Well, be thankful that you still have your oldest child.
What? she said.
Alex.
Oh. Yes.
There was an awkward moment when they looked at each other in embarrassed silence, neither having any idea what to say.
Cooper knew that hed been taking advantage of his position with the Nields. They would probably have reacted quite differently to a police officer who didnt happen to be the man whod tried to save their daughters life. They wouldnt have talked so readily, been willing to answer those questions all over again without suspicion. But hed pushed their gratitude as far as he could. It was time for him to leave.
But Mrs Nield touched his arm as he paused on the door step.
Ben youll come to the funeral, wont you? she said.
Cooper said goodbye to the Nields, and found his way out of Ashbourne. He thought back to the few minutes hed spent with Alex. The boy was clearly absorbed in some other universe that his parents probably knew nothing about, and wouldnt understand if they did. Interesting that so many things were illegal, or against the rules in the War Tribe universe. But he supposed there must be plenty of people who set out to be bullies, cheats and liars. Just like real life, in fact.
On the way out of town, Ashbournes confusing one-way system took him past the fire station. The alarm was sounding at the station. Two retained firemen jogged up the road, and a third arrived on a bicycle.
He wondered if Alex Nields online world had an imaginary fire brigade that would rush to put out the conflagrations caused by imaginary fire catapults. He supposed not. It was far too exciting to watch your enemies burn. As any teenage boy knew, destruction was so much fun.
6
Nearly two hours after leaving Edendale, Fry turned off the M6 at the Gravelly Hill interchange, the vast tangle of flyovers and slip roads known everywhere as Spaghetti Junction. In a couple of minutes she was on the Aston Expressway, eating up the tarmac on those two final miles of motorway that led right into the heart of the city.
It was morning rush hour. That was something shed forgotten. She was sitting in a sea of carbon monoxide all the way from Sutton Coldfield to the Bull Ring. Tasting those fumes made Fry conscious of how shed begun to acclimatize to her new home in Derbyshire. Up there in the hills, you could actually smell the air. You knew you were breathing oxygen.
In a way, the Expressway was a perfect introduction to Birmingham. It seemed to sum up all the citys quirks and contradictions. This was the only stretch of motorway in the country with no central reservation. Instead, it had a seventh lane in the middle, which worked in opposite directions at peak times a tidal-flow system, controlled by arrows on the overhead gantries. According to legend, one of these gantries used to contain a pipeline carrying vinegar from one part of the HP Sauce factory to another across the Expressway. Once, the pipeline had sprung a leak, and the paintwork of dozens of passing cars had been ruined by vinegar rain. Or so the story went. It could just be a bit of Brummie folklore.
It was difficult to sum Birmingham up, though. Fry had heard many cliches about the place. Workshop of the Empire, Venice of the North, city of a thousand trades. Oh, and birthplace of heavy metal. Well, that last one was probably right. It probably dated from the time when four lads from Aston decided to become Black Sabbath. Ozzy Osbourne was some kind of god in these parts. They had even preserved the terraced house in Lodge Road where he grew up and first got himself into trouble as a disaffected youth.
She switched on the radio, and tuned it to BBC WM, where the Breakfast Show was just finishing. The presenters voice sounded familiar. He was another former student of UCE, one of the local success stories they often talked about. She couldnt remember his name.
When her phone rang, she recognized Gareth Blakes voice straight away. It was that voice, those smooth tones, that had told her they intended to re-open her rape case.
Diane, can you talk?
Yes, Im hands free.
Good. Are you in Birmingham?
On the Expressway, said Fry.
Brilliant. Im really pleased that you made this decision, Diane.
In a way, it was made for me.
Oh? Youre not feeling under any obligation, are you? We havent put any undue pressure on you?
That was typical of Blake. Covering all the bases, trying not to put a foot wrong. No one could ever claim that DI Gareth Blake hadnt gone by the book.
No, dont worry. Im on board.
Thats good, Diane. He sounded relieved. Weve set up a meeting with the team this afternoon at two oclock. In Lloyd House. You know where it is?
Gareth, I worked in Birmingham, remember?
Of course, of course. WellColmore Circus. Youll find it. The other thing is Rachel Murchison would like to touch base with you before the meeting. Talk to her, wont you? The sooner the better. Shes waiting for your call, Diane.
