‘I only came in here to tell you what was happening because I thought you'd be interested. But the fact is, you're off this case. You've got plenty of other things you should be concentrating on. And there are several other reasons why I don't think I should have to listen to you telling me what I've got to do. So who do you think you are?’

Cooper felt the full flush of his anger coming back to him. He had never found anybody so infuriating as he did Diane Fry. How was it she was able to provoke him into saying things that he would never dream of saying to anyone else?

‘Just at this moment I don't know who the hell I am. Sometimes I feel as though I'm not anybody really. As though I'm just rehearsing for a role that my family want me to play. Learning to be just like my father.'

‘Oh yes? At least you've got a family,' she said. 'What do you mean?'

‘Never mind. It doesn't matter.' She pulled abruptly away from his desk, glancing around with distaste at the mess.

Are you going to let me down, then?' he asked.

She didn't answer, but changed the subject. 'I've got some other news for you. Lee Sherratt has been bailed.’

‘What?'

‘He claims he had no intention of using the gun. He says you startled him, and he had it in his hands at the time. Cleaning it. And it was only an air rifle anyway. You don't even need a licence for one of those. OK, he admits he was poaching – but what's that? A few quid in fines?’

Fry was beginning to move away, back towards the interview rooms and another spell with Harry Dickinson. 'What about Laura Vernon?' asked Cooper.

‘What about her? We can't tie Sherratt in with Laura Vernon. Mr Tailby's done his best.'

'Is he not hopeful?'

‘There's no evidence. Sure, the semen in the used condom was his – but we have Charlotte Vernon's statement that she had sex with him more than once. And it might have been Sherratt seen talking to Laura at six-fifteen that night. In fact, I'm damn sure it was. But unless he admits it, there's no evidence of that, either. And Sherratt knows it perfectly well.'

‘But there's the bite mark. Have they taken an impression of his teeth for comparison?'

‘Yes, but it was a waste of time. The report came back from the forensic odontologist at Sheffield. Mr Tailby is furious that it took so long for a result like that to come through.'

‘Like what?'

‘Ben – that bite mark is the wrong shape. Not only were the teeth not Lee Sherratt's – they weren't even human.'

*

‘So what do you imagine will happen to your dog, Mr Dickinson?'

‘ What do you mean? ’

Diane Fry thrust her chin forward aggressively. 'If your dog attacked and bit Laura Vernon, it could be considered an aggravated offence under section three of the Dangerous Dogs Act.'

‘ I don't understand.'

‘ A court could make an order to have your dog destroyed. Put down,' she said.

‘ You'd better put me down first.'

‘ It's a possibility, though,' said Hitchens, interested in Harry's reaction. 'If the dog was responsible for the attack which led to Laura's death, it would be more than likely. What's the wording, Diane?'

‘ The Act refers to "a dog that injures any person while dangerously out of control in a public place".'

‘ You can't tell they're a dog's teeth,' said Harry.

‘ Oh, yes, we can. We have experts on those sort of things these days, Harry. Experts with very expensive bits of equip ment. Such as scanning electron microscopes and electronic image enhancers. They can tell.'

‘ Aye?'

‘ Do you want to hear a bit of what one of these experts says? I've got it here.' Hitchens pulled out the report from the odontologist. He deliberately skipped the bit about the bite mark being of insufficient depth to assess by normal methods, which was why the expensive equipment had had to be used. 'Here we are. The odontologist says: "It should be noted that human bite marks have a unique oval form, and most of the times there is found a 'suck mark' in the middle of the oval injury. Most human bites exhibit markings from several of the six upper front teeth or lower teeth, sometimes both. Canine bite marks, however, have an angular shape, like a diamond, compared to the human bite mark, which is more curved. Following electronic image enhancement, the pattern injuries caused by canine teeth are clearly distinguishable under the electron microscope." ‘

Hitchens looked up. 'In other words, they were canine teeth, Harry. Laura Vernon was bitten by a dog. We think it was your dog. ’

Harry stared into the distance. The detectives waited, instinctively recognizing the time to be silent.

‘ What if I told you that I killed the lass, and she was bitten after she was dead? Would that do? ’

Fry felt a surge of excitement and astonishment. After all the stonewalling that the old man had done, could it really be so simple? But DI Hitchens was more cautious. He had heard too many statements that sounded like confessions in the heightened atmosphere of the interview room, but which failed to hold up in the cold light of a court hearing. And Harry's remark hadn't even been a statement; it had been a question.

‘ You'd have to convince us first, Harry. Do you want to tell us what really happened now? ’

But Fry interrupted. She had a different question, which she couldn't wait to ask.

‘ Would you really sacrifice yourself for a dog? ’

Harry turned his steady gaze on her. It was clear from the pain in his eyes that his tough exterior had been cracked at last. An intense emotion was breaking through the restraint, a passion that could no longer be controlled by close-mouthed pride.

‘ You wouldn't understand,' he said. 'It's obvious to a blind man, you've not got an ounce of love in you. ’

26

‘It's only a dog,' said Fry.

Ben Cooper turned away. 'Well, maybe.'

‘What did he mean, Ben? What he said in the interview.'

‘He was just trying to wind you up, Diane. Take no notice of him.’

He regarded her with concern, worried that she seemed unduly disturbed by Harry Dickinson's jibe. He had been in the middle of a call to a motorist whose car had been stolen the previous night when Fry had stormed back into the CID room, anxious to talk about the interview. Cooper had barely had time to finish the call before she had been repeating the conversation word for word.

‘But it's only a dog.'

‘Let's go down to the canteen,' he said.

It was obvious there was something about the old man that was totally foreign to her. Cooper thought he could almost get on Harry's wavelength sometimes. Almost, but not quite. It was still not possible to predict what he might do next. But to Diane Fry, he seemed to be some kind of alien.

A few minutes later, they were sitting at a table on their own, clutching two mugs of coffee, ignoring the noise from a group of uniformed officers nearby.

‘They've had to release him, of course,' said Fry, calming as the caffeine reached her bloodstream. 'No charge.'

‘Go on, surprise me.'

‘By the time they got round to interviewing the alleged victim in the rape suite, she admitted she'd made the story up. She'd let her boyfriend go all the way without protection, and when it proved a bit disappointing she suddenly remembered things like pregnancy and AIDS. Not to mention irate parents.'