the noise Maisie was making: this would liven up what was, frankly, a fairly dull journey until they reached the Tamar. He sipped again and then realised she had paused.
'Oh, er, yeah. Well, no. I'm not saying that's all I was concerned about. I'm just giving you the gist of bits of it. He said you would have to fake it with me because I am a wimp or something like that, and I just wondered whether you did or not. It was no big deal. We just talked about lots of things really.'
'I see.' There was a dangerous note in her voice and he kept his eyes on the landscape. 'Well, for the record I have been faking it, as you so elegantly put it, for months. The first time I haven't for a long time was last night. Does that make you feel better?'
Harvey sipped his beer again to disguise the fact that yes it did. Once again, Rhett Butler came into his mind, 'Frankly, my dear . . .' No, perhaps that wasn't the line, but even so, Clark Gable, Clark bloody Gable, no problem.
'I can't believe how shallow he could be. I must admit it only makes me feel better about being out of there. We'd never talked properly about divorce until this morning and it had a horrible sound to it when he said it. But now . . . I guess he's just a waste of time really . . . a complete waste of time ...'
'Well, I don't know . . .' Harvey had said the words before considering them, and was now struck by the strangeness of standing up for the man who beat him up and from whom he was stealing this woman. 'I mean, he might not be perfect but . . . I doubt he was just a waste of time.'
'Are you defending him, Harvey? Is this some manifestation of male solidarity that even I never imagined? Do you think I should give him another chance?'
'No, no,' Harvey said hurriedly and then paused. What was it he was trying to say? 'I don't know, it's just I think there was something going on that you didn't see, in the shop I mean. Jeff was . . . there was something about you that kept him like he was, if you see what I mean. And now you've gone . . . I dunno, it's as if he's gone back to where he was. And he's a bit lost and maybe he did something because of that . . . Oh shit, I don't know what I'm talking about.'
'Hang on, what are you talking about? What else did Jeff say?'
'Well, I don't know really.' Harvey tried to remember. 'I just got the impression . . .' – it sounded silly now to put it into words – 'well, the murder and all that. Jeff seemed to be thinking about Mrs Odd, something like that. I don't know ...'
'The murder? Jeff didn't know anything about the murder. He can't be involved with that. Why would he be?'
'Well, I don't know, but then why would I be? Except that I went to the house and cleaned up the blood and that . . . well, OK maybe I am, but that doesn't mean Jeff isn't. Jarvin seems to think this is all about the past, and remember Jeff was one of the ones who bullied Bleeder the worst. What if there was some memory that he'd forgotten about because he was with you and because it was a long time ago, and then you left him and everything fell down . . . that was what he said: it all fell down, something like that. So he remembered, yeah? And he went back to St Ives and killed Mrs Odd.'
'Jeff killed Mrs Odd? Harvey, that's ridiculous.' She was looking at him with open-mouthed disbelief. 'Why Jeff?'
'Because he's a violent bastard, that's why. And he was upset about you 'cause he knew it was over when you went down there, and he was one of the ones who bullied Bleeder. That's why.' It did sound a bit thin now that Harvey put it into words. 'Well, I don't know. I don't claim to know, but he was certainly a bit psycho in the shop. I thought he was going to batter me and then he went all sort of mellow and far-away and then he looked like a vulture, although not in that