The Wood Beyond

v

Ellie Pascoe's appointment with Miss Martindale was at midday. She wasn't looking forward to it. Not many people intimidated her, but Miss Martindale was high on the short list.

In appearance the head teacher was far from formidable. With her flowered dresses, flattish shoes, bare legs, bobbed hair and round, smiling, glowing, almost make-up-less face, she wouldn't have been out of place at a Betjeman tennis tourney. But when you tried to stick labels on her, that healthy pink skin was like Teflon.

Politically, from loony left to rabid right, nothing fitted. Socially she moved with an automatic gearbox up and down the classes. Sexually she gave no clue whether she was vestal or venereal, straight or gay. Her manner was easy and friendly yet she observed the formalities as rigidly as any old-fashioned schoolmarm. To Ellie's invitation at an earlier meeting to use her first name she'd replied, smiling, 'I'll think of you as Ellie but in the interests of consistency it had better stay Mrs Pascoe.'

'And how shall I think of you?' enquired Ellie.

'If all goes well, I hope as little as possible,' had come the reply. So, difficult to lay a glove on. But if she floated like a butterfly, she could also sting like a bee.

'After we spoke on the phone, I had a word with Rose's class teacher who couldn't recall a single instance of Rose using inappropriate language.'

No language was 'bad' of course. On that at least they were agreed.

'Perhaps,' said Ellie, 'because in reference to the learning situation no occasion arose when it would seem appropriate.'

'We have also monitored as far as is humanly possible her speech outside of the classroom. In play. During fairly fierce disputes with her friends about some point of information or order. The same.'

'What are you saying, Ms Martindale?' The 'Ms' was the closest Ellie could get to establishing some control of the relationship. 'That I'm imagining this inappropriate language?'

'Of course not.' That natural irresistible smile. 'Simply that you and your husband are, to the best of our knowledge so far, the only ones who have shared an occasion on which Rose felt the language in question was appropriate.'

It took Ellie an incredulous microsecond to pick the bones out of this.

'You mean it's our fault?'

'Please, Mrs Pascoe, I didn't think we were talking faults here. I thought we were meeting to discuss what you see as a problem, not to deal with what others might see as a complaint.'

Ellie pulled herself together.

'You're quite right,' she said. 'I do see it as a problem. And if, as seems likely, the problem originates here, then yes again, I am making a complaint.'

'Fair enough. The complaint being that your daughter is learning new words and phrases at school?'

Ellie stiffened in her seat and pursed her lips. Then she thought in horror, I don't purse my lips! That's what Mum used to do when she felt a fit of righteous indignation coming on!

She saw Miss Martindale regarding her gravely but with just the hint of a held-back smile on that generous mouth. Their gazes locked. And gradually the tension ebbed from Ellie's shoulder muscles and she relaxed in her chair.

'Oh shit,' she said.

'Is that exclamatory or descriptive?'

'It just seemed the appropriate thing to say.'

Miss Martindale considered and the smile broke loose.

'Bugger me,' she said, 'if I don't believe you're right.'

When she left ten minutes later, Ellie offered her hand and said, 'Thank you, Miss Martindale.'

The smile flickered in acknowledgment of the 'Miss'.

'Always a pleasure, Ms Pascoe,' she said.

As she drove away, Ellie was still smiling. That was something you tended to forget about Miss Martindale. You rarely came away from an interview feeling victorious. But you usually came away feeling good. She drove into the town centre. Street-level parking was almost impossible and she disliked the multistorey. On impulse she turned into the Black Bull car park. This was CID's favourite drinking hole and normally she'd have steered clear, but today the thought of bumping into the gang didn't bother her, and she might even be lucky enough to catch Peter there by himself, though of course he claimed it was only the iron grip of Fat Andy that dragged him into the place. The other attraction was that for the price of a sandwich and a beer, plus a nice smile at Jolly Jack the lugubrious landlord, she could get free parking while she did her afternoon shopping.

She was rather disappointed to find the place almost empty.

'Long time no see,' said the landlord as she curled her long legs round a bar stool. 'Thought you must've left him.'

'I can see how my absence has aged you,' she replied. 'Half of best and a beef and mustard please.'

There was a copy of last night's Evening Post on the bar and she glanced at it idly as she waited. Then a name caught her eye.

And for the second time that morning 'Oh shit!' seemed the only appropriate response.

She slid off the stool and headed for the telephone by the door. The infirmary number had been etched into her memory bank during the time Peter had been in there recovering from his injuries down Burrthorpe mine. She got through straight away.

'I'm ringing about a friend who's in Intensive Care,' she said. 'Wendy Walker.'

