'She was certain Mrs Jackman had them.'
'How do you know?'
'She was certain Mrs
'She told me when she was driving me to school.'
'What time was that?'
'Half-eight. We have to be there by quarter to.' He reached for the remote control and switched channels.
'Don't you like school?' reached for the remote control 'Don't you like school?'
'It's full of little kids. I have to wait till next year to take Common Entrance. Then I'll just move up to the main school.'
'If you pass.'
'No problem. I'm in the choir.'
Diamond had transferred to a grammar school at eleven and to his mind there was something wrong with a system that held back boys of Matthew's size and maturity. 'Do you mind being driven to school by your mother – a big lad like you?'
'It's better than walking.'
'You could take a bus.'
'I'd rather take a Mercedes.'
The remark confirmed how much emblems of status still mattered in school, any school. The boy's manner grated with Diamond, but he remembered his own adolescence well enough to understand the insecurity that lay behind it. Just as well, because the impulse to box the kid's ears – if only metaphorically – was strong, and a set-to would be disastrous. So with restraint – and curiosity unslaked – he concentrated on Matthew's memories of the day Geraldine Jackman had been killed. The choristers, he learned, had passed a dull morning in and around the Abbey vestry being issued with a clean set of robes; and in the afternoon the timetables and textbooks had been given out for the eight Common Entrance subjects.
'And was your mother there to meet you at the end of the day?'
'She never is. I get a lift with my friend's father as far as Lyncombe Hill. It's only an old Peugeot, but he's a schoolteacher, so what can you expect?'
'You're interested in cars, Matthew?'
'If you mean decent cars, yes.'
'Ever tried driving one?'
'Give me a break-even if I had, I wouldn't tell one of the fuzz.' The last word held more disdain for being spoken in the well-honed accent of a private education.
Diamond followed up the possibility he'd raised. The assumption behind it – that the boy had contrived to murder Geraldine Jackman himself, then transported her body to Chew Valley Lake and dumped her there -bordered on the absurd, but now that he had started, he might as well go on. 'Some kids of your age manage to learn without going on public roads. It isn't illegal. I've heard of schools that give driving lessons on the premises.'
'All we get is piano lessons,' Matthew said, making plain his discontent.
'Maybe your mother -'
'You're joking, of course.'
'She could take you somewhere quiet, like an empty beach or a deserted airfield.'
'She won't even let me ride the dodgems.'
It wasn't deception. It was the authentic protest of a frustrated child and the end of Diamond's short-lived speculation. He had to dismiss the notion of Matthew at the wheel of the Mercedes or any other vehicle.
'Anyway, as soon as I'm old enough I want to get a Honda MT5,' said Matthew.
'So you do fancy yourself as a driver?'
'It's a bike, you dingbat.'
'Watch it lad.' The reproof sprang unbidden, and Diamond added more jocularly, 'I might just mention cigarettes to sister on the way out.' Doggedly, he reverted to the original line of questioning. 'That evening we were talking about… you didn't actually say if your mother was at home when you got back from school.'
Matthew took a last drag on the cigarette and stubbed it out. 'She was there.'
'How did she appear?'
'What do you mean?'
'Her manner. Was it different from other days?'
Matthew turned to look at Diamond again. 'You think she did the murder, don't you?'
'Did she go out in the car that evening?'
'No.'
'You're telling the truth, I hope.'
'Of course.'
Diamond said, 'Let me put something to you, Mat. You might think that what you're doing is the best way to help your mother out of a tight spot, but it might not work like that.'
Matthew flicked the televison to the testcard and looked up. 'What do you mean?'
'For a start, creating this diversion. The reason you're here in hospital. I don't believe you cracked your head that hard. I don't believe you blacked out. My first thought was that you were making a protest about having to spend the night at school.'
'That's not true!' Matthew said vehemently.
'But now I think it wasn't selfishness. I reckon you did it for your mother's sake. You thought we'd stop questioning her if you were taken ill. We'd have to bring her to see you.'
The boy was frowning. 'Well, you will, won't you?' Once again, it was the child speaking.
'It isn't up to me, son.'
The significance of what Diamond had just admitted went over Matthew's head. 'My ma wouldn't kill anyone.'
'If that's what you really believe, acting up as you did last night isn't going to help her.'
'You did shove me against the wall. That was the truth.'
'Yes,' said Diamond, 'and you kicked me in the goolies, but I didn't make a production number out of it.' but I didn't make a production Matthew grinned.
Matthew grinned.
Given time, Diamond reckoned he could achieve an understanding here, if nothing more. The bravado was paper-thin. Behind it was a kid pining for his father.
But they were interrupted by the ward sister. 'Your X-rays are through, Matthew, and we can't find anything amiss. I think we can safely send you back to school.'
'Right away?'
She winked at Diamond. 'After four, I think.'
Steph took the news infinitely better than he'd expected.
'When the microwave oven arrived, I knew something ghastly must have happened. I'm glad you thought of me. Of course, it's barmy getting me a present.'
'Stupid.'
'Not stupid. No, I won't have that. Daffy, if you like, but I always knew you were daffy – well, ever since that day you brought the donkeys to the brownies' camp.' She smiled. 'Not everyone appreciates you.'
'Too true. I wasn't right for the job. I was an ogre.'
'You're not a violent man.'
'Tell that to Mr Tott. Steph, let's face it, man-management wasn't my strongest suit. I got by because I drove people hard. No one was given any favours.'
'That isn't bad management. After all, you weren't running a playgroup.'
He was forced to smile.
She said, 'In your job it was no good trying to be popular.'
'No, but I had to command respect, and I'm not sure it was there any more. I should have kept up with technology. I was the only one on the squad without a pocket calculator. I still do mental arithmetic'
'I don't think you ever settled down in this place.'
