No, it's an appalling poem, even for a five-year-old.This is a good poem:
When first my way to fair I took
Few pence in purse had I,
And long I used to stand and look
At things I could not buy.
Now times are altered: if I care
To buy a thing, I can;
The pence are here and here's the fair,
But where's the lost young man?
– To think that two and two are four
And neither five nor three,
The heart of man has long been sore
And long 'tis like to be.
Chapter 16
23/7/2010
Ian Grint was early. Simon had guessed he might be; he’d sensed the detective’s anger within seconds of meeting him, the impatience of a man who needs to prove people wrong, and quickly. Grint headed for the bar, making a pint-lifting gesture at Simon, who nodded. Actually, he hadn’t needed as much time as both he and Grint had thought he would. He’d finished reading everything half an hour ago, and had gone for a stroll. The pub Grint had chosen, the Live and Let Live, was in a residential area, so Simon hadn’t seen any of the historical college buildings that Charlie had told him he had to see because they were so beautiful, only houses and another small pub: the Six Bells.
Walking around, Simon had drawn the conclusion that Cambridge was a more imaginative place than Spilling. More tolerant too. The front door colours had surprised him: yellow, orange, lilac, pink, bright turquoise. Evidently the inhabitants of Cambridge believed that all shades were eligible for consideration; in Spilling most people opted for something sombre and dignified: black, dark red, dark green. Simon doubted there was a single orange door in the whole of the Culver Valley.
The names of the pubs in Spilling were stodgily traditional: the Brown Cow, the Star, the Wheatsheaf, the Crown. Never in a million years would a Culver Valley landlord choose to call his establishment the Live and Let Live. Live and Carp About Anyone Who Doesn’t Live the Way You Live, perhaps – the Live and Carp for short. The Liv and Chris Gibbs, Simon thought surreally – that was one pub Charlie wouldn’t be setting foot in.
He moved the papers off the table, put them down on the chair next to him as Grint approached with their pints. ‘I hope none of my esteemed colleagues has been in here and spied those over your shoulder,’ he said. ‘Much as I’d love to get sacked at the moment, I probably ought to try not to. Don’t think my wife would appreciate it.’ The word ‘esteemed’ was loaded with sarcasm.
‘I’m going to disappoint you,’ Simon told him. ‘I haven’t found much. Nothing you could put in front of your DI and say, “This is a new angle, a way of taking things forward.” ’
‘You’ve found something, though?’
‘Something and nothing. The statements Kit and Connie Bowskill signed – did you take them separately or were they—’
‘Separately.’ Grint took a swig of his beer, wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. ‘The official statements, they were both alone with me. Later I put them in a room together and took them over it all again, brought Sam Kombo in as well. I wanted to see how they changed in each other’s company, if at all.’
‘Did they?’
‘Not in any way you couldn’t predict. He looked more uncomfortable when she was there, but so would I have done, in his shoes – she was spitting accusations at him left, right and centre. She was a bit more high-octane in front of him than on her own, but only marginally.’
Simon sorted through the pile of papers, looking for Connie and Kit Bowskill’s official police statements. ‘When you interviewed them separately, did you spot anything odd?’
Grint laughed. ‘You mean, apart from everything about them?’
‘Factual contradictions.’
‘Where do you want me to start? He’s convinced she must have programmed the address into his SatNav, she says he did it. He reckons she might be a psycho killer, she thinks he’s the psycho. They’re each ready to suspect the other one of murder on the basis of a picture and not much else – a picture he didn’t even see.’ Grint shakes his head. ‘Bizarre doesn’t begin to cover it.’
‘There’s a smaller point of disagreement between them that might be significant.’ Simon passed the two statements