step forward. She didn't seem to notice, but there was still twenty feet between them. He could hear the sound of shawms and timbrels in the wind, and he thought he could trace Dalziel's approach in the swell of applause.

He said, 'OK, it's not simply a game, but that doesn't entitle you to cheat.'

'What do you mean?'

'You said Andy never asked you to dance at the ball. Hell, your tango nearly stopped the show!'

'Not guilty!' she replied. 'It was me who asked him, the first time anyway. After that he just grabbed me. So it was subtle misdirection, not cheating. No point in making things too easy for the great detective, was there? Not that I need have bothered, for all the interest he took.'

It was time for a change of direction. By talking about the game, he was merely playing the game. She was peering over the parapet and he moved slowly forward, saying, 'OK, so he had a lot of other things on his mind. But he did pass the case on to me, you know that. It's my responsibility now. Please don't make it my guilt.'

She turned to look at him, catching him in mid-step. He froze for a moment, like a child playing statues, then under her quizzical gaze smiled sheepishly and lowered his foot to the ground.

She said, 'I like you, Pete. Always have done. If Ellie hadn't been such a good friend, who knows? But fucking's easy, and friends are hard to find. You should bear that in mind. Sometimes being nice and reasonable can make a person just as self-absorbed as being a real selfish bastard. Take a day off, Pete, and let it all hang out! Let Ellie know if she gets right up your nose or if some little scrubber in the pub with her skirt round her bum gets you horny. She'll probably break your jaw but at least you'll know why you're hurting. There's no profit in partial openness. If it's not wide open, it might as well be locked. Was that in a play or did I say it? It gets hard to tell sometimes.'

'I don't know,' said Pascoe, trying for a matching lightness. 'But it didn't sound like Shakespeare.'

'No? Think you know your Shakespeare, huh?'

'Better than I know my Mysteries.'

'Well, this week's your chance to learn! Though I'm not sure if it's worth it.'

She was no longer looking at him, but even as he tensed his muscles for an explosive sprint, she leaned far out over the parapet in her effort to follow the progress of the pageant wagon which sounded to be passing right in front of the cathedral. In that position, he didn't even dare essay another small step.