Page 43 of Maybe Tomorrow

‘No,’ he answered quickly.

‘Why not?’

‘Because… I don’t know. I never got the chance.’

‘Never?’

‘No.’

‘OK. Now, let’s go back to the day of the storm. The day Alice died. Do you remember that day?’

‘Yes,’ he said, a hint of a smile in his eyes.

‘Alice came into the library as usual, didn’t she?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you talk to her?’

‘Yes. I told her a few jokes.’

‘And she laughed.’

‘Yes. She always laughed.’

‘And she left the library with some new books?’

‘Yes.’

‘What happened then?’

‘I went back to work.’

‘Did you finish work at the usual time?’

‘No. Mrs Wilkinson said we should close early because of the storm, and nobody had come into the library for over an hour.’

‘So, you left work earlier than usual?’

‘Yes.’

‘Did you go straight home?’

‘No.’

‘No? But there was a huge storm raging outside. Wouldn’t it have been sensible to go straight home?’

‘I like bad weather,’ he smiled.

‘You like bad weather?’

‘Yes. I went down to the front to see the waves crashing in on the beach.’

‘What was it like?’ Bishop asked.

‘It was so exciting. I’ve never seen waves so high.’

‘Did you get wet?’