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.Why?’ He looked up at Mariner.‘Nothing.Forget it.’But Knox couldn’t.The cogs were turning.‘Christ, you haven’t—’ he said at last, having figured it out.Mariner’s silence said it all.Knox raised an eyebrow.‘You’ve cheated on the gorgeous Anna? What the hell would you want to do that for? I thought she was hot.’‘She is, when she’s available.’‘You knew about Jamie before you started it.’‘That’s the thing.It’s not Jamie.His respite hours are increasing all the time.And anyway, just because he’s there doesn’t mean I can’t see her.Jamie’s OK with me.He always has been.It’s all the other stuff.’‘Like?’‘Well, right now we’re organising a stall for the Bournville Festival.’‘What’s that when it’s at home?’‘It’s like a fair: home-grown leeks and maypole dancing.’‘Nothing wrong with a bit of pole dancing.’‘Maypole dancing; this is sweet little girls in pretty dresses skipping around waving bits of ribbon.’ They both thought about that.Then Mariner said, ‘They probably attract the same kind of spectator, of course.’‘And this is what you’re jealous of.Sounds to me like you’re getting serious about our Anna.’‘Not really.’‘But you don’t like it when she plays hard to get.’‘I don’t know if she really is.It’s just as if what we’ve got isn’t that important to her.It’s just one small aspect of her life.’‘Does she know how important it is to you?’‘What do you mean?’‘I mean, have you told her?’Mariner had to think for a minute.‘Not in so many words.’Knox laughed.‘You really don’t get it, you pathetic loser, do you? I can tell you’ve never read a woman’s magazine.’‘I haven’t.’‘Not even in the dentist’s waiting room?’‘My dentist gets the Great Outdoors.’‘Talk to Anna! Tell her what you’ve told me.How else is she supposed to know that you want more of a commitment? ’‘I’m not sure that I do.’‘Oh, you do.’‘What is this? Your new career as Mary Knox: Agony Aunt?’‘Oh yeah.I’m a real expert, me.I bet you’ve never told her that you love her, either.’Mariner couldn’t answer him.Knox shook his head in disbelief.‘Christ, what does she see in you?’‘I’m dynamite between the sheets,’ said Mariner, looking on sheepishly as finally, combined with the whisky, he reduced Knox to uncontrollable mirth.‘So who is it?’ asked Knox, when he’d wiped his eyes.‘What does it matter? It was only once.An abberation.’‘Who?’‘Millie.’‘With respect, sir, you’re a fucking moron.’‘Millie’s a great—’‘I didn’t mean that.’‘No.’ Mariner turned his attention back to the monitor.‘So this is your old school?’‘For its sins.The entries go back for years.There are people who were at my old school in nineteen forty-three.Can you believe that?’‘Are you on here?’‘You have to be joking.I wouldn’t want to own up to my career choice.There’s a few people I recognise though, kids and teachers.Some of the stuff about the teachers gets pretty libellous.You should have a go.Look up your old school.’‘No thanks.’ Mariner could think of nothing worse.There wasn’t a single person from his time at school that he would have the slightest desire to make contact with again.And he had other, more pressing, things on his mind.When they’d had strong coffee and Knox seemed almost human again, Mariner expounded his theory.‘It all just keeps coming back to Shaun Pryce,’ he said.‘I don’t think it was only electrical work that he did.I think he was offering Barbara Goodway another kind of service.’‘He really fancies himself.I wouldn’t be surprised,’ Knox agreed.‘He was very keen to tell us about his high sex drive, and from what we see he doesn’t have a steady girlfriend, so how else does he get by?’‘Do you think Yasmin would have gone for a bloke like Shaun Pryce?’‘Yasmin?’‘I was just thinking: Pryce might have been useful to her.If Yasmin was still in love with Lee, Shaun would have come in useful for winding him up.She knew Lee was working at the industrial units and they used to meet on the bridge.Perhaps she arranged to meet Lee to show him what she was getting up to with Shaun.Maybe she wasn’t going on the pill for Lee at all, but for Shaun Pryce.’‘Except that Lee’s insisting that he didn’t show that afternoon.I don’t really buy that.’‘OK.Let’s try the pure coincidence theory.Maybe Lee confirmed their date but had decided to stand Yasmin up.He told us he thought she was leading him on.Yasmin turns up at the bridge but no Lee.However, the guy who is there, lurking in the grass, getting his rocks off, is Shaun Pryce.Pryce recognises Yasmin from the school art classes and he’s horny anyway, so he decides to try it on.But Yasmin isn’t interested, so Pryce loses it.The river, or at least the spillway, is in full spate so he dumps her over the edge.’‘Lucky with the timing.’‘Pryce could have known about the water release, though.He goes there regularly.He could have easily concealed her in the short term before coming back at the right time to dispose of her properly.’‘But Pryce wasn’t there that late in the afternoon.’‘So he says.That day we met him in the clearing, he was saying he went there after work.Then suddenly it’s one o’clock? You saw him at the reservoir.He was loving it.And at that time he must have thought he was safe.Yasmin’s body was well concealed.Barbara Goodway’s had been there for months, and this time there was Lee in the background to deflect our attention too.Yasmin probably told him that she was meant to be meeting Lee.’‘The PM indicated a degree of premeditation.’‘Not if he just happened to have a length of wire in his pocket.Whichever way you look at this, Shaun Pryce is in it up to his ears.He’s the one who connects Yasmin to Barbara Goodway and he’s admitted to frequenting the reservoir.I think we should bring him in.’‘You’ll have to see what Fiske says about that.’Chapter SeventeenBut DCI Fiske had other things to occupy him.In response to the formal complaint from the Skeet family, the Police Complaints Authority team had arrived to begin their investigation and for once, the DCI was happy to let Mariner get on with his job and take the initiative.Thus, when Shaun Pryce arrived at Mrs Paleczcki’s the next morning, he found a two-man welcoming committee waiting for him.Half an hour later, Pryce was installed in an interview room while a search warrant was sought and his flat and car turned upside down.Mariner thought he looked even more jittery than the last time they’d met.His actor’s mask was beginning to slip.‘I want you to tell me again when, exactly, on Tuesday the third of July you were at the reservoir and exactly what it is you were doing there.’To settle his nerves, Pryce made a show of a heavy sigh.‘Aren’t you lot getting bored with this, too? I went there at about one o’clock.I stayed half an hour.I sunbathed, I smoked a bit of weed
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