by Jack Ford
‘Does Granger know what was in there?’
Woods stretched his arms in front of him. ‘No, I made sure that part of the document was pulled.’
‘Jesus, John.’
Woods snapped. ‘Beau, give me a break. It’s an old report. It doesn’t change a thing.’
‘Apart from confirming what Tom’s been saying all along.’
‘Like I say, it doesn’t make a difference. The accident happened. Period. The only thing different is that the helicopter pilot contradicted the original officer’s statement. It means nothing.’
‘No, John. It means everything. It means Tom was right all along. There were three skiffs. Not two. Three, John.’
Woods swivelled round in his chair to stare at Beau face on. ‘How many more times? What difference does it make how many there were? Three, four, five, who cares?’
‘Cooper cares, John. He thinks he’s going crazy. It’s torturing him.’
‘You’re wrong. What’s driving him crazy is all that crap he takes.’
‘You don’t believe that,’ said Beau. ‘These past seven years he’s been desperate for someone to believe him. Maybe it’d help him to find some kind of peace.’
‘Help him? It would make him worse. You’ve seen what he’s been like since the death certificate was granted. It’s shaken him. Can you imagine what this would do to him? It’d send him over the edge, because he’d think he was right. And if he thinks he’s right about the number of damn boats, he’s going to think he’s right about everything.’
‘You sure?’
‘Oh come on, Beau. Don’t even go there with me. It was tragic, but Ellie died that day. And that’s all there is to it. He doesn’t need to know. It’s the best thing for him.’
‘What happened to the truth, John?’
‘The truth? Sometimes the truth isn’t all it’s cut out to be.’
133
‘Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts. We will soon be arriving in Lagos.’
Copyright
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
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First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2017
Copyright © Jack Ford 2017
Jack Ford asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
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Ebook Edition © June 2017 ISBN: 9780008203061