Dialogues of the Dead

Murder investigation is the conventional peak of detective work, but Hat Bowler was beginning to discover how much it could snarl up your social life. Any vague hope he had of being able to keep his Sunday date vanished with the discovery of the Fourth Dialogue. He'd seen Rye briefly the previous afternoon after she'd made her statement and had tried to sound optimistic, but she'd looked at him sceptically and given him her home number in case there were problems and on Sunday morning, for the second week in succession he rang her to cancel. She listened to his apologies for a while then cut in, 'Hey, no big deal. Another time maybe.' 'You don't sound very disappointed,' he said accusingly. 'Disappointed? If you listen hard, you can probably hear the rain lashing against my bedroom window, and you want me to be disappointed I'm not getting up to spend most of the day dripping wet looking for so-called dumb creatures who have probably got sense enough to stay cosily tucked up in their burrows?' 'Nests. Are you saying you're still in bed?' 'Certainly. It's my day off even if it's not yours. Hello? You still there? You're not fantasizing about me, I hope?' 'Of course not. I'm a cop. We have our imaginations surgically removed. But we get issued with surveillance equipment instead, so no need for fantasies.' 'You mean you've got me under observation? OK, what am I doing now?' He thought for a while. This was fan, but he didn't want to ruin things by going too far too fast, even verbally. 'Scratching your nose?' he said cautiously. She giggled and said huskily, 'Nearly right. So how's the case going? Are we all still suspects?' It had been Rye who had pointed out the obvious to him on Saturday afternoon when he'd apologized for the time she'd spent being questioned as a possible witness. 'And suspect,' she'd added. 'Don't sell us short. Everyone who was at the preview and left before or at the same time as Councillor Steel is a potential suspect. My money's on Percy Follows.' 'Why's that?' 'Because I understand he's used to assaulting men with a very small weapon.' He'd regarded her gravely and said, 'You should have joined the police too.' 'Because of my insights?' 'No. Because you know how to avoid letting the nastiness of things get to you by making bad jokes.' Even as he spoke he thought, You pompous twit! She's going to love you for coming over all righteous on her. But her reaction was worse than indignation. Her eyes filled with tears and she said, 'I'm sorry ... I was only trying not to...' Which was when he'd put his arms around her and pulled her close and was prevented, or perhaps saved, from discovering whether this was their first embrace or just a comforting hug by Sergeant Wield's dry cough and drier voice, saying, 'When you've quite finished with that witness, Detective Constable Bowler...' Now he said, 'Of course you're all still suspects. Which is why I intend to keep you under close personal surveillance. Listen, I'll be in touch. Let's forget the Stangdale trip, maybe we can do a movie or something...' 'Like The Birds, you mean? Sorry. Yes, that would be nice too, but I'm a woman of my word. I said I'd twitch with you and twitch I will. Next week OK? 'Yes, if you're sure. I mean, that's great. And we'll go back to making it a whole day, OK? I'll provide a picnic.' 'Don't get carried away. Fine, that's fixed. Ring me. Now you get on with keeping society safe for decent folk and I'll get back to scratching my, nose. Bye.' He switched off his phone, scratched his nose, and smiled. He'd always found the idea of telephone sex a turn-off, but the way