Final Account Read Free Page A

the ones you’d buy to keep you warm. They were just made of cotton or some other thin material. They had little slits for the eyes and slits just under the nose so they could breathe.”
    Banks noticed that she had turned paler. “Are you all right, Alison?” he asked. “Do you want to stop now and rest?”
    Alison shook her head. Her teeth were clenched. “No. I’ll be all right. Just let me …” She sipped some tea and seemed to relax a little.
    â€œHow tall were they?” Banks asked.
    â€œOne was about as big as you.” She looked at Banks, who at only five foot nine was quite small for a policeman—just over regulation height, in fact. “But he was fatter. Not really fat, but just not, you know, wiry … like you. The other was a few inches taller, maybe six foot, and quite thin.”
    â€œYou’re doing really well, Alison,” Banks said. “Was there anything else about them?”
    â€œNo. I can’t remember.”
    â€œDid either of them speak?”
    â€œWhen he dragged me back inside, the smaller one said, ‘Keep quiet and do as you’re told and we won’t hurt you.’”
    â€œDid you notice his accent?”
    â€œNot really. It sounded ordinary. I mean, not foreign or anything.”
    â€œLocal?”
    â€œYorkshire, yes. But not Dales. Maybe Leeds or something. You know how it sounds different, more citified?”
    â€œGood. You’re doing just fine. What happened next?”
    â€œThey tied me to the chair with some rope and just sat and watched television. First the news was on, then some horrible American film about a psycho slashing women. They seemed to like that. One of them kept laughing when a woman got killed, as if it was funny.”
    â€œYou heard them laugh?”
    â€œJust one of them, the tall one. The other one told him to shut up. He sounded like he was in charge.”
    â€œThe smaller one?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œThat’s all he said: ‘Shut up’?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œWas there anything unusual about the taller man’s laugh?”
    â€œI … I don’t … I can’t remember.” Alison wiped a tear from her eye with the sleeve of her sweatshirt. “It was just a laugh, that’s all.”
    â€œIt’s all right. Don’t worry about it. Did they harm you in any way?”
    Alison reddened and looked down into her half-empty mug. “The smaller one came over to me when I was tied up, and he put his hand on my breast. But the other one made him stop. It was the only time he said anything.”
    â€œHow did he make him stop? What did he do?”
    â€œHe just said not to, that it wasn’t part of the deal.”
    â€œDid he use those exact words, Alison? Did he say, ‘It’s not part of the deal’?”
    â€œYes. I think so. I mean, I’m not completely sure, but it was something like that. The smaller man didn’t seem to like it, being told what to do by the other, but he left me alone after that.”
    â€œDid you see any kind of weapon?” Banks asked.
    â€œYes. The kind of gun that farmers have, with two barrels. A shotgun.”
    â€œWho had it?”
    â€œThe smaller man, the one in charge.”
    â€œDid you hear a car at any time?”
    â€œNo. Only when Mum and Dad came home. I mean, I heard cars go by on the road sometimes, you know, the one that goes through Relton and right over the moors into the next dale. But I didn’t hear anyone coming or going along our driveway.”
    â€œWhat happened when your parents came home?”
    Alison paused and swirled the tea in the bottom of her mug as if she were trying to see into her future. “It must have been about half past eleven or later. The men waited behind the door and the tall one grabbed Mum while the other put his gun to Dad’s neck. I tried to scream and warn them, honest I did, but the rag in