A Necessary End Read Online Free PDF Page B

here now, sir.” PC Telford pointed to the door, which was out of Banks’s line of vision.
    Superintendent Gristhorpe, a bulky man in his late fifties with bushy grey hair and eyebrows, a red pock-marked face and a bristly moustache, walked over to where the three CID men were standing by the stairs. His eyes, usually as guileless as a baby’s, were clouded with concern, but his presence still brought an aura of calm and unhurried common sense.
    â€œYou’ve heard?” Banks asked.
    â€œAye,” said Gristhorpe. “Not all the details, but enough. Let’s go upstairs and you can tell me about it over a cup of coffee.” He put his hand on Banks’s arm gently.
    Banks turned to Sergeant Hatchley. “You might as well get started on the interviews,” he said. “We’ll help you out in a minute when I’ve filled the super in.” Then the four CID men trudged upstairs and PC Telford ushered a brace of wet, frightened demonstrators up after them.
    III
    â€œZoe! Thank God you’re all right!”
    Paul and Mara stared at the slight figure in the glistening red anorak. Her ginger hair was stuck to her skull, and the dark roots showed. Rain dripped onto the straw mat just inside the doorway. She slipped off her jacket, hung it next to Paul’s and walked over to hug them both.
    â€œYou’ve told her what happened?” she asked Paul.
    â€œYes.”
    Zoe looked at Mara. “How was Luna?”
    â€œNo trouble. She fell asleep when Squirrel Nutkin started tickling Mr Brown with a nettle.”
    Zoe’s face twitched in a brief smile. She went over to the bookcase. “I threw an I Ching this morning,” she said, “and it came up ‘Conflict.’ I should have known what would happen.” She opened the book and read from the text: “‘Conflict. You are being sincere and are being obstructed. A cautious halt halfway brings good fortune. Going through to the end brings misfortune. It furthers one to see the great man. It does not further one to cross the great water.’”
    â€œYou can’t take it so literally,” Mara said. “That’s the problem. It didn’t tell you what would happen, or how.” Though she was certainly interested in the I Ching and tarot cards, herself, Mara often thought that Zoe went too far.
    â€œIt’s clear enough to me. I should have known something like this would happen: ‘Going through to the end brings misfortune.’ You can’t get any more specific than that.”
    â€œWhat if you had known?” Paul said. “You couldn’t call it off, could you? You’d still have gone. Things would still have worked out the same.”
    â€œYes,” Zoe muttered, “but I should have been prepared.”
    â€œHow?” asked Mara. “Do you mean you should have gone armed or something?”
    Zoe sighed. “I don’t know. I just should have been prepared.”
    â€œIt’s easy to say that now,” Paul said. “The truth is nobody had the slightest idea the demo would turn nasty, and there wasn’t a damn thing they could do about it when it did. There were a lot of people involved, Zoe, and if they’d’ve all done the I Ching this morning they’d’ve all got different answers. It’s a load of cobblers, if you ask me.”
    â€œSit down,” said Mara. “Have a glass of wine. Did you see what happened to the others?”
    â€œI’m not sure.” Zoe sat cross-legged on the carpet and accepted Paul’s glass. “I think Rick got arrested. I saw him struggling with some police at the edge of the crowd.”
    â€œAnd Seth?”
    â€œI don’t know. I couldn’t see.” Zoe smiled sadly. “Most people were bigger than me. All I could see was shoulders and necks. That’s how I managed to get away, because I’m so little. That and the rain. One cop grabbed my