It was a strong reaction. Worth pressing? Not yet, he decided. First get the facts. Or at least, get her story.
He said, OK. Now, in your own time, tell me what happened. Start when you left your flat this morning.
She closed her eyes as though in pain. The silence stretched till it became a barrier. The door opened and WPC Scott slipped back in.
Mrs Maguire, said Dog.
She sighed deeply and began to speak.
It was raining, she said. It had been raining all night. Perhaps thats why the car wouldnt start. But I was late already. Noll hadnt been too well over the weekend and he was still a bit fractious when I got up. Usually hes keen to get to the kindergarten, and I know hed been particularly looking forward its the last week before they break up, you see, and they were doing all kinds of Christmassy things
Her voice faded then picked up again before he could frame a consolation.
Anyway, he announced this morning he didnt want to go. I suppose he sensed I was in a hurry and just decided to be bloody minded. They can be like that, you know, kids. Dont want to, dont want to, over and over and you try to be reasonable like you were taught, and times passing, you can hear it ticking away
Did it matter so much if Noll was late for school? wondered Dog.
No, of course not. But Ive got an aerobics class at nine-thirty on Mondays
You take it, you mean? Thats your job?
A hesitation. A decision?
Yes. I work at the Family Fun Health Centre in Shell Street. Its about thirty minutes drive through the morning traffic, so Ive really got to be on my way by nine.
But this morning the car wouldnt start?
No, she said. I kept on trying the starter, then I got worried about the battery. So I got out and looked under the bonnet.
And you found the trouble?
No. Im not mechanically minded. I suppose I was just trying to advertise that there was a helpless little woman in trouble. It didnt work at first. Seems those macho know-it-alls dont function so well in the wet either.
It sounded like a bitter joke, but he got the feeling it was also a delaying tactic. This was painful, but the greatest pain was yet to come.
So in the end you managed yourself? he asked.
No. There was this man, a boy really, you know, leather jacket and jeans, he stuck his head under the bonnet, fiddled around for a few seconds, said, There you go, and went on his way. I thought he was joking, or maybe just walking off fast rather than admit it was beyond him. Men do that, dont they? Walk away rather than admit defeat? But when I tried it again, the engine started straightaway. So did Noll. Id strapped him in his chair in the back and hed sat there, happy as Larry, all the time I couldnt get the thing going. But now he started up again. You wonder where they get the lung power from. All the way to Charnwood Grove he kept it up without a break. And the rain was still coming down, and the windows were all misted up, and all I could think of was that Mr Granger would be furious
Mr Granger?
George Granger. He owns the Health Centre.
Where you work from nine-thirty till ?
Till two-thirty.
Odd hours.
They suit. Housewives in the morning fighting the flab. Businessmen pumping iron, over their lunch hours.
She spoke with something close to contempt, noticed him noticing and went on in a neutral tone, Then its fairly quiet till evening. I go in four nights a week, seven to ten.
Leaving Noll with a baby sitter?
Yes. Naturally. Do you think Id leave him alone? she flashed.
Naturally, no. What do you do for lunch, Mrs Maguire?
The question surprised her, quenched her anger. Made her wary.
Nothing really. Theres a coffee machine. I usually dont bother till I get home. Then Noll and I have tea together
Tears brimmed again. He preferred anger to tears. He said brusquely, Is there a bar at the Centre?
No, she said. She watched him, saw his nose twitch, remembered Vesteys nostrils flaring. Hed smelt the gin, or that cow had told him shed smelt it. She waited for the question. If asked, shed tell him. But he had to ask. She had no strength to tell what she wasnt asked.
But he was set in his method. The diversion was over. He was back on the old rails.
So you finally arrived in Charnwood Grove. At what time?
Nine-fifteen. Nine-twenty. I parked the car and got Noll out. He didnt want to come and I almost had to drag him out. And then Miss Gosling came along
She halted. It was close now. The moment when she described seeing Noll for the last time. The last time
She had to move. She thrust back the sheet and swung her legs over the side of the bed. There was a moment of dizziness but her body was so well tuned it carried her easily through it. Then she was on her feet. Cicero drew in his breath. All impression of frailty was dispelled. Not even the shapeless hospital gown could disguise her grace as, long-legged and full-bosomed, she moved around the room with the frustrated energy of a circus cat exploring the limits of its cage.
