The northerly wind that had brought the snow ceased overnight leaving clear, blue skies in the morning. It was still cold, but the fresh air and bright, but distant, sun was a definite presage of spring. Alderman was sipping slowly from a cup of coffee, overlooking the early tourists to the shops and market stalls beneath him. James approached, unshaven and weary.
‘I can’t stay long’ he said.
‘I couldn’t carry two coffees’ Alderman replied, apologetically indicating the one he was holding.
‘It’s ok. I had enough last night.’
‘So what do we know?’
‘We know that in one block in central London there are hundreds of things happening.’
‘And?’
James stared at Alderman for a moment, then took a piece of paper out of his case and began to read from it.
‘Next to the sushi bar there is a wine shop called Soho Wine Supply. Then there is a string of restaurants, a gallery and a tape shop. On the other side of the street there are two large office buildings. Tottenham Court Road itself is occupied mostly by electrical stores, interspersed with other shops. There’s an Odeon cinema not far away. A little further up there is the Church of Scientology, and then across the other side you get into university buildings, and below them the British Museum. There’s so much, Alderman, too much. I don’t see how we can get anything from this list. She could have been, or been going, anywhere.’
‘We can narrow it down. The spy was poisoned three weeks ago. That’s the best criteria we have.’
‘But there’s no way to know anything for certain about this woman, or why she was on that street.’
‘Then we have to make our possibilities into certainties. If we find nothing, then we’ve lost nothing.’
‘Except time, Alderman. We will have lost time. You forget the murderer is looking for her too. What if he beats us?’
James leant against the railing, his head hanging down between his shoulders.
‘We can do this, James. What places on your list would a woman visit once a month, or less? It can’t be her work. And it must have been in the evening, since that’s when the Russian went to the sushi bar. So we can rule out shops, or anything closed at night.’
‘The gallery could have had an opening .’
‘Yes?’
‘And the wine shop might open late.’
‘Then let’s go.’
‘I can’t. I have to go to work. My editor wants a story from me today.’
‘Tell him he’ll get one later this week – a better one than he could ever imagine. Time, James, as you said, is what we don’t have.’
‘I can’t stay long’ he said.
‘I couldn’t carry two coffees’ Alderman replied, apologetically indicating the one he was holding.
‘It’s ok. I had enough last night.’
‘So what do we know?’
‘We know that in one block in central London there are hundreds of things happening.’
‘And?’
James stared at Alderman for a moment, then took a piece of paper out of his case and began to read from it.
‘Next to the sushi bar there is a wine shop called Soho Wine Supply. Then there is a string of restaurants, a gallery and a tape shop. On the other side of the street there are two large office buildings. Tottenham Court Road itself is occupied mostly by electrical stores, interspersed with other shops. There’s an Odeon cinema not far away. A little further up there is the Church of Scientology, and then across the other side you get into university buildings, and below them the British Museum. There’s so much, Alderman, too much. I don’t see how we can get anything from this list. She could have been, or been going, anywhere.’
‘We can narrow it down. The spy was poisoned three weeks ago. That’s the best criteria we have.’
‘But there’s no way to know anything for certain about this woman, or why she was on that street.’
‘Then we have to make our possibilities into certainties. If we find nothing, then we’ve lost nothing.’
‘Except time, Alderman. We will have lost time. You forget the murderer is looking for her too. What if he beats us?’
James leant against the railing, his head hanging down between his shoulders.
‘We can do this, James. What places on your list would a woman visit once a month, or less? It can’t be her work. And it must have been in the evening, since that’s when the Russian went to the sushi bar. So we can rule out shops, or anything closed at night.’
‘The gallery could have had an opening .’
‘Yes?’
‘And the wine shop might open late.’
‘Then let’s go.’
‘I can’t. I have to go to work. My editor wants a story from me today.’
‘Tell him he’ll get one later this week – a better one than he could ever imagine. Time, James, as you said, is what we don’t have.’