‘What was her name?’
‘Don’t know.’
‘Come on, he must’ve called her something. What about when they talked on the phone?’
He rubbed at the stubble. ‘I suppose so, but I can’t remember. It didn’t go on for that long, only a couple of weeks, and I never met her. He never brought her here the way he did the others. All I know is she was at the uni and she played basketball. That’s how he met her. I suppose I should have been more sympathetic when he told me, but I’ve got my own worries, what with the essays and trying to work and get enough fucking sleep to be able to think straight…’
‘When he told you what?’
‘That she was dead.’
3
Noel Kidman was studying computer science and had a job lined up with a company setting up web sites for businesses. It was a big opportunity in a competitive field and he needed his degree to clinch it. The need dominated his thinking and blunted his human responses. We talked some more over the coffee and he admitted as much and felt guilty about it. He was bright but under a lot of pressure and Clinton’s defection threatened to be a last straw. With absolutely no authority to do so, I told him to continue to use the car and that I’d get Clinton’s father to pay the back rent and pay for at least the next month.
‘D’you mean that?’ He looked as if a sack of cement had just been lifted off his shoulders.
‘Sure. And you phone me if you remember anything that might be helpful’
He fingered my card. ‘I will. Shit, d’you really think… I mean, foul play?’
‘I always think foul play in my game,’ I said. ‘That way I get a pleasant surprise every once in a while.’
‘That sounds depressing.’