'What?'

'That was normal for Mad Maurice. But his heart wasn't in it with Aidan. He counted as a regular, you see. So he was accepted.'

'Why would Mr Merritt have been at the Light House on the day he was killed?'

'I don't know what Aidan was up to. He was a real dark horse, you know. A complete mystery to the rest of us. His brain worked differently somehow.'

'What do you think happened to the Pearsons?'

'Out on the moor, in the snow? Probably they just walked round in circles. That happens to people in bad weather. You can't get a proper sense of direction. I don't suppose they had a compa.s.s with them or anything like that. And don't forget, they were strangers to the area.' He shrugged. 'Hikers ... Well, you know a they do all kinds of stupid things on the hills.'

'Yes, sometimes.'

'It's surprising no one heard them calling out for help. I mean, they must have shouted when they realised they were lost, mustn't they? Anyone would do that.'

Cooper thought Gullick was talking too much. He wasn't used to that in the interview room. Everyone had watched TV and knew they were supposed to say 'no comment' all the time. But Gullick had even declined the presence of a duty solicitor. And now he seemed positively chatty. It didn't ring true.

'Mr Gullick, where were you at the time Aidan Merritt was killed?'

'Working, of course. Monday, was it?'

'Yes.'

'I was at Bakewell Market, then. It's Bakewell on Monday, Buxton on Tuesday, Derby Wednesday, Edendale Thursday, Matlock Friday and Chesterfield on Sat.u.r.day. So I had the stall set up at Bakewell. I was there all day, from the crack of dawn to the bitter end. You can ask anyone a I'm not easy to miss.'

'Can I take you back a few years?' he said. 'There was an incident at the Light House.'

'What? Who ...?'

Cooper glanced at his notes. Your friend Vince Naylor got into an argument with David Pearson.'

'Oh, that. Old Vince, he's a bit of a devil when he's had a few drinks. He started chatting up the woman, and the bloke took objection. He had a bit of a temper on him, if you ask me. I mean, it was all in fun. No harm in it. And it came to nothing anyway.'

'You left, didn't you?'

'Oh, yeah. Well, Maurice told us to. It was nearly closing time, so it was no hardship.'

'Were you driving?'

Gullick looked shifty for once. 'Er, well ...'

'I'm not interested in drink-driving right now,' said Cooper.

'Well, yes a we were in my van. We sat outside the pub for a bit to get some fresh air and sober up, then we went home.'

'A bit of fresh air wouldn't sober you up enough to drive legally.'

'I thought you said-'

'Yes, all right. But I'm thinking that you must still have been outside when the Pearsons left.'

Gullick brooded for a while.

'I wouldn't know about that,' he said. 'I never saw them. It's not my concern what happened to them later. And it's years ago, surely? All water under the bridge by now.'

'Were you aware that Maurice Wharton was a former police officer?'

'Yes, I was. He didn't talk about himself, but it was fairly well known. Among the regulars anyway. He got shafted by the top bra.s.s. Took the blame for some incident down south.'

'Is that the way the story goes?'

'That's it.'

'He seemed to get a bit of respect in the pub, though. He sorted the lads out, when needed. He sorted you and Mr Naylor out, didn't he?'

Gullick held out his hands palm up, a gesture of innocence.

'Look, you had to keep on the right side of Maurice. If he gave you the hard word, you took notice. We didn't want to get ourselves banned. And, to be fair, we'd drunk quite a bit. Vince in particular. Oh, there was plenty of alcohol drunk.'

'I've heard that Maurice was drinking heavily himself by then,' said Cooper.

'Yes, that's true. And then there was Eliot.'

'Eliot Wharton doesn't drink. He told me so.'

Gullick laughed. 'Well, not any more. He was totally wasted that night in the Light House. Someone had been giving him spirits, I think.'

'He would only have been fourteen or so.'

'Kids start drinking early these days. You know that. But I reckon Eliot would have suffered for a few days. He wasn't used to that amount of alcohol.'

Cooper regarded Gullick thoughtfully. He couldn't make his mind up about him. Gullick was either very clever, or he'd failed to grasp the situation.

'What do you do now, since the Light House closed?' he asked.

'We drink at the Badger, near Bradwell. But it's not the same.'

'What do you think?' asked Villiers, when they'd let Gullick leave the interview room and go back to his cell.

