The Drowners (32 page)

‘Would be a room just for me?’ he asked finally.

Alex nodded. ‘All your meals cooked for you and a place of your own to live in,’ she said. ‘There’ll be other lads there but you will be the best runner in the whole college, I
promise
. No-one will pick on you and there are special teachers to
help you get even better. You will need to do some classes as well but they will help you with them too.’

Simon waved a dismissive hand at this.

‘Don’t worry I none about that,’ he said. ‘Can read and stuff, not like Kevin Mallory or some others.’

Alex hid her surprise at this, annoyed with herself at assuming Simon might be illiterate. She studied him discreetly as he considered the proposal. Not simple, she thought, more obsessed. He had a distinct lack of social skills and very little awareness of other people, but a lot of this could be put down to his dreadful family situation and the almost total neglect that had marred his childhood.

‘Really get a room all to myself?’ said Simon.

Alex nodded.

A slow grin spread across Simon’s face. ‘Reckon I could manage that,’ he said happily.

Lauren was utterly wretched. It was harder and harder to resist answering Dave’s calls but she was determined not to cave in. The way he had rushed off even though he wasn’t on duty had really upset her and she clung to her anger despite her misery. All that week she had struggled to focus on her job and several times Pauline had taken her into the little side office to discuss her work. Still on trial as the primary support for first-year officers, Lauren was slipping. Her work was not helped by the fact she still felt a deep dislike of Ricky. The news that the new senior was a friend of his did nothing to improve her mood.

‘Reckon I might look for something else later in the year,’ she confided to Sue on Friday lunchtime. ‘Don’t fancy another Garry in charge. Maybe worse than Garry if
he
rates them.’ She nodded in Ricky’s direction.

Sue was only partly listening, her attention focussed on the tea room door.

‘’Um, well we must wait to see,’ she said, giving a bright and utterly unconvincing smile. Lauren threw her sandwich
papers in the bin in disgust, sliding off her chair and stamping across to the exit.

‘Forget it,’ she called over her shoulder, nearly bumping into Alex on the way out.

‘Lauren, come with me,’ said Alex, reaching out to steer her by the shoulder. ‘There’s something I want to show you.’

Lauren shook her off angrily and continued down the stairs.

‘Lauren!’ Alex ran after her, catching up by the door into the reception area. ‘Please, just a minute. It’s important.’

Lauren glared at her but allowed herself to be ushered out of the main door out onto the steps. Blinking in the bright sunlight, she looked down to see Dave in the courtyard with a bicycle. Not an ordinary bicycle. Hopping down the stairs she walked over and stared at the strange looking machine.

‘It’s a tandem,’ said Dave, a big smile on his face.

‘Oh yeah?’ Lauren walked slowly around Dave and his machine. ‘So what?’

Dave swallowed nervously.

‘Well, Sue and Alex told me you always wanted to ride a bike so …’

‘What makes you think I would get on that great thing to be ridden around by you then?’ Lauren rounded on him furiously. ‘Can’t even get up on that saddle, let alone pedal. Girt fool.’

She turned her back on him and headed for the steps.

‘This one’s specially built for you,’ said Dave.

Lauren stopped and turned slowly to look at him,
squinting
in the glare. Dave bent over the bike to demonstrate.

‘There’s a proper stand to hold it steady, and here,’ he tugged at the side of the bike, ‘there’s a folding step. You put your foot here and grab this support.’ He demonstrated, pointing to a metal handle fixed to the rear handlebar. ‘And the pedals are reset so you can reach them.’

Lauren walked back over and stared at the bike for a moment, a slow smile spreading across her face.

‘You’s making a big assumption though,’ she said.

Dave rested the bike on its stand and held his arms out imploringly.

‘Lauren, please. I’m so sorry about the last few months. I’ve hardly slept since I last saw you and even making detective doesn’t seem to matter …’

‘You made detective?’ Lauren asked.

Dave nodded. ‘Last week,’ he said. ‘But it doesn’t matter.’

‘Oh, I think it does,’ said Lauren. ‘Anyway, was not that I was thinking of. Why’s you assuming I won’t want to ride on the front?’

Dave flung his head back and laughed, relief and delight combined in his happy face.

Alex was joined by Sue and the rest of the office on the steps and together they watched as Dave and Lauren took their first wobbly ride around the car park, the joy on Lauren’s face plain for all to see.

‘Now he has to teach Brian to ride a bike,’ said Alex, after they had waved the pair off onto the road and made their way back inside. ‘I promised I’d help him get Lauren back – but that was the price.’

Sue shook her head in admiration. ‘You are a bad woman,’ she observed.

On the train to Dartmoor, Iris sat by herself, staring out of the window. Early the day before she had taken a call from the hospital telling her Derek had finally succumbed to multiple infections. She had sat, numb, for a long time. It was difficult to mourn a man who had threatened her and destroyed her family. It was even harder to mourn him a second time, for she had been convinced he was dead back in November. But, despite all the events of the past months, she still felt the need to cry. Derek had been a fine man once and even with all his criminal ways and violent past he had loved her, looked after her and in his own way treated her well. Biff, her younger son, was gone and now it was just her and Newt.

She watched the scenery flicker past the window and considered the forthcoming visit. Newt was expecting her but
she had asked the prison authorities not to tell him her news. There was so much she needed to say and she had been silent for too long. A sense of desperate sadness swept over her as she thought of her eldest son, waiting for her arrival and probably wondering why she was coming. However she tried to say it, Newt was losing two fathers today.