A Thousand Cuts

by Simon Lelic

  ‘Mr Travis may go wherever he wishes,’ Lucia said. ‘If you like, I could even come up with a few suggestions myself.’

  ‘For Christ’s sake, Lucia! You’re not even going to win!’

  Lucia shrugged. ‘Like I say, it’s not my business. I would assume, though, that winning hardly mattered. It’s not usually the court’s judgement that counts in a case like this.’

  ‘So what’s the point? What the hell is the point?’

  ‘Remember Samuel Szajkowski, Guv? He wasn’t tried but he was judged. Travis allowed him to be judged. And Leo Martin. Try mentioning Leo Martin’s name to Mr Travis. See what colour he turns.’

  ‘Leo Martin? Who the hell is Leo Martin?’

  ‘Just a boy. Just another boy who didn’t win. He won the argument though. The press made sure of that.’

  Cole scoffed. ‘You’re talking in riddles, Lucia. You’re talking yourself into a shit heap of trouble, that’s what you’re doing.’

  ‘Tell me, Guv: why are we even having this conversation? If winning were all that mattered, why not just let the Samsons lose?’ Lucia took a step towards the desk. ‘You know as well as I do that even if their case comes to nothing, they will have achieved what they set out to achieve. Because, for Travis, there’ll be no hiding. There’ll be no vested interests to use as cover. You, your boss, whoever else is on the headmaster’s side: none of you will be able to help. You might even find yourself trapped in the same corner as the man you seem so eager to protect.’

  Cole was shaking his head. ‘I told them you would be reasonable. I told them there wouldn’t be any need for threats. But it’ll happen, Lucia. If your friends go ahead with this, you’ll face the consequences. I won’t do anything to protect you.’

  ‘I wouldn’t ask you to. I wouldn’t dream of it.’

  ‘It’s worth it then. The cost, the personal cost, all for an inch or two buried at the bottom of page nine – it’s worth it to you?’

  Lucia stooped and picked up the envelope from the floor. She placed it on Cole’s desk. ‘Samuel Szajkowski,’ she said. ‘He shot Donovan and then he fired at the stage. He was aiming at Travis, Guv. Not at the woman who betrayed him or the man who tormented him. He was aiming at Travis.’

  ‘I don’t care, Lucia. Travis doesn’t care.’

  ‘No. I’m sure he doesn’t. I’m sure, right now, he has other things on his mind. But he’ll have plenty of time to think about what it means once he’s settled into his retirement.’

  Outside, they were waiting. They did not look like they were waiting but their lack of interest was unequivocal. Only Harry was openly watching for Lucia as she emerged. He raised his eyebrows. Lucia returned a grimace.

  Heads lifted and tracked Lucia’s path across the office. She would have made her way straight to the stairwell had Harry not caught up with her first.

  ‘Lucia,’ he said. His hand on her shoulder guided her around. ‘I realise this may not be the best time… ’

  Lucia looked beyond Harry’s shoulder. Cole’s door was still shut but Walter, seated at his desk, was regarding them with an expression somewhere between incredulity and delight. Rob and Charlie loitered, their leers cocked and at the ready. ‘It’s not a great time, Harry.’

  ‘No,’ he said. He glanced behind him. ‘No. But if you did in there what I imagine you went in to do… Well. I suppose we might not be seeing each other for a while.’

  Lucia found herself smiling at Harry’s turn of phrase. ‘What’s up?’ she said.

  ‘Nothing. Nothing important. I just wanted to ask you something, that’s all.’ His voice was quieter now, though the others were still listening. They would still be able to hear. ‘I wanted to ask you whether you fancied going for a drink? Just to a pub or something. Not now obviously. At some point. Just whenever. Or not,’ Harry added. ‘You know, whatever. ’

  ‘Whatever?’ Lucia echoed.

  Harry’s fingers rubbed at his forehead. ‘Not whatever. I didn’t mean whatever. All I meant was… Jesus Christ, Lucia. You’re not making this easy. All I meant was—’ he began again but Lucia placed her fingertips on his arm.

  ‘I know what you meant, Harry. I’d like that. I’d like to get a drink sometime. You know, whenever.’

  Harry beamed. ‘Great,’ he said. ‘I’ll call you.’

  ‘Do,’ said Lucia. Smiling again, she made to turn away.

  The sound of flesh slapping flesh stopped her. Walter was beating out a sluggish applause. He was grinning, Lucia saw, but not at her. Harry was his target now. Harry, who was moving eyes down towards his desk.

  ‘Bravo, Harry my lad. It looks like you’ve got yourself a date. And here we all were thinking you were a shitepoke.’ Rob and Charlie laughed. Walter looked across at them, affecting a puzzled expression. ‘Although thinking about it,’ he said, ‘does it really count if the bird you shag is a dyke?’

  Harry was passing Walter’s chair. He stopped abruptly. ‘Watch your mouth, Walter. Watch your fucking mouth.’

  Walter stood and Harry inched towards him.

  ‘Why do you do it, Walter?’ At the sound of Lucia’s voice, the two men turned to face her. ‘The jokes like that. This front you have. Why do you do it?’

  Walter readied himself to reply but Lucia did not allow him the chance. ‘Is it because you don’t like women? Is that it?’ She was closing the distance between them. Walter leant back against his desk.

  ‘It all depends on the woman,’ said Walter. He laughed but the sound was hollow. Lucia was suddenly very close. When she spoke again, she spoke in his ear.

  ‘Is it that you don’t like women?’ she said again. ‘Or is it because it’s not women that you like?’

  Walter recoiled. He tried to move away but Lucia held him still. ‘Because it’s hard, this job, for a woman. For someone like you, it must be so much harder.’

  This time Walter pulled free. Lucia stepped away, ceding the ground.

  ‘What did she say?’ said Charlie. ‘Hey, Walter. What did she say?’

  Walter kept his eyes on Lucia. His grin became a growl. ‘She didn’t say anything. She didn’t say fucking anything.’

  Lucia faced Harry. Her lips found the corner of his mouth. Before Harry could react, Lucia was moving away, across the office and back towards the stairwell. When she reached it, she turned, and could not help but catch sight again of Walter. He was watching her with an expression of resentment she had only ever seen before through the grille of a cell door. Lucia, though, felt none back.

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks and love to my wife, Sarah, above all, and to my family: Mum, Dad, Katja, Matt, Galina, Ekaterina, Sue, Les, Kate, Nij, and of course to our budding football team. Also to Sandra Higgison, Richard Marsh, Jason Schofield, Kirsty Langton, Christian Francis, John Lewis, Darryl Hobden and Anna South for their support, guidance and advice. Any errors appear in spite of their help, and are my responsibility alone. Thank you, finally, to all at Viking, Picador, the Zoe Pagnamenta Agency and Felicity Poryan, in particular to Kathryn Court, Maria Rejt, Zoe Pagnamenta and Caroline Wood.

  Copyright

  VIKING

  Published by the Penguin Group

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  Copyright © Simon Lelic, 2010 All rights reserved

  Published in Great Britain as Rupture by Picador, an imprint of Pan Macmillan

  Publisher’s Note

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Lelic, Simon.

  [Rupture]

  A thousand cuts : a novel / Simon Lelic.

  p. cm.

  First published as Rupture by Picador, London, 2010.

  eISBN : 978-1-101-18996-2

  Investigation—Fiction. 4. Women detectives—England—London—Fiction. I. Title.

  PR6112.E48R87 2010

  823’.92—dc22

  2009041431

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrightable materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

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