Nicci French - Tuesday's Gone

‘Nice of you to fit me in.’

‘I’d like to see you for lunch, if you have the time.’

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘All right, then. Where?’

‘There’s a little place that’s quite near you – Number 9, Beech Street. Quite near my house. I can be there in ten minutes.’

‘I’ll get a taxi. One thing, though: I don’t really like being made a fool of.’

‘I understand that.’

‘Back to wearing dark clothes, I see.’

Frieda glanced down at what she was wearing, all blacks and sombre blues, and smiled. ‘I guess so.’

‘I liked what you were wearing last night.’

‘Thank you.’

‘You looked beautiful.’

She didn’t reply, but studied the offers chalked up on the board. Marcus came over to take their order. His eyes were bright with curiosity.

‘Goat’s cheese salad, please,’ she said briskly.

‘Same,’ said Harry.

‘And tap water.’

‘Same.’ He put his chin in his hands and studied her, thinking she looked tired. ‘So what happened?’ he asked.

‘You mean last night?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Come on, Frieda.’

‘I’m not being coy. I want to be honest about it. I didn’t know in advance that I was going to leave like that. I just had to. I can’t really explain.’

‘You could have told me, though. I was waiting for you to come back and feeling idiotically happy. Then bit by bit I realized you’d deserted me and I was this stranger at a party who’d been dumped.’

‘I just couldn’t stay there.’

‘I thought …’ He stopped and gave an awkward smile. ‘I thought you liked me. Were coming to like me, at least.’

‘I do. I’m sorry I left you like that last night. It was wrong of me.’

Their salad arrived. Marcus winked at Frieda, who raised her eyebrows at him sternly.

‘Is it because of all the things that are going on?’ asked Harry, prodding his goat’s cheese with a fork. He didn’t really like salads. Or goat’s cheese. ‘With this investigation and all that you’ve had to go through, I mean. That woman who killed herself, I forget her name, and the newspaper articles and the general ugliness of it all. It must be tough.’

Frieda considered. ‘I sometimes think I made a mistake in getting involved at all,’ she said at last. ‘I’m not entirely sure what my motives were. I’ve always said, always believed, that you can’t solve the mess of the world, only the mess inside your own head. Now I’m interviewing suspects and wandering around crime scenes. Why?’

‘Because you know you’re good at it?’ suggested Harry.

‘I probably shouldn’t be talking about this to you. But I don’t know the rules for a police investigation. I don’t know where the boundaries are.’

‘Can I say something?’

‘Of course.’

‘You’re someone that people tell their troubles to. Maybe you find it hard when it’s the other way round. You can say what you like to me. I’m not going to run to the newspapers.’

‘That’s kind of you.’

‘What’s troubling you about this investigation?’

‘The police think they know who it is.’

‘That’s good, no?’

‘They’ve found new evidence.’

‘What was that?’

‘Something in the room where Robert Poole’s body was discovered, something that was in his pocket when the body was found. I think they’re going to charge someone soon.’

‘Who?’ asked Harry. He took a small sip of water.

‘Now that really would be breaking a rule,’ said Frieda.

‘But you’re not happy?’

Frieda looked steadily at him. Her expression of concentration almost scared him.

‘It’s not just the investigation,’ she said. ‘The fact is, I’ve had it with all this. At first I enjoyed being involved in a police investigation. It was like an escape from my real life. But now, when I’ve been attacked by people saying, ‘What the hell is this analyst doing here?’ well, I mainly agree with them. So, I’m going to do this last thing and then I’m out of here.’

Harry smiled at her. ‘What’s this last thing?’

‘Oh, you don’t want to hear all the boring details,’ said Frieda.

‘I do,’ said Harry. ‘I’m interested in what you’re doing, in the things that make your life so complicated.’

‘All right,’ said Frieda. ‘It’s about Michelle Doyce, the woman who found the body. She’s in a psychiatric hospital down in Lewisham and she’ll probably never leave. The police have hardly bothered with her, she’s so obviously delusional. But I’ve stayed in touch with her. I’ve seen her from time to time, and just recently she’s been getting more lucid. She was terrified by the noises in the ward, all the other people, and it made her worse. But they moved her to a room on her own and she calmed down and she’s starting to talk about things.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘Michelle found the body and brought it back to her room. But from what she’s started saying, I think she did more than that. I think she saw who dumped the body.’

There was a pause. With great care Harry took a piece of goat’s cheese, put it on a piece of toast, chewed it and swallowed. ‘What do the police say?’ he asked.

‘They’re not interested,’ said Frieda. ‘They’ve got their own case and they’re happy with it.’

‘So is that it?’

‘No. I’ve got to know a neurologist who’s an expert on these extreme syndromes. I’m going in with him on Monday. He’s going to give her a cocktail of medication and I’m convinced she’ll be able to tell us exactly what she saw. Then I’ll give her statement to the police and they can do the inquiry the way they should have done it in the first place, which is properly. But they’ll have to do it without me. I’m done.’

‘Why do you do this?’ said Harry. ‘You can’t do everybody’s job for them. Aren’t you just tempted to walk away now? To get your life back?’

‘And watch an innocent man go to jail?’ she said. ‘How could I possibly?’

‘The police might just manage to get the right person themselves,’ he said. ‘Otherwise they wouldn’t be called police.’

Frieda shook her head. ‘Without this, they’ll go with the case they’ve got already and move on to something else.’ She looked suspiciously at him. ‘Don’t you like goat’s cheese salad?’

‘Not much.’

‘Why did you order it?’

‘It doesn’t matter. I’m not hungry, anyway. You know I’m mad about you, don’t you?’

‘Harry …’

‘Don’t say anything. Please don’t say anything. You know, anyway. That’s why I’m here ordering goat’s cheese and babbling.’ He put his hand out and touched her face. She sat quite still, her eyes fixed on his. Marcus, washing espresso cups at the counter, watched them.

‘Do I stand a chance?’

‘Not yet,’ said Frieda. She shifted away from him very slightly and he sighed.

‘Why?’

‘Bad timing.’

‘But one day?’

‘I need to go now. I have a patient.’

‘Don’t go yet. Please. What do I need to do?’

‘It’s not like that.’

‘No. Tell me. Give me an order.’

‘All right.’ Her voice was almost a whisper. ‘Leave me alone.’

Frieda finished work just before six. It was twilight and a damp wind was blowing through the streets. She turned up the collar of her coat, pushed her hands deep into the pockets and began to walk towards her house, which felt far off and infinitely desirable. Then someone touched her softly on the shoulder and she turned and saw Harry. ‘Were you waiting for me?’ She sounded angry.

‘I’ve been here for over an hour. I wanted to talk to you.’