Page 88 of We Chase Shadows

‘I didn’t see it, John,’ says Steve. ‘Keep up.’

‘The steak,’ says John. ‘How was it?’

There is now an advert with a woman who looks like she’s won the lottery, but in reality has just come back from a friend’s funeral and been pleasantly surprised by the cost. It takes quite a personality to ask about the cost of a funeral while actually at the funeral, but it really does seem to have made her happy.

‘It was good,’ says Steve. ‘Very tender.’

‘What animal is steak from?’ Tony asks.

Jyoti looks at him. ‘What animal is steak from?’

Tony nods. ‘They never say, do they? They just say steak.’

‘It’s from cows, Tony,’ says Steve.

‘Like beef,’ nods Tony.

‘Yep,’ says Jyoti. ‘Like beef.’

‘Learn something new every day,’ says Tony.

‘It feels like that’s something you should already know,’ says John. ‘And I don’t mean any offence by that, we all have blind spots. I didn’t know the CIA put a chip in your head if you go to sleep in prison till I saw it on YouTube.’

‘Chicken is chicken,’ says Tony. ‘That’s an easy one. Lamb is lamb. Pork is pig, I know that because of Porky Pig. Bacon, that’s another one I don’t know.’

‘If you had to guess?’ Steve asks.

‘Deer?’ guesses Tony.

‘Correct first time,’ says Steve.

This is exactly what Steve needs. Amy needs to run to wind down. She needs sweat and adrenaline, burning muscles and busting lungs. Steve just needs rhubarb crumble and three fellow idiots.

Steve is inclined to disagree that Tony has got smarter since Connor Brooks’s goon attacked him in Lymington though.

That’s an avenue they haven’t looked into. How did Connor Brooks know who Tony was? And know where he was? Easy enough to find out if you spend any time in Axley, but how did Connor Brooks know about Axley?

‘I’ve got to go to Rosie’s,’ says Steve.

Tony raises a questioning eyebrow.

‘B3056,’ says Steve. ‘Through Lyndhurst, A337, M27, A31, come off at Sturminster Marshall.’

Tony nods his approval. ‘A31’s got traffic calming round Blandford Forum, but shouldn’t cause you any problems.’

Steve bids his friends farewell and walks out into the village. He will leave soon, but Rosie can wait her turn, he has somebody else to talk to first.

Steve walks down past the pond, around a pony who, quite rightly, refuses to move, and sits on his bench. He rubs the plaque in memory of Debbie.

‘Tony didn’t know where steak comes from,’ he tells her. ‘And now he thinks that bacon comes from deer. I’m going to head down to see Rosie in a mo. B30– actually, you don’t need to know that. She’s got Vern Blackwood staying. He’s the only one still alive of the gang from Vegas, but he’ll be safe there, she’s got two moats …’

An old man in a Liverpool FC tracksuit wheels a bicycle past Steve. He nods at the plaque and smiles at Steve.

‘Say hi to Debbie for me,’ says the man and continues his slow, happy way along the path.

‘Larry says hi,’ says Steve. ‘He’s out of prison on licence. Any more graffiti and he’ll be straight back in though. Trouble was furious when I came back from Málaga. I keep telling him, you solve the murders, then, mate, but nothing doing. What’s new with you?’

Steve listens for a while and is aware he’s crying while he does.