There was a hesitation, then a new voice asked, 'Are you a relative?'

'No. A friend.'

'Could I have your name, please?'

For a moment she came close to explosion.

Then she said, 'Is this just mindless bureaucracy or a police job?'

That did it.

'Is that Mrs Pascoe? Dennis Seymour here.'

'Dennis, great. How is she?'

'She's still not recovered consciousness yet, Mrs Pascoe, but they're hopeful. Er, is it yourself you're ringing for or the guv'nor?'

'It's myself, Dennis. The guv'nor, as you so archaically call him, hasn't seen fit to mention Wendy's accident.'

That was unfair. Of course Peter would have told her if he'd known.

She said, 'What exactly happened, Dennis?'

'Oh, looks like hit and run,' he said vaguely. 'Knocked her off her bike.'

'It said in the Post it was on Ludd Lane.'

'That's right.'

Ellie considered. There was something not right here.

She said, 'Dennis, what are you doing there?'

'Just waiting. Mr Dalziel said he wanted to know soon as she woke up.'

'Oh yes.' Which was really English for the more expressive American 'Oh yeah?!' She knew her Dalziel and he didn't waste valuable CID time letting his officers hang around hospitals waiting for traffic accident victims to wake up. Not even when it was hit and run. That was a job which even PC Hector, Mid-Yorkshire's contribution to Care in the Community, could manage with a more than even chance of success.

She knew it wasn't fair to browbeat Seymour into telling more than he should, but if that's what it took to get at the truth..

Then behind her she heard a voice say, 'Jack, one Scotch pie and some mushy peas, and a lettuce sandwich for my rabbit.'

Ellie said, 'Thanks, Dennis. Regards to Bernadette. See you.'

She turned to see Andy Dalziel inserting his buttocks into the only chair in the pub fit to receive such a generous offering. With him was Wield. The landlord was already advancing from the bar with a foaming pint in either hand. Not even a cabinet minister at the Ritz could command better service.

'That lettuce, Mr Wield, you want something with it?'

'Tomato 'ud be nice, Jack. And mebbe a slice of onion.'

'Jesus, just because you're living like a vegetable, there's no need to eat the bloody things,' said Dalziel in disgust. 'Well, hello, lass, is that you? By God you're looking well. Take heed, Wieldy. You don't fill your jeans like that on peas and parsnips!'

'Hello, Andy. Don't get up. Hi, Wieldy.'

Wield who had half risen sank back into his seat, smiling. Dalziel, who hadn't moved, said, 'Take the weight off your feet, lass. Have you got a drink?'

He's only spoken a couple of sentences, thought Ellie, and twice he's implied I'm getting fat!

'I've ordered something. Oh thanks, Jack.'

The landlord had arrived with her gill and sandwich.

'Is that the beef?' said Dalziel. 'Jack, tha's not been buying them carcasses from the Ministry vet again, have you?'

Quickly Ellie bit into her sandwich.

'It's fine,' she said. 'Andy, what's going off about Wendy Walker? I'd ask Peter-'

'Aye. Didn't he once used to work for me? How's he finding retirement?'

'-only as he didn't mention it last night, I assume he knows nothing about it.'

'Surprised it's taken you so long to catch on. Happened the night afore last, same evening as that university do. Didn't you say you thought she'd be coming? Well, she were found knocked off her bike in Ludd Lane, so mebbe she was on her way.'

'Not from home, she wasn't,' said Ellie. 'Her place is in exactly the opposite direction. And she said she wasn't coming on her bike because she wanted a lift back.'

'Lift back don't mean you can't arrive on a bike,' objected Dalziel.

Ellie said quietly, 'Andy, what's going on? She's my friend. Why're you playing with me?'

'Nay,' said the Fat Man taking a long pull at his beer. Seems to me like it's you doing the playing. Friend gets knocked down, you don't start thinking foul play, not without reason. Now in polite conversation, it's ladies first. And in police conversation, it's witnesses first. Either way, that's you, luv.'

It's not fair, thought Ellie. Only two people who can outpunch me, and I've got to take 'em both on in the same day!

Wield said, 'Hello, Pete. Get you a drink?'

A hand touched her shoulder and she looked up to see her husband's pleased but puzzled face. She smiled at him and he stooped to kiss her.

'So where've you been then?' said Dalziel menacingly. 'Somewhere interesting I hope?'

'I thought so,' said Pascoe sitting down. 'Jack's bringing me a pint, Wieldy. Incidentally, I've got a nice little job, right up your street. Out at Wanwood House. Which is where I've spent a not uninteresting morning.'

'It'll keep,' said Dalziel. 'We were just talking about Wendy Walker's accident.'

