Dialogues of the Dead

191 as he heard himself whispering the details to Rye. Her interest and the fact that whispering meant they had to have their heads very close together made the risk of Dalziel's wrath if he ever found out seem almost inconsequential. Rye prodded him with questions then when she'd finally got all she wanted, she put her hand over his, squeezed, and said, 'Thanks.' 'For what?' 'For trusting me.' 'No problem,' he said. 'In fact, if you can spare a couple of minutes more, there's something else I'd like to trust you with.' He'd explained his dilemma without any exordium of confiden tiality. She'd listened without interruption, asked if she could see the e-mails, read them, raised her eyebrows at, presumably, the raunchier parts, then asked her question, 'So what are you going to do about it?' And in reply to his answer she smiled and said, 'I wouldn't have come if I'd thought you were going to spoil anything. Look, I don't want to teach my grandmother to suck eggs, but isn't your first priority to check if he could have done it?' 'Sorry?' 'Killed Jax Ripley to shut her up. Isn't that why her sister came to you with this in the first place?' She sat back and observed his expression then said, 'Ah, I get it. You've automatically discarded that possibility. This colleague of yours might be an adulterous untrustworthy snake, but being a cop means he couldn't possibly be a killer.' 'Now hold on, I know him, you don't. Honestly, there's no way...' 'There's no way,' she mimicked. 'Should have thought you heard that all the time from wives, mothers, fathers, brothers, husbands, friends.' 'Yeah, but...' He paused, collected his thoughts, then resumed, 'OK, you're right. I still think there's no way the DI could be involved in her death - no, wait, not just because I know him, but because there definitely isn't any way he's the Wordman and that's who killed Jax. OK, you're probably going to say he's seen the Dialogues and he could have faked one, but the next one refers back to the Ripley murder and surely you're not going to say he killed Councillor Steel as well?' Rye, who had been eating a buttery croissant, swallowed and said, 'A girl could get fat talking to you. I mean, I don't need to open my mouth except to put food in, with you telling me all the time what I'm going or not going to say.' 'Sorry,' he said. 'But you see what I mean.' 'Maybe. All right, it doesn't seem very likely, though Steel was in cahoots with Ripley, wasn't he? And maybe your DI thought Jax had let him in on their little secret. But it doesn't matter. What I'm saying is you need to get that possibility entirely out of the way so that all you're left with is the big decision, do you drop this guy in it or not? He's not a friend, is he?' 'No way.' 'And he didn't mind letting that Yorkshire yeti you call your boss go on thinking you were the departmental leak, did he?' 'I don't know if he knew about that,' said Hat. 'There you go, defensive again. Why do you give a toss what happens to this guy? He's cheated on his wife and he's cheated on his colleagues. Sounds like just the sort of scumbag who ought to get his comeuppance.' She looked at him challengingly. He shook his head and said, 'No, he's not a scumbag. He's been in the job for thirty years and by all accounts he's been a good cop. Fat Andy would have seen him down the road a long time back if he hadn't been that. So he's coming to the end of his career and probably wondering what it was all about when this good-looking bird half his age makes herself available . ..' 'Her fault then?' 'No one's fault, but you read the e-mail. Mid-life crisis, lastchance saloon, call it what you like, but he was a sitting duck. As for the stuff he seems to have told her, well, it wasn't exactly earth-shaking stuff...' 'It shook Jax Ripley into the earth.' 'She took a risk. And she really egged the mix! All we had then were two doubtful deaths and she made it sound like Hannibal the Cannibal was roaming the streets! Not his fault, though I reckon he blames himself. Anyway, one life gone. Is it worth another, I ask myself.' 'And how do you answer yourself?' He grinned at her and said, 'Well, you'll be pleased to hear