Aftermath

“Uh?”

“What sort of mood was she in?”

“All right, I suppose.”

“She wasn’t upset about anything?”

“No. We were having a good time.”

“Lea

“Like what?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Some problem with her stepmother, perhaps?”

“She was always having problems with that stuck-up bitch. I was sick of hearing about them.”

“Did she ever talk about ru

“Not to me. Not that I remember. Ian?”

“Nah. She just whined about the old cow, that’s all. She hadn’t the bottle to run away. If I was looking at somebody for it, I’d look at the stepmother first.”

“Somebody for what?”

“You know. If you think someone did something to Lea

“I see. What was the idea that excited you all before you left the Old Ship?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” said Ian.

“Oh, come on. We know you seemed excited by something you were going to do. What was it? Did it include Lea

“We talked about going to the Bar None, but Lea

“That’s all?”

“What else could there be?”

“She didn’t give you any hint that she might not be going straight home?”

“No.”

“Or that she might run off, teach her stepmother a lesson?”

“Du

“Tut-tut, such language. You’ve been listening to too much hip-hop, Ian,” said Banks, standing to leave. “Nice choice of partner, Sarah,” he said on his way out, noticing that Sarah Francis looked distinctly put out and, more to the point, even a little frightened. That might come in useful before too long, he thought.

“I just had to get out of the flat, that’s all,” said Janet Taylor. “I mean, I didn’t want to drag you halfway across Yorkshire.”

“That’s all right,” said A

Here was a rambling old pub on the edge of the moorland above Wensleydale, not far from Banks’s cottage, with a solid reputation for Sunday lunch. Janet’s call had come shortly after ten o’clock that morning, just as A

Trust Banks to hit a nerve. What she also didn’t like and didn’t seem able to tell him about these personal revelations of his was that they pushed her into examining her own past and her own feelings far more than she felt ready to do right now. She wished he would just lighten up and take it easy.

Anyway, an open-air lunch was just the ticket. The air was pure, and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. From where they sat she could see the lush green dalesides crisscrossed with drystone walls, sheep wandering all over, baaing like crazy if any ramblers passed by. Down in the valley bottom, the river meandered and a group of cottages huddled around a village green, the square-towered church a little to one side, gray limestone bright in the midday sun. She thought she could see the tiny silhouettes of four people walking along the top of the high limestone scar over the dale. Christ, it would be good to be up there, all alone, not a care in the world.

But if the setting was ideal, she might have chosen a different companion. Despite the change of environment, Janet seemed distracted, forever flicking back the lock of hair that fell over her tired brown eyes. There was an unhealthy pallor about her that A

“How are you doing?” A

Janet laughed. “Oh, about as well as can be expected.” She rubbed her forehead. “I still can’t get the sleep thing sorted out. You know, I keep replaying it, but I’m not sure if I’m seeing it the way it really happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, in the replays I see his face.”

“Terry Payne’s?”

“Yes, all twisted and contorted. Fearsome. But I don’t think I remember seeing him clearly at the time. My mind must be filling in details.”

“Possibly.” A

“You’ve changed your mind about the statement, then?” A

“I wasn’t lying,” said Janet. “I want you to know that, first off.”

“I know that.”

“I was just confused, that’s all. My memory of that night’s a bit shaky.”

“Understandable. But you do remember how many times you hit him?”

“No. All I’m saying is that it might have been more than I thought.”

Their meals arrived. Janet tucked in as if she hadn’t eaten in a week, which she probably hadn’t, and A

“Janet,” A

“Well, you know, where I insisted I only hit him, what, two or three times?”

“Four.”

“Whatever. And the postmortem found… how many?”

“Nine blows.”

“Right.”

“Do you remember hitting him nine times?”

“No. That’s not what I’m saying.” Janet sawed off a piece of lamb and chewed on it for a moment.

A

“Just that, well, I suppose I lost it, that’s all.”

“You’re claiming diminished responsibility?”

“Not really. I mean, I knew what was going on, but I was scared and I was upset about De

“You hit him after that?”

“I think so. Once or twice.”

“And you remember doing that?”

“I remember hitting him after I’d handcuffed him, yes. Thinking, this one’s for De

“You realize you’ll have to come to the station and revise your statement, don’t you? I mean, it’s okay just telling me here, now, like this, but it has to be done officially.”

Janet raised an eyebrow. “Of course I know that. I’m still a copper, aren’t I? I just wanted… you know…” She looked away out over the dale.

A