'Good lord. What happened?' asked Pascoe glancing anxiously at his wife.

She'd never doubted his ignorance but it was good to have it confirmed nonetheless.

Dalziel gave the bare facts, paused, then went on. 'But we've got reason to think it's mebbe more than a simple hit-and-run. Could be she were hit, in one sense or another, a long way off Ludd Lane, and just dumped there to die.'

He's decided the best way to get me talking is to give it straight, thought Ellie. And as usual the fat bastard's right! Well, I just hope he likes it when he hears it.

She said quietly, 'I may have some information which can help.'

Pascoe looked at her in surprise. Dalziel said, 'All contributions gratefully received.'

'Wendy came to see me the afternoon of the uni party. She had something she wanted to tell me, or at least talk over with me. But it wasn't convenient then.'

She glanced at her husband who was wearing that little frown of concentration which made him look like Thomas Aquinas. Should she have waited till they were alone before telling him this? In other words, was she doing that most unwifely thing of making your husband look foolish in front of his peers? She didn't think so, but there were still areas of the male psyche which remained terra incognita. Too late to draw back now. And in any case all she'd really have done talking to him privately would have been to off-load the perilous task of putting Andy in a quandary.

She went on, 'Walker is Wendy's married name. She kept it when she split with her husband partly because she liked the alliteration but mainly because she had no desire to relive the childhood embarrassment of her family name. Shufflebottom.'

She paused and looked at the three men. Pascoe frowned a little harder. Dalziel said, 'Nowt wrong wi' Shufflebottom. Good honest Yorkshire name.'

Yes, thought Ellie. If you're a good honest Yorkshire lad, with shoulders like an ox-yoke and fists like hams.

And Wield, whose mind sorted out connections like Bradshaw, said, 'Same name as that guard that got killed up at Redcar.'

'Wendy's brother,' said Ellie. 'Worked down Burrthorpe Main from leaving school till after the Strike. But when they started cutting back and cutting back, he was one of the first to accept terms and go. They fell out over it. Wendy said that none of them should let themselves be bought off. Mark said that he had a wife and three small children to think about. He took the money, got a job as a security guard and moved up to Redcar. Wendy didn't see him again till after they closed Burrthorpe completely. Then it struck her that she was letting those bastards at Westminster cut her off from her own flesh and blood too. So she went visiting. Earlier this year. It was fatted-calf time. They made her more than welcome. The kids were delighted to get their auntie back. Her sister-in-law who is completely apolitical was delighted to have an ally in the old Yorkshire struggle to keep the man of the house in his rightful place. And Mark wanted her to move up to the Northeast and start her life again. She went back to Burrthorpe and spent a few weeks thinking about it, but she'd just made her mind up to go when the news came about the animal rights raid. And Mark's death.'

She paused to take a sip of beer.

Dalziel was staring at her unblinkingly. He sees where this is going, she thought.

'She was devastated. Naturally. She'd found her brother again, and lost him forever, all within a matter of weeks. She wasn't all that much concerned with who'd killed him, not at first. For someone with her background she had surprising confidence in the police. They'd get someone, he'd be tried, convicted, sent down for ten years maybe. It wouldn't stop her sister-in-law from being a widow or her nephews from being fatherless. Or herself from being adrift in a world which no longer made much sense. It wasn't till the second raid, the one at Wanwood in the summer, which the papers said bore all the hall-marks of the same group, that it really got to her that whoever killed her brother was alive, and well, and carrying on business as usual. She read Peter's name in the paper as the officer in charge of the investigation. And she came to see me.'

She was addressing herself purely to Peter now.

'I hadn't had any contact with her since.. not for ages. All she wanted now was to know if there was any hope of an arrest. I said I couldn't talk about your work with anyone not in the Force. She told me why she wanted to know. Then I said I'd ask you.'

'And did you?' he asked.

'Didn't need to. You came home that night really down. Said you were getting nowhere and that Andy here had told you to wind things down and put it on the shelf till something broke to reactivate it. If I'd had to ask, or if the case was going on, I'd have told you everything then. But there was no need.'

No need to bring up Wendy Walker and Burrthorpe and all its attendant pain.

'So I saw Wendy again and told her, no, there wasn't likely to be an arrest. She went away. A few days later she was back. She asked me if I had any contact with anyone in the animal rights movement. I said, yes, I knew a couple of people, but not the sort who'd be involved in violence, if that's what she meant. She said, it didn't matter. All she wanted was an introduction. She wanted to get in, establish her credentials, get a reputation as an extremist, and hopefully pick up some lead to the group which had killed her brother. She was convinced it was Yorkshire based, with the two known raids being where they were.'

