Free Cross and Burn by Val McDermid Page A

thought she might run that one past Elinor and see whether there had been any gossip.
    ‘You called him Torin the Wonder Boy. What’s that about, Dan?’ Paula kept her tone light, almost teasing.
    One corner of his mouth twisted downwards in a rueful grimace. ‘I tease her because she’s always going on about how great he is. I’ve got a kid of my own, Becky, but I don’t make out she’s the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented. The way Bev speaks about Torin, you’d think nobody ever had a kid before. That’s all.’ He shrugged and smiled, sharing a look of complicity with her. ‘No big deal.’
    ‘He knew enough to report her missing.’ Paula looked around the room. ‘So as far as you’re aware, Bev had no plans for yesterday evening?’
    ‘What she said to me was, Freshco and then home.’
    ‘Would she have said if she’d had plans?’
    Another shrug. ‘She’d sometimes say if she was going to a movie or the football with Torin or something like that. Or if there was something on the telly she was looking forward to. But it wasn’t like she’d routinely tell me what she was planning on doing. To be perfectly honest, it’s always full on in here. You have to concentrate. It’s not like being on a factory production line, where you can chat about all sorts while you work. Here, if we screw up, people get more sick. Sometimes they can die. So we don’t go in for much casual chit-chat.’
    ‘Do you know if she was seeing anybody?’
    ‘If she was, none of us knew anything about it. Look, you live with Dr Blessing. You must know what it’s like. A hospital is a rumour factory. And this place is gossip central.’
    ‘I thought you didn’t have time for chit-chat?’ Paula took the sting out of the barb with a teasing tone and a knowing smile.
    ‘Not when we’re dispensing. But at the counter, when they drop off and pick up, that’s where all the info passes back and forth. And I haven’t heard a whisper about Bev seeing anyone. After the divorce, she went out with a couple of blokes, but both times she felt like it was going nowhere so she knocked it on the head. She’s been on her own for a couple of years now, as far as anybody here knows.’ All at once it seemed he was protesting too much.
    ‘And you? You went for a drink with Bob the porter? Did you see Bev later?’
    Dan became very interested in the contents of the shelves next to him. ‘Actually, in the end I didn’t go. I wasn’t in the mood. I went for a drink on my own on the way home.’
    ‘Do you remember where?’
    ‘The Bertie.’
    ‘You mean the Prince Albert?’ Paula knew the place. It was a busy barn of a pub on the edge of the city centre, always packed because of its cheap beer.
    He nodded. ‘That’s the one.’
    ‘Not exactly a place for a quiet drink.’
    He made a face. ‘Nobody bothers you, it’s too rammed for people to strike up casual conversations. I like it when I want to be alone in a crowd.’
    And nobody remembers whether you were there or not. Another avenue closed off. ‘Had Bev fallen out with anybody that you know of? Any colleagues? Other staff? Patients? Somebody outside of work.’
    Dan looked blank. ‘She never said anything. I mean, we all get into a bit of a ruck at the counter from time to time. The punters aren’t always sweet reason on a stick. But Bev’s generally pretty good at calming things down. She doesn’t provoke people.’ He gave a wry smile. ‘Not like me. I’m not good at taking their crap. Sometimes I just walk away, and that’s when Bev steps up to the plate and pours oil on the troubled waters.’
    ‘So, no boyfriend, no enemies. Did she seem at all uneasy lately? Rattled, frightened?’
    Again he scratched his beard. ‘Not her style. Bev’s not a scaredy cat. I’d say the only thing she’d be scared of would be something happening to Torin. And nothing’s happened to him, has it? Not from what you were saying.’
    Apart from mislaying his mother .