‘But not you?’
She smiled. ‘Oh, I don’t mind having a man in my life every now and then. But on my terms, not his. I keep saying to my sister, there’s no point in spending your days waiting to find Mr Perfect. Even if he does come along, you can guarantee he’s not already spoken for.’
‘And what does Leigh say?’
Dale tossed her hair. ‘Oh she worries too much, does my big sister. God knows why, I’ve known her literally all my life and I’ve never understood what goes on inside her head. One thing’s for certain, she’s too fussed about doing The Right Thing. After we spoke to you in The Moon, she started fretting that she’d been unkind when she spoke about Tom Allardyce. They say he saw his best mate killed in front of his very eyes on the Shankill Road. I ask you, does that justify behaving like a brute?’
He said carefully, ‘So Marc Amos lives with this police officer, Hannah Scarlett. Can you tell me if she…’
‘I don’t know anything about Hannah,’ Dale interrupted. ‘I only ever met her the once, just after the murder and — well, it wasn’t a happy time.’
Her reticence was as disappointing as it was improbable and he wasn’t sure he believed her anyway. But he’d better move on; if he pressed her about his father’s sidekick, she might clam up altogether.
‘So what did you make of Barrie Gilpin?’
‘Same as with Allardyce. Barrie had problems, we all knew that, but some things you can’t excuse.’
‘Like murder?’
‘And being a Peeping Tom.’
‘Really?’
‘So the story went. There was talk about it after he died. Gossip. Don’t ask me for the details. And I can’t say that he ever peeped at me, though I don’t always remember to draw the curtains. Maybe I scared him, maybe the girl who was killed led him on. It wouldn’t surprise me.’
‘You knew Gabrielle Anders?’
‘She was staying at The Moon when I worked there as a cleaner. Oh yes, I could tell you a thing or two about her.’
‘I’m all ears.’
She treated him to a teasing grin. ‘Not just ears, I hope.’
‘What was she like?’
Someone coughed noisily. The stout and long-suffering Mrs Godfrey was standing behind the counter with her meaty arms folded. She was trying to direct Dale’s attention to an old lady at the next table, waiting patiently for the eclair she had asked for.
‘Just coming!’ Under her breath Dale added, ‘I knock off in half an hour. You can buy me a quick drink in The Moon if you like.’
As Lynsey, the prospective Mrs Dowling, served him with a second orange juice, he tried his hand at gentle inquisition, but she turned out to be a native of Penrith whose parents had moved to Whitmell eighteen months earlier and she’d never heard of Barrie Gilpin. Within a couple of minutes he’d concluded that, whatever talents she might possess, Joe Dowling wasn’t marrying her for the benefit of sparkling conversation.
Dale was very late and he amused himself by moving to a table in an alcove with a poster from The Lady Vanishes. When at last she arrived, complaining that Mrs Godfrey was a slave-driver and predicting that her employment in the baker’s would be shortlived, he supplied her with a Bacardi and Coke and said, ‘So you’ve never found it claustrophobic, spending your whole life in an enclosed valley like Brackdale?’
‘Never known any different, have I? It must seem peculiar to someone like you, someone who’s appeared on television and travelled the world. Unsophisticated, what’s the word…parochial?’
‘One or two of Oxford’s most sophisticated people are utter shits, in my experience. As for parochial, I find that kind of appealing. The Lake District is so small. I never realised an imaginary line was drawn between the lakes in the north and those in the south.’
‘Dead right. There’s an invisible passport control at Dunmail Raise.’
He laughed. ‘When I went into the paper shop next door it dawned on me, they stock Le Figaro for the tourists, but not The Keswick Reminder. So…you were going to tell me about Gabrielle Anders.’
‘Not much to tell, really.’
‘Give me a hint.’
‘Well, she was supposed to be touring the area, but my impression was that she wouldn’t have minded settling down, if she could have found a man to hitch up with. Provided he had a few bob. She knew Tash Dumelow, maybe she wanted to follow her example and team up with someone like Simon. Though I don’t think she was as choosy as Tash.’
He drained his glass. ‘She wasn’t interested in Barrie Gilpin, then?’
‘You must be joking. If she did give him a come-on, it would just have been for fun. She had bigger fish to fry.’ As if led by a particular train of thought, her gaze travelled to the bar. Joe Dowling had appeared and slung his arm around Lynsey’s waist. ‘Maybe not that big, though. Look at that slimy toad, thinks he’s such a charmer. It’ll serve him right when the girl’s forty and the size of an opera singer. It’s a fat family, cellulite’s in the genes, you mark my words. She’s put on a stone since Christmas. Ten to one, she’s pregnant and he hasn’t even realised yet. Joe’s not the sort who believes in doing the decent thing.’
Daniel refused to be diverted by her pleasurably malicious speculation. ‘Did he fancy Gabrielle?’
‘He’d fancy the creature from the black lagoon if it wore a thong and was into leather and handcuffs. Trust me, Daniel, there are things about Joe Dowling and his tastes you really don’t want to know. Yet he fancies himself rotten, thinks he’s God’s gift to women. At least he met his match years back when he tried to flirt with Tash one night at closing time. In the nicest way, she gave him the brush off good and proper, made him look such a fool in front of everyone. For once in my life I felt like flinging my arms round the woman.’
‘But you don’t care for her?’
‘Oh, she’s not so bad, isn’t Lady Muck. But obviously, I’m jealous as hell.’ She gave him an unexpectedly disarming smile. ‘Our paths haven’t often crossed, but she tries hard to fit in around here, to act like a native. She’s always wanted to be One of Us, I think. Maybe it’s the foreign ancestry, something in the blood, I’ve never known anyone so single-minded. Let’s face it, it’s paid off. If ever a woman had everything she wished for, it’s Tash.’
‘And her husband’s a property developer.’
‘Who knows better than to shit on his own back doorstep, if you’ll pardon the expression. He’s never tried to build on Brackdale’s green and pleasant, even his farm is a bit ramshackle. All you need to know is that he’s absolutely loaded and he worships the ground Tash walks on. Sickening, really. Mind you, I used to be cynical about her motives, but even I’m prepared to admit, it can’t just have been Simon Dumelow’s bank balance that was big enough to catch her eye. The clincher is, even after all these years, they still seem besotted. Matter of fact…’
‘Yes?’
She guzzled her drink. ‘Tash is lucky in more ways than one, trust me on that. Simon might not mind a bit of mild flirting, but give a hint of going any further, and he backs right off. Worse luck. Whenever I meet a decent bloke, he’s always spoken for. By the way, I didn’t catch the name of that pretty wife of yours.’
‘Miranda. And we’re not married.’
She stretched and yawned, in a seen-it-all manner. ‘Don’t tell me, let me guess. You’re not into long-term commitment? Even though you’ve both run off from the city to live together in a tiny place like Brackdale?’
He shrugged. ‘Miranda and I haven’t known each other that long.’
‘Early days, then?’
As he nodded, she stood up. ‘Better stop at one. Alcohol goes straight to my head, terribly. I start talking out of turn and after three drinks I’m an utter disgrace. Anyway, I’ll rack my brains, see what else I can remember about Gabrielle Anders, if you’re that interested in a dead lady. My number’s in the book, by the way. If you ever want to get in touch.’
He watched her walk up to the bar and speak to Joe Dowling and his fiancee. Whatever she said succeeded in causing Lynsey’s face to flame and the landlord’s vulpine smile to dissolve into a hard line of anger. But Dale didn’t seem to care. On her way out, she threw Daniel a smile. As if to say: see, it’s like I said, I do make waves. She was no fool, he thought, but she liked playing a part, was turned on by the idea of being dangerous to know.