'And you encouraged her in this?' said Pascoe.

'I told her it was crazy. And pointless. I told her that almost certainly the police would have their own undercover operators in the movement already, and if they hadn't come up with a lead, what chance was there that she would? But she was adamant. This is what she wanted, all that she wanted. I could see that she needed something. Like I say, she was totally adrift. Everything had gone..

'She still had her brother's family,' said Pascoe.

'She'd been back to see them,' said Ellie. 'There was a fellow there, helping with the garden, that kind of thing. Not living in, in fact nothing else happening yet, her sister-in-law assured her. But she didn't deny she had hopes. They spoke honestly, woman to woman. Wendy couldn't blame her, as a woman. But as a sister. . well, at the very least she felt this was yet another development which left her on the outside. She needed something to keep her life moving forward. So I said I'd have a word with someone I knew. And I spoke to Cap Marvell.'

Dalziel said, 'Are you saying you told her all this? Any of this?'

'No. I told her everything else about Wendy's background but nothing of this. I told her that Wendy was disillusioned with politics and left-wing radicalism and wanted a new cause without all the human ambiguities of the old one. Cap said to send her along. That's all I did. Except that I promised Wendy to keep this to myself. And in return she promised if ever anything broke or looked like breaking, she'd contact me before pursuing it further.'

She leaned forward and said directly to Peter, 'In the remote contingency she did find out something, I wanted to make sure that nothing could happen which might embarrass or compromise you.'

He smiled and drooped the eyelid furthest from Dalziel in a wink which said, 'It's OK, I know that.'

'And what did she find out?' asked Dalziel.

She gave him her full attention now.

'I've no idea. Like I said, she called the day after they found those bones at Wanwood. I got the impression something had come up the previous night, or maybe it had been confirmed the previous night — '

'Something?' he interrupted.

'Nothing as firm as definite proof, else she'd have come straight out with it,' Ellie assured him. 'But something she wanted to talk over with me, a piece of behaviour perhaps, or something she'd overheard one of the others say … I really don't know. .'

'But something definitely connected to the previous night?' he insisted.

Ellie put her fingers over her eyes in the effort of remembering.

'I thought she looked pale.. well, paler than usual, and I suggested that finding those bones must have shaken her up. . and she said, no it wasn't that.. and she mentioned when they got inside the building, something about Cap Marvell running riot.. then Peter came in. But she did say before she left it was probably all in her imagination.'

She spoke reassuringly, then asked herself why the hell am I offering the Fat Man reassurance? Like telling a pit bull you weren't going to hurt him!

He said, 'And you were expecting to see her at the party? To talk about this?'

'Right. Well, not at the party maybe but I'm sure while I was giving her a lift home, she'd have brought it up …'

'Did you say owt about this to anyone else?'

'No! Well, except..'

'Yes?'

'I may have said something to Cap about Wendy wanting to talk to me. I mean, look, to be honest, I never felt altogether right about landing Wendy on her as a kind of spy. OK, Cap's not a close friend, and this kind of stuff she's got herself into strikes me as a diversion from much more serious issues — get the big things right, and we get everything right — but for all that, it worried me because it was a bit. . sneaky. Sorry, that sounds childish, but it's the right, the appropriate, word.'

A picture of Miss Martindale's wry smile flashed into her mind.

'So you were paving the way for a full admission in case anything Wendy might have come up with brought the whole business into the open,' said Peter.

Oh, how well you know me, my husband. But no need to spell out my moral ambiguity quite so plainly!

'Right,' she said.

'But clearly,' he went on, 'at no point did it ever enter your mind that Cap Marvell herself might be an object of Wendy's suspicions? Otherwise she's the last person you'd have said anything to. Right?'

So he too was in the reassure-Dalziel business. Oh, that tender blossom, that rathe primrose, needing protection from the cold blasts of suspicion playing on his new-found lady love. Could Cap Marvell really be mixed up in the Redcar business? Could antic chance have made her introduce Wendy to the woman who'd killed her brother? Dafter things happened on television. And what did she really know about Cap anyway? Wasn't her gut reaction that she was non-violent based more on the social assumption that ladies of Marvell's class didn't go around breaking skulls than on any real psychological insight? And how would Andy Dalziel react to the growing suspicion that he might have been banging away where he should have been banging up?

Like vulcanologists sailing off Krakatoa, they watched, poised between flight and fascination.

Slowly the great head turned, the slab features and blank eyes concealing whatever lavatic emotions surged and bubbled within, his gaze passing like a dark shadow over Wield and Ellie and Peter, till it came to rest on the bar.

'Jack!' he bellowed. 'Are you exhuming that pie, or what?'