Stone Cold Red Hot - страница 47

He paused for a beat, his body still. “You can check that out too, can’t you? When you go to Huddersfield?”

“Yes, I can, if her death was ever registered, if her identity was known. But her next of kin would have been notified unless there had been some mistake along the line. Another possibility is that Jennifer married and changed her name, she might never have told her husband she had any family, in that case he would have been her next of kin and your parents would never have been informed. So I’ll look for marriages as well as the births and deaths.”

He swallowed. “Right.” He looked at me then, his eyes glistening but his gaze steady. “Because it would be better to know, whatever you find out, it would be better to know, wouldn’t it?”

I had no answer.

I felt lousy cycling back from Roger’s. The confrontation with Mrs Pickering had left a bitter taste in my mouth and the tension had given rise to a dull ache in my neck and shoulder. I admired Roger’s determination that I should press ahead with my enquiries, especially after the fury of his mother, but I felt anxious at what I might find out. My hunch was that I would bring only bad news back from Huddersfield. I told myself it was his choice, he was a grown man, but it had hardly been a fully informed choice. Yes, I’d hinted at the possibility of Jennifer’s death but I’d come nowhere near telling him I now thought that the most likely outcome.

I needed to work off some of the tension. I was pushing it for time but I just made it home to get towel and swimsuit and out again for the Tuesday night women only swim at Withington Baths. It was better going later, not so busy. I swam as fast as I could, pushing myself, feeling my legs tire and my lungs work hard. After thirty lengths I walked up the steps, my legs wobbling from the exertion. I had a long shower, letting the water play on my sore shoulder. The water was hot but only stayed on for ten seconds at a time so I had to keep reaching up to press the knob again which made it hard to keep my back relaxed.

Ray and Laura were watching a video when I got back. I didn’t feel like joining in. I asked Ray if he’d be able to collect Maddie and Tom from school the following afternoon. He mumbled a yes and snuggled closer to Laura who giggled at something. I wondered whether Laura had met Nana Tello yet. She’d be delighted at any sign of Ray getting ready to settle down properly with someone. She had always viewed our household and my presence as an awkward aberration which would stymie Ray’s eligibility for romance and marriage and further grandchildren. I bet she was lighting candles to the patron saint of courtship on a regular basis.

Sheila was washing up in the kitchen; she shares it with us and has a flat in the attic with her own bathroom and sitting room.

“You look tired,” she said.

That made me yawn. “I didn’t get in till nearly three, my car got nicked last night.”

“Oh, no, where?”

I told her all about it as I made myself some tea and crumpets. “And now,” I yawned, “I’m absolutely shattered.”

“Early night?”

“Yes.” I didn’t want to play gooseberry to the loving couple and I nearly said so to Sheila but it wasn’t the right moment, really. If I was going to raise it we needed time for a good talk. I wanted to know if she found Ray had changed and what she thought about Tom and Ray leaving us or Laura moving in. “What about you? Course going well?”

“I love it,” she laughed at herself. “I’ve definitely got the bug. I’m hoping that they’ll let me do a PHD after this.”

“Good for you.” She was in the second year of a degree course in geology, after the break up of a twenty-year marriage.

I slathered my crumpets with butter and Marmite and took them up with my drink.I read for a while but found it hard to concentrate. I checked on the kids before I went to bed. All was well. I had a bunch of late sweet-peas by my bed. I lay there and breathed in their perfume and tried not to think about work; about secrets and lies and snapshots of a girl with stars painted on her cheeks. I tried for ages. And then I slept.