Fatlands (28 page)

On the other hand as compromises go it wasn't bad. Petrie may have been seen as a maverick nutter expelled from animal rights, but the health risk exposed by his death turned an estimated 4 per cent of the population to vegetarianism, or so said the
Sunday Times,
and who are we to argue with their statistics? In fact AAR is all over the papers these days, not to mention Vandamed and the Ministry which gave them the go-ahead. And of course where there's talk there's money. The out-of-court settlement to farmers who might have eaten the meat, but only needed to pretend they breathed in the feed dust, cost Vandamed a small but satisfying portion of next year's profits. Not to mention the large research fellowship in Tom Shepherd's name.

Ellroy, of course, is back in Texas under something of a career rain cloud. One of the first deliveries to him there was a full version of my rewritten—and revised—report, a copy of which is lodged in the Holloway Road branch of Barclays Bank. That way I feel safer every time I get into my car and switch on the ignition.

And that, broadly speaking, is that. So good did not completely triumph over evil. Well, when did it ever? Frank says I did as well as could be expected under the circumstances, which is not as well as he would have done, but then he has to say that, doesn't he? I mean he's the boss.

Mind you, when we go to the pub now more often than not it's him that does the buying. And he's switched from pork scratchings to low-cholesterol chips. Well, from little acorns …

Oh, and Nick brought back the key. One evening when I was home with no pressing cases to solve. I was thinking of cooking some supper. He was thinking of doing the same. Save water—wash up with a friend. It seemed a better way of saying goodbye.

Sarah Dunant has written eight novels, including
The Birth of Venus
and three Hannah Wolfe novels:
Birth Marks; Fatlands,
for which she received Britains prestigious Silver Dagger Award; and
Under My Skin
. She has worked widely in print, television, and radio. Now a full-time writer, she lives in London and Florence.