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

she see in him? Lorimer wondered as they spread napkins across their knees and made small talk with the people on their other side. Did she see the lines around his eyes, the way that years of chasing criminals had given a more sombre cast to his countenance? There were quite a few of the men at adjacent tables whose heads were either shaved or thinning on top; he’d been luckier, he thought, running a hand through his thick dark hair as he glanced over the platinum-blonde coiffure of the woman on his right. He had seen from the place card that her name was Janice, but try as he might he simply could not remember any girl from his schooldays in this matronly lady.
    ‘You’re looking well,’ Vivien said, suddenly turning to him, a glass held aloft. ‘Cheers,’ she murmured, offering the rim. ‘To us,’ she said, glancing at him.
    As he touched the wine glass with his own, Lorimer knew that her whispered words were just for him.
    ‘To old times,’ he replied, momentarily confused by the warmth of her glance.
    ‘And what did
you
do after you left school?’ Janice asked loudly, her face turned up to Lorimer’s.
    ‘University for a bit,’ he replied. ‘Then I joined the police.’
    ‘
I
knew that!’ a woman opposite said triumphantly, her bosom swelling inside a too tight black dress. ‘I’ve seen your picture in the papers. And you’ve been on the telly.
Crimewatch
, wasn’t it?’
    He forced a smile and nodded, wondering if this had been a mistake after all. He could barely remember these women’s names, let alone their faces.
    ‘Weren’t you involved in that football club?’ someone else asked. ‘The one where that referee got shot?’
    ‘That’s right.’
    ‘And that woman —’
    ‘I think William is here to see old friends, not to be quizzed on his night off,’ Vivien said smoothly. She had not raised her voice in the slightest, but it held the sort of tone that made other people sit up a littler straighter, take notice of her words. It was, in short, a voice that contained authority, and Lorimer began to wonder just how Vivien Fox had spent the last twenty years.
    He breathed a silent sigh of relief as the conversation turned to the other men and women around the table, their polite exchanges supplying nuggets of information that could be shared later with absent spouses.
    ‘And what about you?’ he asked softly. ‘Did you ever achieve that dream of becoming an actress?’
    There was a sadness in her eyes as she smiled at him, the slightest shake of her head signifying that no, that dream remained unfulfilled.
    ‘But why?’ His brow furrowed. ‘You were so focused on the whole thing back then…’
    One shoulder was raised in a shrug, but the red-haired woman seemed disinclined to offer any sort of explanation.
    The frown remained. She’d been so adamant that the life of the stage was for her. And she had been so talented, good enough to be accepted by RADA, for goodness’ sake. The notion that Vivien had abandoned him needlessly made Lorimer feel like that disappointed boy once more. She should have achieved fame and fortune, a tiny voice insisted. Hadn’t she made a sacrifice to take up that course? Shouldn’t they have stayed together?
    For a moment it was as if a darkness had clouded his mind, then she smiled again and Lorimer remembered who he was, and where: a senior police officer
,
a happily married police officer, at a simple school reunion.
    The night drove on in a whirl of conversation and laughter. Several of the men and women became tipsy, some getting up to dance around the fringes of the tables as the disco got under way and the music changed from quiet background melodies to the more raucous sounds from their youth.
    ‘Hard to talk above all of this noise,’ Vivien said, leaning in towards him. ‘Fancy a walk outside?’
    Lorimer glanced around at the others on their table, clearly engrossed in different conversations. Their own exchanges had skirted around work