‘Diane? Are you kidding?’
‘No, it’s true.’
Chloe let her head fall back. ‘Yes, I see. There’s no way you could have lived with a cat called Diane. Imagine you going outside and shouting for Diane to come home. She would never have done what you told her.’
‘She doesn’t now,’ said Cooper. ‘She just carries on doing exactly what she wants and gets herself into all kinds of trouble.’
Chloe glanced at him, still smiling. ‘Now I’m not sure which one you’re talking about.’
‘Me neither,’ he said. ‘I’ll just check upstairs.’
‘I’ll come with you.’
He turned on the bottom step. ‘There’s no need.’
She held his eye and smiled again. Cooper suddenly realised what she meant.
‘I’ll come with you,’ she repeated.
He took her hand and they walked upstairs together. Cooper pushed open the door of the spare bedroom, the room he’d once slept in as a teenager. Sunlight streamed in through the window. In the distance, the Peak District hills shone like precious stones.
Well, that was one way to dispel old ghosts. The best way to wipe out old memories, and to replace them with entirely new ones.
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to my editor Ed Wood, all the team at Little, Brown, and everyone who helped to bring Fall Down Dead to fruition. A special mention must go to a wonderful surgeon, Mr Keshev Nigam, who got me back in action so quickly when the book was delayed by my illness last year (you can hardly see the scars!). Thanks particularly to my agent Teresa Chris, who has been such a champion of the Cooper and Fry series from the start.
In 2017, following the tragic fire at Grenfell Tower in London, which claimed seventy-one lives, a group called Authors for Grenfell ran an online auction to raise money for bereaved and homeless families. Canadian reader (and former Manchester musician) Robert Farnley was the winning bidder to appear as a character in Fall Down Dead. I hope he enjoys his appearance! Many thanks to Robert for his generosity, and to everyone else who made bids in the auction.
A big ‘thank you’ also to everyone whose donations helped to fund the vet bills for Dolly, the Kinder Mountain Rescue Team’s search and rescue dog, who should now be back in action saving lives in the Peak District.