Stuart put the two dry martinis on the table. They were in a bar in Westbourne Grove, all bare boards and steel beams and the walls stripped back to the brickwork.
‘I told them to make them very dry, the way you said.’
‘Good.’
‘That means stronger, right?’
‘Yes, that’s right.’
They picked up their drinks and took a sip and both flinched slightly.
‘Wow,’ said Stuart. ‘That’s something.’
‘It’s what I need. I’m going to have two at least. I want to get a bit drunk this evening.’
‘How’s your case going?’ said Stuart. ‘Caught anyone yet?’
‘We arrested a man this morning.’
‘Bloody hell. I didn’t think the police caught anyone anymore.’
‘He’s been charged. There’ll be a trial.’
‘But he did it?’
Maud gave a faint smile at this.
‘I couldn’t possibly comment. But the CPS won’t go ahead unless they think they’ve got a good case.’
‘You should be out celebrating.’
‘I am out celebrating.’ She picked up her glass. ‘This is my celebration.’
‘I’m honoured,’ said Stuart. ‘As long as you’ve charged the right person. And he’s not a member of an oppressed minority group.’
‘He’s a doctor. He did the murder to cover up the fact that he’d raped the victim. And yes, he’s the right person.’
‘That’s a lot,’ said Stuart. ‘I’m…’ He started to speak and then stopped and looked searchingly at Maud. ‘It must have been distressing.’
‘Some of my colleagues,’ said Maud, thinking of Danny Kemp with his eyes like boiled sweets and his nasty smile, ‘forget that the people who are abused, or raped, or murdered, are human beings. They’re just clues. It’s probably how they cope with the deprivation, the chaos and the cruelty that they see every day. But that’s what would make me leave the Met – if I became like them. I never met Kira, but I know she was young and kind-hearted and happy, and that her mother and sister are wrecked by her death. If that doesn’t distress me, then I’ve crossed over, become like the people I’m trying to catch.’
She took a large swallow of her drink and felt its fire inside her.
‘That’s great,’ she said.
Stuart took a more cautious sip of his.
‘Mmm,’ he said. Then: ‘I have a son?’
‘You have a son?’
‘Alfie. He’s three years old.’
Maud waited a beat, looking at her drink.
‘Do you have a partner?’ she asked.
‘No, Maud,’ Stuart said. ‘I do not.’
He took her hand, held it to his mouth, kissed it.
‘How often do you see him?’
‘Every other weekend.’ He reached for his drink again and knocked it over. ‘Fuck.’ He grabbed a handful of napkins and wiped the table. ‘I’ll get another one and one for you.’
Maud watched him go. She finished her martini, feeling her edges blur, the chattering in her brain subside. She was lost in thought, and at first, she didn’t notice the man coming to the table and sitting down.
‘Surprise, surprise,’ said a voice and she looked up and saw that it wasn’t Stuart. Felix leaned across the table and spoke in an undertone. ‘You fucked me over,’ he said.
‘I think you’d better leave,’ said Maud.
Felix smiled. ‘I happened to be in a bar, and I saw someone I recognised and walked over to say hello. Is that a crime?’
‘You did not happen to be in a bar. Leave.’
He leaned even more closely towards her.
‘You fucked me over and you made me look like a fool.’
‘Fine,’ said Maud. ‘Now fuck off.’
He smiled again.
‘Things can happen. That’s all I’m going to say. Things can happen. Just wait and see.’
He lifted his right hand and jabbed at Maud’s chest with his forefinger.
‘What’s going on?’
Felix looked round. Stuart was standing there, holding two new dry martinis.
‘Shove off,’ Felix said.
‘That’s my seat.’
Felix stood up and pushed against Stuart, spilling the drinks. Stuart looked too astonished to respond. Felix pushed against him again, then hit him. Stuart staggered back, one of the glasses falling to the floor and breaking.
Maud looked around desperately, but she could only see the cutlery on the table. She saw Stuart flexing his arm, as if he was going to throw an inexpert punch. Except he had a glass in his hand. She knew what that could do.
‘Stop,’ she said in a loud voice.
She took a fork from the table and stood up and as Felix turned to her, jabbed it into his neck, hard, and held it there so that he shuffled back until he was standing against the brick wall. She knew how much stronger he was than she was, and she pushed the fork a bit harder. Her face was close to his, as if they were about to kiss. She didn’t know what people were doing around her. She spoke to him in a whisper.
‘I can push this right through your throat, and it’ll be self-defence. So. Are you going to fuck off right now?’
He nodded, unable to speak.
‘Right now?’
Another nod.
She slowly withdrew the fork, away from his line of sight. He might think it was a knife. She thought he still might try something, but he didn’t.
‘You’ll wish you’d never done it,’ he said very quietly, then turned and walked out.
Maud turned to Stuart.
‘What was that?’ he said.
‘Maybe we should leave.’
Outside on the pavement, Stuart was still in a state of shock. Maud linked arms with him.
‘Let’s go to my place,’ she said. ‘We can have another drink there. First, I’ve just got to make a quick call.’