Page 72 of We Chase Shadows

‘Great-granddaughter,’ says Dorothy. ‘And you say you’re a sleuth?’

‘I like her,’ says Amy.

‘What do you need, Steven?’ Dorothy asks.

‘I know you’re busy, Dotty,’ says Steve.

‘Busy?’ says Dorothy. ‘No, not at all. Why would you think I was busy? Most days I just sit here looking at cows out of the window. Does that sound busy?’

‘I just …’ starts Steve. ‘Sorry, it was just a figure of speech. We’re looking for someone.’

‘Name?’ Dorothy asks.

‘Well, that’s the thing,’ says Steve. ‘The alias is Jakob Eriksson, but we don’t know his real name. That’s sort of what we’re after.’

‘But a man?’ says Dorothy.

‘A man,’ agrees Steve.

‘Then we have already ruled out an enormous number of names, haven’t we?’ says Dorothy. ‘We’ve ruled out “Helen” or “Wendy” for example. Although these days, who knows?’

Rosie mutes their microphone for a second.

‘You’re certain she’s a genius, Steve?’

‘Watch and see,’ says Steve and unmutes.

‘He’s in the illegal medication business,’ says Steve. ‘Vitamins, statins, pills in the post.’

Dorothy nods. ‘And so we narrow it down further. Go on.’

‘Our man, Jakob Eriksson, appears on the scene in 2001,’ says Steve. ‘In Morocco. He’d have been in his forties at the time, so we figure he had some sort of career before that.’

‘Nobody becomes a criminal in their forties,’ says Dorothy. ‘We narrow it down further. We have a gender, a profession and an age.’

‘And he’s English,’ says Amy.

‘Does the lady novelist have anything to add?’ asks Dorothy.

‘Umm …’ says Rosie. ‘No.’

Dorothy nods again. ‘Surprise, surprise. Let me put all of that into the old computer.’

Dorothy gazes up at the ceiling and closes her eyes.

After around half a minute of silence, Rosie and Amy look at Steve. He puts his finger to his lips.

Dorothy opens her eyes and looks down again.

‘Bald at all?’ she asks. ‘Your man?’

‘Very,’ says Amy.

‘And you’re sure about 2001?’ Dorothy asks.

‘Near as dammit,’ says Steve.

‘Language, please, Steven,’ says Dorothy.