A Darker Shade of Blue Read Free Page B

can.’
    Sometimes, Whitemore thought, it was as if they were trying to hold the world together with good intentions and a ball of twine.
    â€˜Give you a lift back into town?’ Arthur said when they reached her car. It was not yet late afternoon and the light was already beginning to fade.
    Whitemore shook his head. ‘It’s okay. I’ll catch the tram.’
    Back at the office, he checked his emails, made several calls, wrote up a brief report of the visit to Emma Laurie. He wondered if he should go and see Darren Pitcher again, but decided there was little to be gained. When he finally got back home, a little after six, Marianne was buckling the twins into their seats in the back of the car.
    â€˜What’s going on?’
    She was flushed, a scarf at her neck. ‘My parents, I thought we’d go over and see them. Just for a couple of days. They haven’t seen the boys in ages.’
    â€˜They were over just the other weekend.’
    â€˜That was a month ago. More. It is ages to them.’
    One of the boys was marching his dinosaur along the top of the seat in front; the other was fiddling with his straps.
    â€˜You were just going to go?’ Whitemore said. ‘You weren’t even going to wait till I got back?’
    â€˜You’re not usually this early.’
    â€˜So wait.’
    â€˜It’s a two-hour drive.’
    â€˜I know how far it is.’
    â€˜Tom, don’t. Please.’
    â€˜Don’t what?’
    â€˜Make this more difficult than it is.’
    He read it in her eyes. Walking to the back of the car, he snapped open the boot. It was crammed with luggage, coats, shoes, toys.
    â€˜You’re not just going for a couple of days, are you? This is not a couple of fucking days.’
    â€˜Tom, please …’ She raised a hand towards him, but he knocked it away.
    â€˜You’re leaving, that’s what you’re doing …’
    â€˜No, I’m not.’
    â€˜You’re not?’
    â€˜It’s just for a little while … A break. I need a break. So I can think.’
    â€˜You need to fucking think right enough!’
    Whitemore snatched open the rear door and leaned inside, seeking to unsnap the nearest boy’s belt and failing in his haste. The boys themselves looked frightened and close to tears.
    â€˜Tom, don’t do that! Leave it. Leave them alone.’
    She pulled at his shoulder and he thrust her away, so that she almost lost her footing and stumbled back. Roused by the shouting, one of the neighbours was standing halfway along his front garden path, openly staring.
    â€˜Tom, please,’ Marianne said. ‘Be reasonable.’
    He turned so fast, she thought he was going to strike her and cowered back.
    â€˜Reasonable? Like this? You call this fucking reasonable?’
    The neighbour had come as far as the pavement edge. ‘Excuse me, but is everything all right?’
    â€˜All right?’ Whitemore shouted. ‘Yeah. Marvellous. Fucking wonderful. Now fuck off indoors and mind your own fucking business.’
    Both the twins were crying now: not crying, screaming.
    The car door slammed as Marianne slid behind the wheel. Whitemore shouted her name and brought down his fist hard on the roof of the car as it pulled away, red tail lights blurring in the half-dark.
    He stood there for several moments more, staring off into the middle distance, seeing nothing. Back in the house, he went from room to room, assessing how much she had taken, how long she might be considering staying away. Her parents lived on the coast, between Chapel St Leonards and Sutton-on-Sea, a bungalow but with room enough for Marianne and the twins. Next year they would be at school, next year would be different, but now …
    He looked in the fridge, but there was nothing there he fancied. A couple of cold sausages wrapped in foil. Maybe he’d make himself a sandwich later on. He snapped open a can of lager, but the