Stephen Booth – Lost River (страница 10)
‘Times are changing, I’m afraid. That sort of view sounds like pure nostalgia from a commercial point of view. There are too many supermarkets in Ashbourne now. The opening of Sainsbury’s was the last straw. We can’t all survive in this economic climate.’
‘Do you think you’ll close, then?’
‘Probably,’ said Nield. ‘In the next year or two, perhaps sooner.’
‘And will you be able to get a job at one of the other stores?’
He shook his head. ‘I doubt it. I come from the wrong culture, you see. When the big chains take you on, they want to turn you into a Sainsbury’s person, or a Tesco’s person, or whatever it is. They need to own your soul, to make sure you’re a team player. I’ve had too many years outside their culture, you see. I’m tainted by too much independence.’
Mrs Nield had disappeared into the kitchen as soon as Cooper arrived. Not because she wanted to get out of his way, but because it seemed to give her something to do. Another woman was in there, slightly younger. Her sister.
‘For one thing, I’m a big believer in sourcing local produce, wherever possible,’ said Nield, perching on an armchair. ‘Take bottled water. The Co-op here sells its own Fairbourne Springs, which comes from Wales. Somerfield’s now, they stock water from Huddersfield and Shropshire.’
‘Instead of…?’
‘Well, Buxton spring water. That’s what we sell at Lodge’s. Locally produced, you see. Of course, we used to stock Ashbourne water, but that went the way of all things, when Nestle closed the factory. It’s like everything else. Too much competition.’
Cooper was conscious that he was filling in time, besides letting Robert Nield talk about something other than the death of his daughter. But he was waiting for Mrs Nield to return before he asked his real questions.
‘Where is your own store, sir?’
‘Out on the Derby Road. You know where you turn off to the Airfield Industrial Estate? We’re there. We used to be in the centre of town too, of course. But rents got a bit high for us.’
Mrs Nield brought a tray of cups in. Proper cups and saucers, something he never bothered with at home.
‘Mr and Mrs Nield,’ said Cooper as she poured the tea, ‘I’m sorry to ask you questions at a time like this. I know you’ve made statements for Sergeant Wragg, but could I ask you to go over again what happened in Dovedale yesterday?’
Dawn sat in the chair next to her husband, and grasped his hand for reassurance.
‘We didn’t really see what happened. Not exactly,’ said Dawn. ‘We told the sergeant. It must have happened very quickly.’
‘Yes, I understand that,’ said Cooper.
Nield nodded. ‘I understand why you need to know, DC Cooper. Or could we call you Ben?’
‘Yes, of course.’
‘It seems that our dog, Buster, ran into the water to fetch a stick. Emily ran in after the dog.’
‘Who threw the stick?’
‘We’re not sure. One of the children.’
‘And you saw Emily go into the water?’
‘Not really. We were chatting on the bank. I think I was watching out for Alex – he tends to wander off on his own, you know. The next thing I knew, someone shouted, and when I looked round Buster was coming out of the river, shaking himself, spraying water everywhere. And then we realized we couldn’t see Emily.’
He paused, appeared to be doing his best to recall events accurately.
‘Go on, sir.’
‘Well, I suppose it was a minute or two before we realized what had happened. We thought she was just hiding behind a rock or something. Children play like that, don’t they? But…she wasn’t playing.’
Dawn had brought out the tissues again while her husband was speaking. Cooper was beginning to feel uncomfortable, but there was an important point here.
‘If I’ve got this right, Mr Nield, you didn’t actually see Emily go into the water, and you didn’t see her fall or hit her head on a rock?’
‘I suppose that’s true. But that’s what happened, isn’t it? Well, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, I’m sure it was,’ said Cooper, because that was what you said in these circumstances. ‘One more thing – did you happen to see anyone near your daughter in Dovedale? A stranger?’
They shook their heads.
‘No,’ said Nield. ‘Well, there were a lot of people around. All of them were strangers, I suppose.’
‘But no one in particular showing an interest in her?’
‘Not that I remember. Dawn?’
‘No, sorry,’ she said. ‘What is this about? These are strange questions to be asking. I don’t understand them.’
‘I’m just trying to clear up the details.’
Mrs Nield rose unsteadily and left the room. Cooper took a drink of his tea, found it was already starting to get cold.
‘She’ll be all right,’ said Nield. ‘It takes a bit of time.’
‘I know.’ Cooper looked out of the window at the outline of Thorpe Cloud. ‘By the way, what was Alex doing when the accident happened?’
‘Taking photographs, I think,’ said Nield. ‘We bought him a digital camera for his birthday. He loads them on to his computer and creates effects with them. He has some software. I’m not sure what they call it…’
‘Photoshop?’
‘That’s it. He’s very creative, you know.’
‘So what was he taking photos of in Dovedale?’
‘I don’t really know. Rocks, water, trees.’
‘Not people?’
‘No. He isn’t really interested in that. He likes to look for patterns. You know – the bark on a tree, moss on a stone, sunlight through the leaves. He makes images from them, and uses them as background on his computer screen.’
Nield smiled at Cooper.
‘There are a lot worse things that a boy of his age could be doing, aren’t there?’
‘Yes.’ Cooper smiled back. ‘I was thinking, Alex might have caught a few people in the background. If he was taking photographs of the river, for example. There were so many people around that day, it would be hard to avoid them altogether.’
Nield frowned. ‘Well, I suppose so. But he would edit them out. Why are you so interested?’
How to explain to him? How to tell the father that he would like to track down some more witnesses to what had happened? Independent witnesses, whose memories might not yet have been distorted. Well, he couldn’t. Cooper hesitated for a few moments, then backed off.
‘Oh, no reason. Just in case there were any loose ends.’
Nield was still frowning, but before he could ask whatever question was on the tip of his tongue, his wife came back into the room. She looked better, as if she’d splashed cold water on her facer and combed her hair. It always helped, somehow.
‘How is Alex?’ asked Cooper.
‘A bit quiet,’ she said. ‘Do you want to talk to him?’
‘Well…’
‘He’d be glad to see you. He quite took to you yesterday.’
‘Really?’
‘He said he thinks your job must be interesting.’
Cooper suspected that Alex Nield was probably just another teenager who’d watched too many episodes of
‘Go on up,’ said Nield. ‘He’s in his room. Second door on the left. He’ll only be playing on his computer.’
‘You’re sure you don’t mind? He’s a minor. Strictly speaking, I shouldn’t talk to him without one of you being present.’
Nield laughed. ‘You’re not going to interrogate him, are you? It’ll do him good to talk to someone outside the family. And it might get him away from that computer screen for a few minutes.’
Cooper looked at Mrs Nield, who nodded. Well, it was against procedure, but he was doing it at the request of the family. It would be a private conversation, not an interview with a witness. As long as he kept it that way, he’d be fine.