Fry exited the Expressway and found her way via back streets through Aston and Newtown. Aston Cross was unrecognizable without the familiar background of the HP Sauce factory. Its old site was now just an expanse of soil and rubble.
Her last posting in the West Midlands had been here, as a detective constable based at Queens Road. D1 OCU, the Operational Command Unit for Aston. The building still looked the same. Marked police vehicles stood out front. Round the back, she knew, parking places were marked in strict hierarchical order from the entrance Chief Superintendent, Superintendent, DCI, Chief Inspector, right down to the IT department.
She wondered if every cell in the custody suite still had the Crimestoppers number printed on a wall just inside the door. Somebody must once have decided that a prisoner in the cells might use his one call to report a crime. Hope sprang eternal, even in a custody suite.
Fry frowned at the boarded-up wreck of a pub under the shadow of the Expressway. She couldnt recall its name, or whether shed ever drunk there when she worked at Queens Road. Maybe theyd tended to go into The Adventurers a few yards down from the nick. Some memories were just lost, she supposed.
Driving up Aston Road North reminded her of a snippet passed on by one of the lecturers over coffee during her course in Criminal Justice and Policing at UCE. Apparently, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle had lived on this very road when he was a poor medical student, helping out a local doctor. That was pre Sherlock Holmes, of course. She might even remember the name of the doctor, if she tried not to think about it.
This was part of her old patch when she was in uniform, and later as a divisional DC. She ought to know this area well, but things had changed. New buildings had gone up, entire streets had disappeared.
Worse, every pub she remembered in this area seemed to have closed. The Waterloo in Wills Street, the Royal Oak on Lozells Road, even the Cross Guns in Newtown. All gone, and more besides.
But Birmingham had always been a work in progress. The citys oldest buildings came down faster than new ones went up. The old Bull Ring shopping centre had been state of the art, not many decades ago. The early seventies, maybe? The late sixties? But the place had already been looking tired when Fry herself had hung around its walkways and escalators as a teenager. Now the city had a new Bull Ring. Borders and Starbucks, and the rippling metallic girdle of Selfridges, known to locals as the Daleks Ballgown. Award-winning, that Selfridges design. A sign of Brums arrival in the twenty-first century. But how many years would it last, before Birmingham decided to move on, ripped it down and stuck up something new?
She checked her watch. She was early yet. Not that they would mind her arriving a bit sooner than expected. They would probably be delighted. She could imagine them chuckling with excitement in the hall, fussing around her, patting her arm, ushering her into an armchair while the kettle boiled. But she wasnt quite ready for that yet.
Beyond the underpass at Perry Barr, she turned into the One-Stop shopping centre and parked up. Inside the mall, she walked past Asda and Boots, and out into the bus station.
She had studied for her degree in Criminal Justice and Policing at UCE, the University of Central England, right here in Perry Barr. From the bus station, she had a good view of her old alma mater, though it had now been renamed Birmingham City University. She could see the Kenrick Library and the golden lion emblem high on the main building of the City North campus.
Instead of going back to her car, she crossed to the other side of the bus station and walked towards Perry Barr railway station, past a few shops that stood between here and the corner of Wellington Road The Flavour of Love Caribbean takeaway, Nails2U, the Hand of God hair salon.
But there was no point in avoiding the call. She was caught up in the machine now, had voluntarily thrown herself into the mechanisms of the criminal justice system, and she had no escape.
Diane, are you well? said Murchison, answering her phone instantly, as if she had indeed been sitting at her desk waiting for it to ring.
Yes, Im fine.
I just wanted a few words with you, before our meeting this afternoon.
You just wanted to make sure I was actually on my way, perhaps?
No. I think youve made the commitment now. Im sure you wont change your mind. But if you do
I wont, said Fry.
All right. Well, I know you might be feeling isolated and vulnerable at the moment. But dont forget, youre not alone in this. Were all on your side. Any support you need is available, twenty-four hours a day. Anything you want to talk about is fine. Dont hold it back. Call me, any time.
Thank you. Thats very kind.
Dont worry, Diane. Its my job.
Fry winced, wondering if she had just received the hand-off, the subtle reminder that this wasnt a personal relationship but a professional one. She supposed that counsellors, like psychiatrists, had to be wary of relationships with their clients, and draw firm boundaries. Some of the people Murchison dealt with must be very needy.
Below her, the yellow front end of a London Midland City train whirred into the Birmingham platform of the station.