Dialogues of the Dead

387 'Sorry, sir. I was just looking at that date he wrote on the board - 1576. Seems it ought to mean something to me.' 'Oh aye? You got 0-level history?' 'I took it,' said Hat evasively. 'Good enough. You bugger off down to the library and check out everything that happened in that year. If you do nowt else, you'll be letting Dee and likely Charley Penn too know we've got the message.' Doing his best to conceal his delight at being given an excuse to see Rye, Hat made for the door. But his joy was pricked a little when Dalziel called after him, 'And make sure that's the only date that's on your mind in yon library. Young women can seriously damage a young detective's career.' The Fat Man winked at Pascoe then said, 'How about you, Ivor? Owt strike you?' 'Sorry, sir, were you talking to me?' said Novello with a histri onic little start. It had taken her some time to find out why Dalziel called her Ivor and when she did, she affected an isn't-it-sad indifference to yet another example of male infantilism. But secretly, particularly after the correct Pascoe's injunction to all others against using this sobriquet left the Fat Man as its sole source, she had to admit a certain pleasure in being so singled out. After all, when Samuel heard God calling him in the Temple, he didn't retort sourly, 'It's Mr Samuel to you.' 'That bullet sent you deaf as well? Christ, you look terrible. Time you went home.' It occurred to her to suggest that if looking terrible were reason for sending people home, Dalziel and Wield would never leave the house, but of course she didn't. Truth was she didn't feel too clever but admitting it in this company wasn't an option. 'There was something,' she said. 'The coin in Bird's mouth. But there wasn't one in Follows. Maybe the Wordman didn't mind Bird getting over the Styx to heaven, but disliked Follows so much, he wanted to keep on hurting him beyond the grave.' Pascoe nodded approvingly. The smart bastard's been there already, thought Novello, but doesn't reckon there's much in it. The smart bastard said, 'It's a thought, though of course we should be careful not to confuse the classical underworld with a Christian heaven. And it still leaves us with the problem of the dollar sign.' 'The almighty dollar, maybe?' suggested Novello. 'Could be the Wordman thinks that hell is something like America.' Pascoe grinned, showing real amusement. Made a nice change from the patronizing encouragement of his smile, thought Novello. Though, paradoxically, she felt encouraged enough to add, 'I've got this feeling that while the coin might somehow represent the middle step he refers to, the dollar sign has got a significance to do with the choice of victim. I read through all the Dialogues and there was that other instance of scratching something on the head, Councillor Steel, wasn't it? Only one step there, so far as we can make out, so what did the scratching mean?' 'RIP in Cyrillic script, wasn't it?' said Pascoe. 'A joke, it looked like, given he was called Cyril. The Wordman likes a joke, particularly if it's to do with words.' 'Yes, sir. That's something we shouldn't forget, isn't it? We should never lose sight of the words, any words, when we're dealing with the Wordman. I mean, words aren't just useful labels. Like in religion, when you speak certain words, things happen or are supposed to happen. Magic too. Or in some cultures, you don't tell people your special name because names are more than labels, they are actually you in a special way. I'm sorry, I'm not putting this very well. What I'm saying is that words, maybe a special arrangement of words, seem to have a special significance to the Wordman, each word marks a step forward, and sometimes he can link separate words to individuals and then they get killed, but maybe sometimes he links more than one word to an individual and then we get only one corpse but a trinity of steps, like he says in the Dialogue where he describes killing Lord PykeStrengler.'

She paused, wondering, Am I babbling? Dalziel was certainly looking at her as if he reckoned she was delirious. She got help from an unexpected source. Wield said, 'You mean his reason for chopping the Hon.'s head off could be something to do with words, with these steps you're talking about, rather than with the Wordman's state of mind. External, not internal?'