The Bird That Did Not Sing (DCI Lorimer) Read Online Free PDF Page A

interview room allowed the detective superintendent to conceal the turmoil of his feelings.
    Instead he merely nodded and then turned to a board beside them displaying the seating plan for the evening.
    ‘Let’s see where we are, eh? Maybe they’ve put us together?’
    But as they peered at the A4 sheets of printed names, Stuart Clark gave a snort of disappointment.
    ‘Goodness’ sake! All in alphabetical order. You’d think they’d have more imagination than that!’
    It was true, thought Lorimer as he found his own place at table two, the G–L group. But the Vivien Fox he remembered had never lacked an imaginative spark, and he saw to his amusement that her name was at the top of the same list.
     
    The next few minutes passed in a blur of handshakes and cries of ‘Lorimer!’ as he entered the hall and mingled with several men and women who seemed pleased to see him after a space of more than twenty years. Then, drinks in hand, they were called to attention by the clinking of a knife against the rim of a glass and all eyes turned to see Eddie Miller standing behind a lectern at the front of the hall.
    ‘Friends, former classmates, distinguished guests or otherwise…’ A small ripple of polite laughter followed his deliberate pause.
    ‘Welcome back to Glenwood High School, though in truth some of us have hardly left the old place!’
    There was a slight murmur amongst a few of the crowd, and Lorimer noticed a woman raising her eyebrows in surprise at something her neighbour was telling her as they looked at Eddie.
    ‘As you may know, I am now principal teacher of PE at Glenwood, and it gives me immense pleasure to co-host this reunion and to see so many of you here tonight.’
    Lorimer watched as Eddie nodded towards the slim red-haired woman, who acknowledged his words with the tiniest tilt of her head.
    The rest of the speech was lost to him as Lorimer gazed at her, taking in the trim figure and the familiar flame-coloured hair, shorter now than it had been back then but just as luxuriant. In profile Vivien Gilmartin was even more striking looking than she had been as a teenager; the years had added some gravitas to her face. And were there other changes? Weren’t those cheekbones sharper? And the fingers clasping the stem of her glass: weren’t they just a little thinner than the ones that had clasped his own as they’d strolled hand in hand through the summer meadows?
    Eddie’s speech ended with a ripple of applause, the signal for everyone to take their places at the tables as dinner was about to be served. There were handshakes and exchanges of feigned surprise as men and women caught sight of their place cards and began talking to their neighbours. As far as he could make out, there were more women than men present, but someone had gone to the bother of trying to slot the guests into the conventional
man,
woman,
man,
woman
arrangement. For some reason Lorimer felt irked by this. Why not just let friends sit where they liked? After all, the whole point of the evening was to reunite people, wasn’t it? Then, as he looked at the name on the place setting beside his own, he began to wonder.
    From the whispers around him and the glances of the women, Lorimer knew that Vivien was coming towards their table before he actually turned to see her.
    ‘So you came,’ a husky voice whispered in his ear. ‘I wondered if you would.’
    Lorimer rose from his seat to greet her, an innate courtesy that his late father had always said marked a man out as a gentleman, but the woman whose skirts swished as she sat down on his left waved this away.
    For a moment they looked at one another, appraising the changes that had made the boy into a man, the girl into a very lovely woman. That wicked smile he remembered was more subtle now, the merest hint of mischief in those green eyes. And there was no denying that time had given Vivien Fox a dignity in her forties that had been lacking in the impetuous teenager. What did