Whos Miss Gosling?
One of the teachers at least I thought She was walking along with her head down into the rain. Noll ran into her. She almost knocked him over.
She seemed to have got past a sticking point and was now talking fast and fluently.
She stooped down and steadied him and she said, Hello. Its Noll, isnt it? You must be in a hurry to get into school. Is it those Christmas decorations youre so keen to finish off? And Noll said, Yes. All that grizzling about not going to school and here he was saying yes to a stranger
Stranger? interrupted Dog. I thought you said this Miss Gosling was a member of staff.
She was! insisted the woman. She knew all about Nolls class making Christmas decorations. Hed told me about them on Friday. And she was wearing the uniform, well, not exactly uniform, but Mrs Vestey likes her staff to wear these brown skirts and cream blouses
And you could see this? You mean she wasnt wearing a coat, even though it was raining cats and dogs? said Cicero, gently puzzled.
Jane thought, then said, Yes, she was wearing an anorak, a blue anorak with the hood up.
Like Nolls. That was what you said Noll was wearing, wasnt it?
Thats right. They matched. It was the same blue, I remember. And she was walking along with the anorak unfastened but with her hands in her pockets to clasp it tight across her body as she walked. But when she bumped into Noll she took her hands out to steady him and the anorak fell open.
She stood in front of him and looked down at him almost triumphantly. A problem posed, a problem solved. But was it a problem of memory or a problem of explanation?
And what happened then? he asked.
She said shed take Noll into the kindergarten, and I got in the car and drove away, she said.
What? You left your child with this stranger? All right, so she said she was a teacher at the kindergarten, but you only had her word for it, didnt you? And didnt it occur to you to wonder, if you were so late, what was this so-called teacher doing wandering around outside at that time too?
No, she said. I didnt think of that. Not then.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and regarded him earnestly.
But I wouldnt have left Noll if I hadnt been certain, no matter how much of a hurry I was in. I knew she was a teacher because Id met her in the school. On Friday afternoon when I picked Noll up. She was there. In the school. She talked to me about Noll. She said shed just started and was trying to get to know all the mothers.
But Mrs Vestey says
Shes a liar! cried Maguire, jumping up once more. Shes the one you should be questioning. That bitch. Shes a liar, a liar, a liar!
She was moving round the room again. But now the cat-like grace had gone, to be replaced by something much more spasmodic, angular, almost manic.
WPC Scott was looking at him anxiously. He nodded and she rose and slipped quietly out.
He said, When you fainted, Mrs Maguire, the last words you said were, I quote: its all my fault; I shouldnt have hit him. What do you think you meant by that?
She came to a sudden halt, freezing to complete stillness like a child playing statues.
It was me who said that? she asked, though it was only marginally a question.
So I am informed.
I must have meant I suppose I meant it was when I was getting him out of the car. Thats it. He was yelling his head off and flailing out with his hands and legs. He kicked me on the shin. It was an accident. When I looked down, I saw hed torn my tights and I swore. I said, Oh shit! and he took it up. You know what little boys are like with naughty words. He just stood there shouting, Shit! Shit! Shit! and I hit him. I didnt think about it. I just slapped his leg very hard like my mother used to do to me. He didnt cry or anything. In fact he went completely silent. Id never hit him before, you see. Then his face began to crumple up and he turned to run away, and thats when he ran into Miss Gosling. Perhaps if I hadnt hit him And we never made up
Her body was racked with huge sobs, each one of which visibly drained her reserves of strength. She seemed to be collapsing in on herself and she had started rocking to and fro like a tower in an earthquake, when the door opened and a nurse and a doctor hurried in, with Scott close behind.
They caught her and lifted her towards the bed.