'Well I wouldn't trust him. Would you?'

'Not even to sell me a bag of carrots.'

'We're no closer to knowing what Aidan Merritt was up to.'

'That only leaves one avenue then,' said Cooper. 'I'll have to ask the first Mrs Rochester.'

22.

When Diane Fry heard about the arrests, she was furious. DCI Mackenzie didn't seem quite so perturbed by developments, which made her even more angry.

'Why does it bother you so much, Diane?' he said. 'I thought being back among your old colleagues wasn't a problem for you?'

That made her pause. 'No, it isn't.'

She could leave the self-a.n.a.lysis until later, but right now she felt as though somebody had got one up on her, and she knew who it was.

'Sir, what can we do to take control back in this inquiry?' she said.

Mackenzie smiled. 'That's better. Have you got any ideas?'

'We could interview Henry Pearson again. Make it more formal this time, rather than the kid-gloves approach he's been getting so far.'

'Yes, we could certainly do that.'

'We need to give forensics a kick up the backside to get some results from the Pearsons' clothing and possessions.'

'You've got it.'

'Also, I want a new search of those abandoned mine shafts.'

'It was done before,' said Mackenzie.

'I know.'

'So what's your reasoning, Diane?'

'My reasoning? Well, where's the best place to hide something so that it won't be found?'

'It depends on the circ.u.mstances, doesn't it?'

'In general terms.'

Mackenzie shook his head. 'I still don't know.'

'The best place to hide something,' said Fry, 'is where it's already been looked for.'

'Okay. But how does all this progress the Aidan Merritt murder inquiry? Isn't that what you're supposed to be concentrating your efforts on?'

Fry had to acknowledge that was true. It was the way she'd wanted it from the beginning, the fresh case coming to the Major Crime Unit, the rehashing of the older Pearson inquiry being left to local CID.

But she felt differently now. For reasons she couldn't quite articulate to herself, or would want to explain to Mackenzie, things had changed. She felt as though she'd been issued with a challenge, and she was going to meet it.

'If we can get to the bottom of the Pearsons' disappearance, then the reasons for the death of Aidan Merritt will resolve themselves,' she said.

'The two are so closely connected?' said Mackenzie. 'Is that what you believe?'

'Yes, I do.'

'You have my support, then. We'll get a new search started straight away.'

Fry nodded. Her brain was immediately ticking over, planning where to go to get the next bit of information that she needed a and wondering whether she could get there before anyone else did.

With exaggerated caution, Betty Wheatcroft looked right and left before letting Cooper in to her house.

'Is there a problem?' she whispered.

'Just something I didn't ask you before,' said Cooper.

'You'd better come in, then.'

She sat Cooper down in her sitting room and automatically began to make tea.

'Yes, Aidan did used to come and see me,' she said from the kitchen. 'He called in after school sometimes, particularly if he'd had a bad day. I think there were a lot of bad days recently.'

'Difficulties at home, in his private life?'

'I don't think so. At school, I'd say. Teachers get like that sometimes.'

'Why did he become a teacher in the first place, then?'

'Good question. Aidan once said to me that he couldn't think of any meaningful way to fill the terrible yawning void that stretched in front of him until the day of his death. So he became a teacher instead.' She looked at Cooper as she came back into the room. 'I think he was joking.'

'He had problems at work, then?'

She set a cup of tea in front of him. 'Aidan was soft. Too soft. Some of the older children must have made mincemeat of him in cla.s.s. He was always worried about doing the right thing, you see.'

'There's nothing wrong with that,' said Cooper.

Mrs Wheatcroft narrowed her eyes as she looked at him. 'Oh, but it might not be the same as what you think of as the right thing. I'm not talking about automatically punishing people because they've broken some law. That isn't always what some of us would call justice. Not my version of justice, and not Aidan's either.'

Cooper nodded, though it wasn't in agreement, just an acknowledgement of what she'd said. He understood that position. Or at least he thought he did.

'Are you thinking I'm a daft old woman?' asked Mrs Wheatcroft. 'I know I get confused, and my memory isn't as good as it used to be. But I know what I believe in.'

A light dawned on Cooper. 'Have you been in trouble with the police yourself at some time?'

'Yes, I was arrested once,' she said with a proud smile.

Looking at her now, it was difficult to imagine.