A Narrow Victory
Page 22
‘I know what you mean,’ Steven agreed, with feeling. ‘It was touch and go there for a while, Hillary, you have to admit. At the beginning, I thought she was going to hold out forever.’
‘Yes,’ Hillary said. ‘She kept her nerve all right. Which is why I knew I had to bring emotion into it. And in her case, that all centred around her son.’
‘I think there was something unhealthy about it, if you ask me,’ Zoe put in. ‘You know, gay son, domineering mother. She was a right nutter. I mean, killing poor Felix just because he wasn’t gay, and couldn’t be, you know, like that, with Harry.’
‘Yes. I don’t think killing Felix could have given her that much satisfaction really,’ Hillary agreed grimly. ‘I think, in her heart of hearts, it couldn’t have felt like much of a victory for her. After all, it didn’t bring her son back, did it?’
In the silence that developed after Hillary’s comment, Jake realized that at some point he and Hillary Greene would have to come to an agreement about the reason he’d joined CRT. An agreement that would include their taking on someone far more dangerous and vicious than anyone she had ever had to deal with before. Until then, he would continue to help her on the cold cases assigned by their bosses.
A moment later Jimmy Jessop began to regale them with the look on Knocker Clarke’s face when the burglary squad hauled him in. ‘And can you believe, he asked for fifty-three other cases to be taken into consideration?’ he crowed. ‘The bosses are gonna love us!’
It was late when the triumphant revellers finally left the pub, but at least Hillary and Steven didn’t have far to go. Just a moonlight wander up the towpath for a hundred yards or so, and back to the Mollern.
As Hillary set about making them coffee, Steven, propped up against the tiny sink, watched her closely. He’d been aware for some time of the growing anger and tension in her, and he knew the reason for it, of course. His promotion and move away from CRT had brought things between them to a head far sooner than he would have liked. Or felt comfortable with. For some time now, he was aware that there was a serious question mark hanging over their heads, and it needed sorting out.
‘Hillary, I think it’s time we talked. Seriously, I mean. About us,’ he said cautiously. Like most men, he wasn’t good when it came to conversations that were likely to turn emotional and volatile.
Hillary’s shoulders tensed.
‘Ah.’ She turned to look at him, her face utterly blank. This was it then.
Steven Crayle looked at her pale face, and thought he could make a pretty good guess at what she was thinking. But would that help him, or make things worse? It was hard to say.
He took a long slow breath.
Hillary swallowed hard.
‘Hillary,’ he said gently. ‘How would you feel about getting married again?’
By the same author
A Narrow Escape
On the Straight and Narrow
Narrow is the Way
By a Narrow Majority
Through a Narrow Door
With a Narrow Blade
Beside a Narrow Stream
Down a Narrow Path
Across the Narrow Blue Line
A Narrow Point of View
A Narrow Exit
A Narrow Return
A Narrow Margin of Error
Walk a Narrow Mile
© Faith Martin
First published in Great Britain 2015
ISBN 978 0 7198 1769 4 (epub)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1770 0 (mobi)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1771 7 (pdf)
ISBN 978 0 7198 1433 4 (print)
Robert Hale Limited
Clerkenwell House
Clerkenwell Green
London EC1R 0HT
www.halebooks.com
The right of Faith Martin to be identified as
author of this work has been asserted by her
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Patents Act 1988