Free Lets Drink To The Dead by Simon Bestwick

motioned to a chair. He sat opposite her. He could feel eyes on them both. “How are you?”
    “I’m alright.” But she didn’t look it. She was pale; there were bags under her eyes and a sense of her struggling to keep control. Bronisław had seen that before, too often. He wanted to reach out, take her hand; did not. “I heard Mike joined the Army?”
    “Yes.”
    “How’s he getting on?”
    “Alright. The last I heard.”
    “Oh. I’m sorry.”
    Bronisław shrugged. “And how’s David and his family?”
    “They’re well. Spending Christmas with them.”
    “Good. That’s good.”
    “How’s Roberta?”
    “She’s well.”
    “Are you both happy?”
    “Yes. No.” Bronisław sighed. “The business with Michael. It has upset her.”
    “Well, don’t let it mess things up. Good woman, Roberta.”
    “Yes.” Silence. She wouldn’t meet his eyes. “What’s wrong, Myfanwy?”
    “I...” She looked up. “I need your help, Bron.”
    “Anything, Myfanwy. You know that.”
    “Don’t say that until you’ve heard what it is.”
    “Anything. When I first came to Kempforth, who was the first person to be my friend? Heh?”
    She smiled. “More than just a friend, as well.”
    “Well, yes, that as well. But my friend again, even after that was finish.”
    The waitress came with the coffee and cake.
    “Tell me, Myfanwy. What is wrong?”
    She was looking down again. “Bron, do you remember me telling you that I had... sometimes that I saw...”
    “The... second sight, that is your name for it. Yes? Yes, you did.”
    “Did you believe me?”
    “I did not dis believe you. I’ve learnt not to laugh at such things. Why?”
    “Because it’s come back. I thought it was gone now I’m old, but it’s come back. And there’s something I’m going to have to do, and I can’t do it alone. I need help. And I tried to think of who I could trust, who might believe me, and I could only think of one.”
    “I will help you. You can count on me.”
    “It could be dangerous.”
    “You still have not told me, Myfanwy. What it is you’re asking of me.”
    “Alright, then,” she said, and took a deep breath.
     
     
    W HEN SHE WAS done, he picked up his coffee and took a sip. She couldn’t look up at him. He put the cup down.
    “So,” he said. “This... Shrike. He comes to kill children.”
    “Yes.”
    “And a policeman is helping him to do this.”
    “Yes.”
    “And you ask me to help you prevent this.”
    “Yes.”
    “Look at me, Myfanwy.”
    At last, she looked up.
    “Did you really think I would say no?”
    “You believe me?”
    “As I said, I don’t dis believe. If you are wrong, I will put myself only to some small inconvenience for my friend. If you are right, then I will be in the right place at the right time to prevent something that ought to be prevented. So you see, it is not a great thing to ask.”
    Myfanwy took a deep breath. Her eyes were bright. “Thank you, Bron.”
    “Don’t mention it. So?”
    “I’ll just have to wait until I know where the children are going to be left for him.” She snorted. “Makes it sound like I’m waiting for a phone call, doesn’t it?”
    “And you will call me, when you know?”
    “Yes.”
    “Alright, then. We will speak later, yes?”
    “Yes.” She stood. “Thank you.”
    Bronisław watched her go out and start along the pavement, in her thick, heavy coat and hat. Old woman’s clothes. But she was old now. And he was becoming old. But she looked back through the glass once and smiled at him, and for a second he could see what he had seen all those years ago. She’d been far from young even then, of course – around the age he was now – but there’d still been something about her. He saw it again now, and smiled back. And then she turned and walked slowly, steadily away.
    Bronisław Stakowski sipped his cooling coffee, picked up his fork and began to eat.
     
     
    4
     
    T HE WINTER NIGHT soon fell on Kempforth; this was, of course,