Gallery Whispers

23

'It's a step forward, Brian; but don't let the team get too carried away about it. Even if you identify and trace this Deacey character, you're still a bit away from placing him at Oldbams on the night ofGaynor's death.'

'Not if his DNA matches the trace Dorward's lot found on that glass.'

'Straws on the wind, man, and you're clutching at them.'

'We'll see. There's another straw as well. There was an entry on Wednesday, reminding her to write to her son.'

'I wonder if she ever did?'

'You bet she did. She was thorough and methodical, this woman.

That letter's kicking around somewhere. I'm going back to see the lad tomorrow morning; I'll take Maggie with me.'

'Just you do that, mate. But that's enough for today. Call me over the weekend if you have to, but otherwise, I'll see you next week.'

Martin replaced the receiver.

'Are you a step nearer to tracing Doctor Death?' asked Alex, as he turned towards her.

'Don't use that term even in fun,' he replied, a little sharply. 'I've been dreading the tabloids picking it up. So far this has been a quiet low-key investigation into what most of them have decided is a suicide, thanks to the careful wording ofAlan Royston's press release.'

'Maybe if you were a bit more forthcoming the person you're after might came forward.'

'Maybe if you buy a bikini, it'll be warm enough for you to go swimming in the sea tomorrow. People do not walk into police offices asking to be locked up for life; not as a matter of course, anyway.'

She beamed across the table at him as he resumed his seat, sipping at his coffee, which had cooled during Mackie's call. 'Surely this might be the sort of person who would do just that. Helping a friend to die must be an awful thing to do; I'll bet that whoever did it, it's preying on their mind right now. I'll bet they'd love to get it off their chest, whatever the consequences.

'Why don't you let Brian Mackie call a press conference and explain exactly what's happened? I'll bet it would work.'

He looked back at her, unsmiling. 'For a cautious lawyer, you're throwing a few bets around tonight. You're also forgetting basic legal principles. If Brian did that, he'd have the Fiscal down on his neck in an instant for compromising the whole investigation, and prejudicing a future trial.'

'Okay, he doesn't need to spell it all out, just enough to let the press draw conclusions.'

'Alex, I don't care whose daughter you are; just leave the police work to us, okay.'

Her gaze dropped as she sat back in her chair, hurt by his snub.

Then tossing her napkin onto the table, she stood, picked up her mug and stepped silently into the kitchen. She was pouring herself more coffee when he appeared in the doorway.

'You can get your own!' she snapped.

'Alex, love, I'm sorry,' he said, 'I didn't mean to bite your head off.'

'Well, I meant to bite yours,' she fired back, unappeased.

'Sorry, sorry, sorry. Let's not shout at each other all night. We've got unfinished business, you and I, from a couple of nights ago. You know it as well as I do, but you've been dodging the subject ever since.'

Alex had never been able to sustain anger for any length of time; she had never been sure whether this was a strength or a weakness.

'Okay,' she said, quietly. 'Truce. Let's talk: I've been working myself up to have it all out with you tonight anyway. That's probably why I was so snippy.' She picked up her coffee, walked past him, back into the living room, and sat on the long sofa, staring across the room, without a hint of a smile.

'I don't want to break off our engagement, Andy,' she began. In spite of himself, he felt his heart take flight in his chest… and then she shot it down. 'Yet I think you're right: we need to stand back from each other and take a look at our future together and how it would be.

For unless each of us gets what we have a right to expect out of life, it isn't a future I want to contemplate.

'From where I stand,' she looked at him for the first time, a light smile on her lips. 'or in this case, sit, I have as much right to a career as you have. You, on the other hand do not have the right to put pressure on me about having children; or to make me feel guilty about not having them — as you've done already.

'I want what my step-mother has; a successful professional life, built up to the point at which she can adapt her work to suit her circumstances. The age difference between my Dad and Sarah is about the same as it is between you and me, yet they've made it work. Yes, even after Pops' mid-life crisis — in spite of it — they've made it work. If you want to be jealous of anything, Andy, don't make it my job, be jealous of them, for they are what we should be aiming to be.

'We should be thinking long-term, but you don't seem capable of that.'

His green eyes seemed to lose their sparkle as he looked at her. 'You're getting it off your chest, all right. I wonder if you realise just how calculating you sound. Does love come into this at all?'

She turned on him. 'Of course it does, and do I love you. But taking for granted comes into it too, and that's what you do with me.'

He opened his mouth in a retort, but she cut him off. 'Ask yourself this. Just lately have we been making love, or have we just been fucking? I know the difference. Do you?'

'Let's try not to wound each other any more than's necessary, eh,' he whispered.

She softened at once. 'Oh I'm sorry,' she exclaimed, taking his hand. 'You know what I mean though.'

He nodded his blond head. 'Yes, I know, I know. So what do you want to do about it?'

'I'm going to move out, Andy,' she said. 'I really don't want to break off our engagement, far from it: but please understand; I'm still learning to be me as an adult. I think I need room to finish the process.'

'Christ,' he chuckled, 'you're more grown up than me in some ways. Where will you live?'

'I'll buy a flat. I still have the money from selling my student flat in Glasgow; and my furniture's in store. It's a sensible thing to do; when you and I have ourselves sorted, and when eventually we do get married, maybe I can rent it out. In the short term, Gina, my pal in the office, has room to spare at her place in Comely Bank. I'm going to move in there with her.'

She paused. 'I want you to leave me for a week, till I get things sorted. Then maybe we could go out for dinner next Saturday, like we used to, and start again from there; try to build a more comfortable relationship.'

'Okay,' he agreed, still reluctantly. 'When will you go?'

'Tomorrow. Then I'm taking a couple of days off at the beginning of next week.'

'All planned, eh?',

She smiled at him, cautiously. 'It was time for someone to be decisive, wasn't it?'

'Yes, sweetheart, I suppose it was. Tonight though…'

'What?'

'Let's make love.'