'Tomorrow.'
'Evening?'
Banks felt himself begin to flush. 'We're both too busy during the day, sir.' Hatchley suppressed a guffaw by covering the lower half of his face with a huge dirty handkerchief and blowing hard. Richmond shifted uneasily in his seat. Banks could sense their reactions, and he felt angry. He wanted to say something, to tell them it was just bloody work, that's all. But he knew that if he did, they would think he was protesting too much, so he kept quiet and seethed inside.
'Put it to her, then,' Gristhorpe said, ignoring the others. 'Ask her if there could be any connection between the peeper and Alice Matlock's death, and find out if it's likely our man has a thing about women in pubs.'
'She'll probably laugh at me,' Banks said. 'We all seem to fancy ourselves as amateur psychologists at one time or another.'
'Not surprising, though, is it, Alan? We'd be a pretty bloody incurious race if we didn't think about our nature and behavior once in a while, wouldn't we? Especially us coppers. Is that all?' he asked, rising to end the meeting.
Everyone kept silent. 'Fine, then, that's it. Follow up Wooller and the Sharp kid, get that drawing circulated soon as it comes in, and check with Ethel Carstairs about any other friends Alice Matlock may have had,'
'Should we say anything to the press?' Banks asked. 'A warning to women about keeping their eyes open for strangers?'
'It can't do any harm, can it? I'll take care of that. Off you go, then. Meeting adjourned.'
III
Graham Sharp rolled off Andrea Rigby and sighed with pleasure: 'Ah, Wednesdays. Thank God for half-day closing.'
Andrea giggled and snuggled in the crook of his arm. He could feel the weight of her breasts against his rib cage, the nipples still hard, and the sharp, milky scent of sex made them both warm and sleepy. Andrea traced a line from his throat to his pubic hair. 'That was wonderful, Gray,' she said dreamily. 'It's always wonderful with you. See how much better you feel now.'
'I was just a bit preoccupied, that's all.' 'You were all tense,' Andrea said, massaging his shoulders. Then she laughed. 'Whatever it was, it certainly made you wild, though.'
'When are you going to tell him?'
'Oh, Gray!' She snuggled closer, her breasts crushed against his chest. 'Don't spoil it, don't make me think about bad things.'
Graham smiled and caressed her hair. 'Sorry, love. It's the secrecy. It gets me down sometimes. I just want us to be together all the time.'
'We will be, we will,' Andrea murmured, rubbing against him slowly as she felt him begin to stiffen again. 'Oh God, Gray.' She breathed hard as he took hold of her breast and squeezed the nipple between thumb and forefinger. 'Yes… yes…'
Graham knew, in his more rational moments, that:hey would never be together all the time. Whatever Andrea thought about her husband, he wasn't such a bad sort really. He didn't beat her, and as far as Graham knew, he didn't cheat on her either. They got on well enough when he was around, which wasn't often, and, perhaps more important than Andrea would have cared to admit to herself-especially now, as she was nearing orgasm-he made a lot of money. Soon, in fact, she had told Graham sadly, they would be moving from their first country home into something a bit more authentic: an isolated Dales cottage, or perhaps somewhere in the Cotswolds, where the climate was milder. Why he wanted to live in the country, Andrea said she had no idea-he was hardly ever there anyway-but she had found Eastvale a great deal more interesting than she had expected.
Graham also knew deep down that Trevor would never accept another mother, especially one who lived two doors away and was, at twenty-four, closer to the age of an older sister. There was the money, too. Graham could hardly make ends meet, and if he really thought about it (which he tried not to) he couldn't see Andrea as a shopkeeper's wife: not her, with her Paris fashions, original art works, and holidays in New York or Bangkok. No, just as he knew that Trevor would never accept her, he also knew she would never give up her way of life.
But they were both romantics at heart. At first, Andrea had come to the shop more and more often, just for little things like a packet of Jacob's Cream Crackers, some fresh Baps or perhaps a bottle of tarragon vinegar, and if there had been no other customers around she had lingered a little longer to talk each time. Over a week or two, Graham had come to know quite a lot about her, especially about how her husband was away so much and how bored she got.
Then, one evening, one of her fuses blew and she had no idea how to fix it. She went to Graham for help, and he came along with flashlight and fuse wire and did it in a jiffy. Coffee followed, and after that an exciting session of kissing and groping on the sofa, which, being one of those modern things made up of blocks you can rearrange any way you want, was soon transformed into an adequate approximation of a bed.
Since then, for about two months, Graham and Andrea had been meeting quite regularly. Theirs was a circumscribed life, however: they couldn't go out together (though they did once spend a nervous evening in York having dinner, looking over their shoulders the whole time), and they had to be very careful about being seen in each other's company at all. Always Graham would visit Andrea, using the back way, where the high walls of the back yards kept him from view and muffled the sound of his passing. Sometimes they had candlelight dinners first; other times they threw themselves straight into lovemaking. Andrea was more passionate and abandoned in bed than anyone Graham had ever known, and she had led him to new heights of joy. It was easier at first. Trevor spent three weeks in France on a school trip, so Graham was a free agent. On the boy's return, though, there were difficulties, which was why half-day closing was such a joy. Weekends were out, of course. That was when Andrea's husband was around, so the most they could manage was the occasional evening when Trevor was allowed to go out to the movies with his mates, to the youth club or a local dance. Lately, though, with Trevor being out so often and taking so little notice, Graham had spent much more time with Andrea.
When they had finished, they lay back and lit cigarettes. Andrea blew the smoke out of her nose like an actress in a forties movie.
'Did they talk to you last night?' he asked.
'The police?'
'Yes.'
'What do you think happened?'
'The old woman, Alice Matlock. She's dead.'
Andrea frowned. 'Was it murder?'
'They must think so or they wouldn't waste their time asking everyone what they were doing and where they were.'
He sounded irritated. Andrea stroked his chest. 'Don't worry about it, darling. It's nothing to do with us, is it?'
'No, 'course not,' he said, turning and running his palm over her damp stomach. He loved Andrea's body; it was so different from Maureen's. She had had smooth skin, smooth as marble and sometimes as cold. He had hardly dared touch it, fearing it would be some kind of violation. But Andrea's skin had grain to it, a certain friction you could feel when you ran your hand over her buttocks or shoulders, even when they were moist as they were now.
'What did they want to know?' he asked her.
'Just if I heard anything the night before last.'
'And did you?'
'After you'd gone, yes. I heard someone running along Cardigan Drive, then someone knocking at a door.'
'The same person?'
'Could have been.'
