Part 30 (2/2)

The waiter returned, smeared the table with a greasy cloth, rasped, *So you are happy now?' and spun away.

*Alice Hawkins,' I said.

Grace Dillinger lifted the menu but did not even glance at it.

*She was supposed to be their friend,' she said quietly, *and I almost believed that she was mine but once all... this... happened, she disappeared. It is strange how many people never came by when they thought some scandal might attach to their name. What of her?'

*She has been found dead.'

She put the card down very carefully. *How?'

*Murdered.'

Grace Dillinger paled and folded her hands into a prayer grip in front of her mouth.

*In the same way?'

I nodded and asked, *Did you know her well?' And Grace Dillinger closed her eyes and put her fingertips to her forehead, and said, *She used to come to the shop. You know what the Irish are like. Once they get talking there is no stopping them. She was a good girl, though. She was going to knit a shawl for my...' She fell silent and when the waiter came with unconcealed contempt to take our order, she said, *I will have nothing.'

He wrote my order down resentfully and scooped her cutlery and napkin away.

*When did you last see her?' I asked.

*What? I do not remember. A few days before this all started. It did not seem significant at the time.'

*Did she seem all right?'

Grace Dillinger opened her eyes. *My G.o.d. You are turning into your guardian.'

I said, *We want to find out who killed her.' But she shook her head and said, *The police and Mr Grice want the glory of solving cases. They do not care what the solution is. Find the Italian and you will have the man who murdered them both. G.o.d alone knows why he did it. He must have seen them at the shop. Perhaps he saw me too and I will be next. Not that I care any more.'

I took a breath. *We have found him.'

Grace Dillinger stiffened.

*Where? Has he been arrested? What does he say?'

*He says nothing. He was found in a ca.n.a.l.'

Grace Dillinger blanched and clutched the tablecloth so hard that I thought she would overturn the gla.s.ses. She breathed in deeply and slowly and breathed out in a shuddering sigh, and gradually her grip loosened and she touched her hair and brought herself under control.

*Perhaps in a moment of sanity he was horrified by what he had done and committed suicide,' she said at last.

*The police surgeon said he was murdered.'

I needed a cigarette.

*I hope so. I hope he suffered first. I hope he was terrified and died in agony.' She lowered her hands to rest in her cleared place. *Perhaps somebody discovered what he had done and decided to rid the world of a monster.'

*Perhaps,' I said, *but is there nothing you can tell me about Alice Hawkins?'

*Nothing,' she said and straightened the tablecloth. Her eyes were deep and she was far away, and her voice was flat when she said, *Let us hope these horrible murders will stop now.'

*But how could they continue if the murderer is dead?'

Grace Dillinger sat up.

*That is what your guardian said when poor William...' She turned her face away, unable to continue.

*I am sorry,' I said and she put her hand on mine and said, *I know you are.' Her eyes flicked up to mine then down again, and mine went down with hers, and I could not help but notice a white envelope in her open handbag on the floor and the stamped address on it: Geo. Woodminster, s.h.i.+pping Agent, 14 Liver Lan...

*What is that?'

Grace Dillinger followed my gaze and bent to scoop her bag up and snap it shut.

*He is training you well.' She held on to her bag. *I worry about you living with that creature, March. But you will not have to worry about me for much longer. I am going to Australia. At least one knows who the criminals are there.'

*But why?'

Her face flared as it lifted towards mine again.

*How can I live in the land that murdered all my loved ones? How can I give birth to a child here, watch him walk the bridge where his grandfather was killed or the same streets as his sister and her husband, past the slaughterhouse that was their home, the prison walls... Imagine if my son or daughter were to come across Sidney Grice. If I were a man, I swear to G.o.d I would strike him down.'

*Kindly moderate your speech,' a corpulent man in a red jacket called from the opposite booth.

*Kindly be d.a.m.ned,' she retorted, and the man muttered something but returned to his kidneys.

*But what will you do there?' I asked.

*Start a new life.'

*When are you going?'

*In three weeks... if I can raise the rest of the money. I have paid the deposit on a ticket for the Aphrodite. She sails on the twenty-fourth. I shall sell my ruby ring and wedding band.'

*You cannot.'

*I cannot do otherwise.'

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