The flat was small, but at least it was modern. It was also on the ground floor, which meant that Izzy and Andy got the yard. It had no lawn, but it was somewhere to sit out when the weather was nice. And the old couple upstairs were friendly enough.
I should count my blessings, Izzy thought. I have a roof over my head and someone to share my life with. That’s all I need.
Sometimes it didn’t seem enough to her, though. Sometimes it felt like the world was racing into the future without her.
She parked up her little Fiat 500 and went in through the front door. Beyond that were two further doors, the left one leading to their flat and the right one to the staircase going up to the other flat.
She pushed open her own door, which Andy never bothered to lock unless it was night-time, then took off her shoes and her coat. From the hallway, she turned left into the open-plan living room and kitchen.
‘Hey!’ she said, endeavouring to make herself heard over the roar of a food processor backed up by the film score from Raiders of the Lost Ark. Andy had a thing about movie soundtracks, which was okay until you’d heard the opening music from The Godfather five thousand times.
Andy turned, grinning. ‘Hey! How’s my little bookworm?’
‘Turn the music down!’
‘What?’25
‘I said turn the—’
Andy turned the music down. ‘Sorry, I couldn’t hear you.’
Izzy pointed towards the ceiling. ‘You’ll annoy the neighbours.’
Andy shrugged. ‘They’re probably deaf. Besides, I think they’d like this music. Old Herman looks a bit like Yoda, don’t you think?’
‘I sometimes wonder how he got that name.’
‘What, Yoda?’
‘No. Herman. I think he might have German ancestors.’
‘Why, because Herman rhymes with German? Is that the logic you’re applying here? Because, as reasoning goes, that’s pretty lame.’
‘I’ve just never met a Herman before. It’s … unusual.’
‘You know what’s unusual? You. You’re unusual. Now come here and give me a hug.’
They embraced, kissed. Izzy absorbed her partner’s feelings and found happiness tinged with exhaustion.
‘How was your day?’ she asked.
Andy spoke while resuming preparation of the evening meal. Chicken bhuna by the looks of it.
‘Well, nobody died, which is always a bonus, although I could have stabbed one guy with a scalpel with all the complaining he was doing.’
‘What was his problem?’
‘Druggie with a broken arm. Got stoned and fell off some scaffolding he decided to climb. Apparently nothing I did for him was right. Oh, and then there was a woman who somehow managed to embed a kitchen knife in her arse cheek.’
‘How the hell did she do that?’
‘Slipped on the kitchen floor while carrying the knife. She went down on top of it. Or at least that’s her story.’
‘You think there’s more to it?’26
‘Personally, I suspect the husband. Proving it is another matter.’
‘And not your job.’
‘Nope. I just patch them up and drop them off at the hospital. What about you? Another day of high adventure and excitement in the land of books?’
‘Hey, I’ll have you know that a bookshop can be a hotbed of intrigue some days.’
‘Really? You mean like when you see someone putting a book back on the wrong shelf?’
Izzy grimaced. ‘I hate that. Sometimes I just want to tap them on the shoulder and tell them that’s hardly the way to behave in a civilised society.’
‘Then God help anyone you catch licking their fingers before they turn a page, or opening a book so much it breaks the spine.’
‘They are definitely capital offences. The other day, a woman wanted her money back on a crime book. Her complaint was that she’d worked out who the killer was by the end of the first chapter, and so couldn’t read any more of it.’
Andy frowned. ‘Wait. If she only got to the end of the first chapter, how did she know who the killer was?’
‘Exactly my question. She said she always jumps to the end of a book to see how it turns out, and if that’s okay she reads the rest.’
Andy looked aghast. ‘People do that?’
‘I told you, you wouldn’t believe some of the things that go on in my world. You paramedics have it easy.’
‘Yeah, the only broken spines I have to deal with are in people. I don’t know how you cope.’
‘It’s tough, but somebody’s got to do it.’
Andy beheaded a pepper and twisted out its insides. ‘How’s the other one getting on?’
‘Who, Melissa?’
‘Yeah, her.’27
‘Hmm.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘I think she’s been taking money again.’
‘What? How much this time?’
‘Twenty quid.’
‘Twenty? Jesus, Izzy, you need to say something.’
‘I don’t want to drop her in it with Abel. She needs this job.’
‘If she needed it so much, she wouldn’t be stealing from her employer. Abel’s going to work it out at some point anyway. He might be getting on a bit, but he knows how to run a business. He’s had that shop for about a thousand years. He’ll know if the till is short.’
Izzy lowered her head and knew instantly that Andy would click.
‘Izzy? The till is short, isn’t it?’
‘Not exactly.’
‘You covered for her, didn’t you? You settled the balance.’
‘Could you please put that knife down before I answer?’
