‘You never knew him. Or wait — did you? Maybe you had a private chat with him at the Light House some time? During the Young Farmers’ soiree maybe? A drunken get-together over a pint of Old Moorland, was it?’
‘No,’ said Cooper calmly. ‘I’ve just talked to a few people about him. That’s what we do. We get an idea of what sort of person the victim was.’
‘You don’t need to to tell me how to do my job.’
‘I’m not trying to, but-’
‘So can you think of another reason why Merritt would consistently lie to his wife about what he was doing after work?’
‘Well, no.’
‘Okay. Then perhaps we could explore the possibility that he was having an affair.’
‘Fine.’
‘That wasn’t too difficult in the end, was it?’
Cooper watched her leave. He wondered if Fry actually thought she’d won him over, convinced him with the force of her argument and brought him on to her side. Well, she might want to believe that. But all she’d done was convince him that he’d have to find a new approach to the problem.
‘We could try asking the first Mrs Rochester.’
‘Who?’
‘Betty Wheatcroft,’ said Cooper. ‘Mrs Wheatcroft was very upset by the death of Aidan Merritt. She’s a bit nervous about being on her own, I think. In fact, she seems to be developing irrational fears about someone coming to her house to attack her.’
‘Violence like that can be very worrying to old people. They feel vulnerable, and they don’t really know where the danger might come from.’
‘Yes, you’re right. But in my view she was a little too upset. It wasn’t just a general fear. I’m sure Merritt meant something to her personally.’
That morning, Superintendent Branagh sat Cooper down in her office. DI Hitchens was already there, leaning against the window. His jaw was set in a stubborn line, like a man who’d decided on a course of action and was determined to go through with it.
‘DS Cooper, how is your team settling down?’ said Branagh.
To Cooper, it sounded very much like preparatory small talk. His team had been settling down for months already.
‘Very well, ma’am. Thank you.’
‘I’m delighted to hear it. We’re in for rough times, you know.’
‘We’ll survive, ma’am,’ said Cooper. ‘We’ll survive.’
Branagh nodded, but he had the impression she hadn’t really been listening to the answer.
‘I hate having to bring in outside help,’ she said. ‘I would prefer to feel that the division can do the job with its own resources. As you know, there’s only one thing I detest more. And that’s leaks to the press.’
‘Yes, I’m aware of that.’
‘But we had no choice in this case. The Major Crime Unit have taken responsibility for the Merritt murder inquiry.’
She put an unusual amount of emphasis on the last few words. Cooper glanced at Hitchens, who raised his eyebrows in acknowledgement of some unspoken message.
The superintendent frowned, noticing the bruise on Cooper’s temple.
‘Did something happen to you last night?’
Cooper automatically touched the sore place. ‘No, it’s nothing.’
‘Not falling out with your fiancée over the wedding plans, are you?’
Cooper tried to laugh politely, but Branagh wasn’t fooled.
‘Oh well. None of my business, perhaps?’
‘Thank you for asking, though,’ said Cooper.
‘No problem. The thing is, DS Cooper, we want you to understand that the presence of officers from the Major Crime Unit doesn’t preclude us from taking appropriate action for ourselves when we think it’s necessary. For example, if new information should come to light in our ongoing inquiries into the disappearance of David and Patricia Pearson.’
‘Ah,’ said Cooper, a light beginning to dawn.
‘Which,’ continued Branagh, ‘I believe you’ve been working on.’
‘I have, ma’am.’
‘Well, I would be very happy to hear we’d made some progress in our part of this operation. A suspect or two brought in for interview, perhaps. That would be good news, wouldn’t it? The sort of thing that would reflect well on E Division’s capability. Do we understand each other?’
‘Perfectly,’ said Cooper.
He was sitting up straighter in his chair, feeling the adrenalin already surging through his veins at the prospect of action. Those bruises didn’t hurt at all, now he thought about it.
Cooper stood up to leave the office. Branagh held him back by fixing him with her steady, piercing gaze.
‘DS Cooper,’ she said.
‘Yes, ma’am?’
‘Remember what I told you. Any problems or concerns you have, feed them back to me via your DI here. You have our full backing.’
‘I haven’t forgotten,’ said Cooper.
‘In that case,’ she said, ‘I’ll take it you don’t have any problems.’
Cooper strode back into the CID room. Everyone looked up as he entered, as if sensing the new mood in the air already.
‘Luke,’ he said.
‘Yes, boss?’
‘Ian Gullick is running a greengrocer’s business, you said.’
‘He has a stall on the market in town twice a week,’ said Irvine. ‘The rest of the week he’s probably setting up pitches on other markets around the county. Chesterfield, Buxton, I don’t know where. But Edendale is his home ground.’
‘And what day is it today?’ said Cooper.
‘Thursday. Why?’
‘Because it’s market day.’