Only Darkness Read Online Free PDF

on through some of the other poems, and found more words that spoke to him –
the glacier knocks in the cupboard, the desert sighs in the bed
… He even found that ‘Stop all the Clocks’ poem from the last film he’d seen with Angie. He couldn’t read that. It had made Angie cry, and it would make him cry now, if he could cry, if he wanted to cry.
    ‘The thing is,’ Debbie said, pouring herself another glass of wine. ‘Sorry, did you want one? The thing is, I like being on my own and I don’t – if you see what I mean. When things are going OK it’s great, but when you’ve got something on your mind, you haven’t got anyone to talk to.’ She stood up, feeling the wine she’d drunk, and got another bottle out of her bag. ‘I bought a red. Is that all right?’ She had arrived about eight-thirty, and they’d spent the first hour talking about work, students, and drinking a bit too quickly.
    ‘Yes, fine. I dunno about all this talking it over.’ Louise had been married for twelve years and sometimes envied Debbie her freedom. ‘Dan only has conversations with the television these days. What problems? Want to talk about it?’
    ‘Oh, it’s complicated. A bit of it’s Tim, I suppose.’
    ‘Tim Godber? He’s always a problem. I wish he’d go and be a proper journalist and stop wasting my time.’ Louise had to organize curriculum and timetables, and thought that Tim didn’t take his teaching work seriously. ‘What’s your problem with Tim?’
    ‘Well, we had a bit of a fling and I wish we hadn’t. There’s something a bit creepy about him.’
    ‘Is he giving you any hassle?’ Louise’s voice sharpened.
    ‘No, oh no, nothing like that. I just wish, I don’t know, that I’d kept away from him, really …’
    ‘Did you enjoy it at the time?’ Louise refilled her glass and raised an eyebrow at Debbie.
    ‘Well, OK, yes, I did.’
    ‘Well then.’ Louise dismissed the problem. ‘Was that all? That’s worrying you, I mean? You’ve been quiet all day.’
    ‘Louise?’
    ‘Still here, still listening.’
    ‘You know Rob Neave?’
    ‘The security man? Yes. What about him? You haven’t joined the Rob Neave fan club, have you?’
    ‘Is there one?’
    ‘Oh, I think so.
I
wouldn’t kick him out of bed. Mind you, I wouldn’t kick Tim Godber out of bed either, if that was all I had to put up with from him.’
    ‘Someone told me he used to be in the police.’ Debbie had been curious about Rob for a while, but this was the first opportunity she’d had to ask questions.
    ‘Neave? That’s right. I don’t know much about it, though.’
    ‘Why did he leave, do you know?’
    ‘No, some kind of personal crisis, I think. Something to do with his marriage? I don’t know any more, though someone said he was drinking a lot before he came to City.’ Louise was looking at Debbie speculatively. ‘Be careful,’ she said.
    Debbie wanted to leave the subject now. She hadn’t known he was married. If he still was. She went on, quickly, and rather addled by the wine, to tell Louise about the man at the station. Louise listened quietly until Debbie had finished.‘And he, Rob Neave, said to go to the police. I can’t see how it could be to do with the killing, but …’
    Louise was her efficient work self now. ‘Wait until tomorrow, then see what’s in the paper. If it is one of those killings, go and tell them. If it isn’t, then you’ve no need to worry. And I wouldn’t tell anyone else. You don’t want it all over the college.’
    ‘I’ve already told Tim.’
    Louise’s eyebrow lifted again. ‘Bad idea,’ was all she said.
    They’d moved quickly since finding the body. The men searching the embankment by the line had found a handbag discarded in the grass. A purse was still in there, intact, containing £30, a debit card, a credit card for a chain store, some miscellaneous receipts and other pieces of paper that were being checked to see if they gave any information about the woman’s