‘Izzy, I don’t believe you! You can’t keep saving that girl. We don’t have much money as it is. Some months we can barely pay our own bills, let alone hand out cash to other people.’
‘I know, and I’m sorry. But I like Melissa. She’s just fallen in love with the wrong person. It could happen to anyone.’
‘Tell me about it.’
The laugh told Izzy that Andy was joking, but still she felt guilty. She had very little income of her own, the majority of their outgoings coming from Andy’s pockets.
‘I’m sorry,’ she repeated. ‘I was just trying to give her a chance.’
‘Well, if you’re not going to turn her in, you need to talk to her.’
‘Talk to her?’
Andy smiled. ‘You say that like I’m asking you to commit murder. Yes, talk to her. Make her see the error of her ways.’28
‘I’m her colleague, not her mum. I’m not much older than she is.’
‘What’s that got to do with it? She’s in the wrong, and we’re the ones getting hurt for it. You’ve got a right to put her straight. If you don’t, it’ll only get worse.’
Izzy put on a mocking voice. ‘A stitch in time saves nine.’
Andy looked baffled. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Something my own mum used to say in these situations. I’ve no idea what it means.’
‘Me neither, but mothers are always right. Talk to her.’
‘Okay, okay.’ She went to the fridge. ‘We got any of that wine left?’
‘Uh-oh.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘It means, my little cherub, that there’s something else bothering you.’
Izzy opened the fridge door and took out the carton of plonk. She shook it and gauged that it was about half full.
‘Want some?’
‘Go on, then. And then get whatever it is off your chest.’
She poured two glasses, slid one along the counter, took a big gulp from her own.
‘There was this couple in the shop just before closing,’ she said.
‘Don’t tell me. They got too excited reading Fifty Shades and started bonking in the DIY section, right?’
‘Hardly. They’re in their eighties.’
‘Okay, so then they were casing the joint. They took all your first editions and escaped on their mobility scooters?’
‘Andy, please! I’m being serious.’
‘Sorry.’
‘They’re regulars. I’ve got to know them.’
Andy frowned again. ‘Know them, as in recognise them? Or know them?’29
‘Know them. A little.’
‘Ah.’
‘Yeah.’
Andy resumed slicing and dicing. ‘Go on.’
‘He’s called Ronald. She’s Edith.’
‘I can picture them already.’
‘Right. They are such a cute couple. He’s like the guy out of Up. Anyway, he’s been keeping something from her.’
‘At this point I have a queue of ready-made flippant remarks, but I will contain myself.’
‘Good, because it’s sad. He’s dying.’
Andy put down the knife on the melamine board. ‘Dying? How do you know?’
‘They were talking about his hospital visit. About how he got the all-clear from the doctors.’
‘And you did your thing?’
‘It’s not like I have a choice, Andy. I hear what I hear. I can’t help it if it doesn’t always match what people say.’
Andy abandoned the cooking and moved closer, glass in hand. ‘You didn’t … I mean you didn’t—’
‘Of course not. If there’s one thing I hope I’ve learned in life, it’s how not to hurt other people’s feelings.’
‘So what happened?’
‘Edith went outside while Ronald paid. It’s kind of a tradition of theirs. Ronald was talking to me, and then … and then … I just started crying.’
She found that saying all this raised the sluice gate again. Andy came to her, hugged her tight as if to help wring out the tears.
‘It’s okay,’ Andy said. ‘It’s allowed.’
‘But that’s the point. It shouldn’t be allowed. It seems so wrong. You don’t understand how hard it is for me. I don’t want people to be that transparent. I don’t want to see all the clockwork inside them.’30
‘Did Ronald ask you what was up?’
‘Yes, and I told him. And maybe that was wrong, too, but by that point I just couldn’t hold back.’
‘What did he think?’
‘He thought he must be rubbish at keeping secrets, so then I had to reassure him that Edith knows nothing about it. He was so worried that she’d find out and that it would bring her world crashing down.’
‘Then there’s no harm done. You haven’t interfered with their lives. You’ve obeyed the Prime Directive.’
‘The what?’
‘Star Trek. The crew of the Enterprise isn’t supposed to interfere with the development of other civilisations.’
‘That is such a typically nerdy response from you.’
Grinning, Andy moved back to the counter. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment. The point I’m making is that you did the right thing. You let Ronald and Ethel—’
‘Edith.’
‘You let Ronald and Edith live their life the way they want to live it. If he wants to tell a few white lies to prevent his wife from falling to pieces, then that’s his right.’
‘I know all that. I agree. All I’m saying is that sometimes it’s tough working out the right thing to do.’
‘With great power comes great responsibility. Use the Force wisely, Luke.’
‘Who’s Luke?’ she teased.
Andy dipped a hand in the sink and flicked cold water at Izzy.
‘Andrea!’ Izzy shrieked, knowing full well that her partner detested being called by her full name.