Do you mind? said the nurse angrily, as she found Cicero in her way. The doctor scowled at him with unconcealed distaste and even WPC Scott couldnt hide her disapproval.
Dog Cicero didnt seem to register any of this, but watched pensively as they laid Jane Maguire on the bed. The doctor said, I think youd better go now, Inspector. We cant delay this X-ray any longer.
Yes, of course. Excuse me.
He leaned over the bed before they could draw the sheet up and looked at the womans shins. Then he went across to the tall locker against the wall, opened it, reached in, and emerged with a pair of tights. He held them up to the light, and stretched them out.
They were perfect.
Let us know as soon as shes fit to talk to us again, wont you? he said pleasantly.
He went out. The young constable followed. In the corridor he said to her, You stay here, Scott. By the bedside. Whatever she says, waking or sleeping, you make a note. Get me?
Sir, what do you think ? The child, will he be all right?
Is he still alive, you mean? He regarded her steadily. If you can get even money, take it, Scott.
He walked away. She watched him go, then with a sick heart went back into the room.
4
The sign was brash and new: FAMILY FUN HEALTH CENTRE in big black letters on a white ground strewn with cameos of families having fun on exercise bikes, in a sauna, under sun lamps.
Dog Cicero had been here before. He knew if you removed the sign above the entrance you would find chiselled in the granite lintel: SHELL STREET YOUTH CLUB, OPENED MAY 1921 BY ALDERMAN CALDER DSO JP.
Last time he had stepped through these doors, hed been fifteen, and memory programmed him to expect peeling olive green paint, worn linoleum, bare bulbs, a smell of damp wood, the stridency of punk guitars.
Instead he found pastel shades, carpet tiling, strip lighting, an odour of embrocation oil and the bounce of James Last.
Someone had turned Shell Street Youth Club into a place fit to get fit in.
Not that the woman sitting at a small reception desk looked much of an advertisement for the service. If fat was still a feminist issue, here was a profound political statement.
Im looking for Granger, said Dog.
Hes in the gym. Can I help? Im Mrs Granger. Was it one of our courses youre interested in?
No. He produced his warrant card. Just an enquiry.
She didnt look surprised. Or worried.
Come with me, she said.
She led him through a door into a corridor. A willowy blonde looking like the after to the older womans before came towards them. Mrs Granger said, Suzie, watch the desk for a minute, will you?
There had been something euphemistically called a gym in the youth club. This too had changed; sprung floor, white pine, and enough gleaming implements to delight an Inquisitors heart. A couple of youths were pushing and pulling at steel levers, watched by a burly middle-aged man who came to the door in response to a gesture from Mrs Granger.
George, this is Inspector Cicero, she said. My husband, Inspector.
Cicero? There was a chippie called Ciceros.
My fathers. Mr Granger, if you can spare a moment, Id like to ask about a member of your staff. A Mrs Maguire. Mrs Jane Maguire.
The Grangers exchanged glances.
So whats she been saying? demanded the woman.
Is there somewhere we can talk? If youre not too busy. He glanced into the quiet gym.
We fill up later on, said Granger defensively. Dog looked at his watch. Ten to five. He recalled what Maguire had said.
Granger led the way to a small office. Three was very much a crowd in here, especially when two were built like the Grangers. He had clearly eaten at the same table as his wife even if he had been rather more successful in preserving the fatmuscle ratio.
Right, Mr Cicero, lets hear it.
There was an edge of something there. Aggression? Anger? Defiance? Endo said, just keep dealing the cards, son, and sooner or later theyll tell you what theyre at.
He asked, What time did Mrs Maguire get to work this morning?
Another exchange of glances, this time puzzled. Then the woman said with remembered indignation, Ten to ten. I had to start her aerobics class.
Dog thought of Maguires lithe athletic figure and nodded gravely.
And did she leave at her usual time? Thats two-thirty, I believe.
No! exploded Granger. She did not!
You mean she left early? Why was that?
She left early because I fired her! Thats why she left. Whats she been saying, Inspector?
You fired her? said Dog. For being late?
Again he got the bewildered reaction.