Requiem for a Dealer by Jo Bannister

wild horses wouldn’t persuade her she was wrong. But why would she think it in the first place unless she had a reason?’
    Brodie tried out her own theory on him. ‘Perhaps she had a reason to mistrust him before any of this happened.’

    Daniel’s mild grey eyes were astute. ‘You mean, perhaps they meant something to one another once and he let her down. And after that she laid everything that went wrong with her life at his door.’
    â€˜What do you think? Possible?’
    â€˜Maybe. Losing her father left her both bereft and intensely angry: I can imagine her trying to displace all that emotion onto someone. But the drugs are different. If she bought them or was given them and took them willingly, she knows Windham wasn’t responsible and she’s lying when she claims he was. Not wrong, not deluded – lying.’
    Brodie gave an elegant shrug. ‘Not everyone takes your zealous view of truth. Most people are prepared to be economical with it when it suits them.’
    â€˜Putting a slant on the facts is one thing. Accusing an innocent man of trying to kill you is very much another!’
    â€˜If he hurt her and she’s paying him back, it may seem like justice by other means.’
    Daniel watched her. ‘Would you do that?’
    â€˜If I did, I wouldn’t tell you!’
    â€˜Seriously.’
    She considered. ‘No. If someone hurt me enough I’d want revenge, and at some point I’d probably take it. But lie to the police about him? It’s too likely to backfire.’
    â€˜That’s the only reason?’ He sounded disappointed.
    Brodie laughed. ‘I’ve told you, Daniel, don’t look to me for high moral standards. I’m a pragmatist. And for a pragmatist, that is not a sensible way to proceed. I’d look for something with a much higher benefit-to-cost ratio. Of course, Alison might feel differently. You may not be an expert – and just for the record, men never are, especially those who claim to be – but even you must know that all women do not think and act the same way.’
    He shook his head. ‘You and Alison might think and act the same way. You have a lot in common.’
    Brodie’s dark eyes widened indignantly. ‘You said she was difficult, obstinate and self-deluding!’
    Being unfair to people was another kind of lying: Daniel took pains to avoid doing it. ‘Two out of three ain’t bad.’

Chapter Nine
    A week after they died the bodies of the Hanson brothers had given up all the information they could. The funeral was held on Tuesday.
    DS Voss made sure he was there: to show his respects, and also to see who else was there. He spoke to all the teenagers present, and found a lot of them had been at the party in the Woodgreen Estate. Now, reeling from watching two of their number shovelled under ground, was a good time to get their cooperation – to get them to talk about things of which yesterday or tomorrow they would have feigned ignorance. He asked them about the drugs scene in their particular age-group and circle. Who was taking, who was buying, who was selling. And he showed them a photograph of Alison Barker.
    By close of play he had some answers for Detective Superintendent Deacon, though they weren’t particularly helpful. None of the youngsters he’d spoken to had seen or even heard of Scram before the elder Hanson boy produced them from his pocket and handed them round. Treating them, he’d said. Try this, he’d said, it’s new. It’s the best ever. After this, he’d said, you’ll never take anything else.
    â€˜So they couldn’t give you a description of who was peddling the stuff?’
    Voss shook his head. ‘I expect it was one of the usual suspects - the guys who always peddle drugs to kids at parties. If we found him he wouldn’t tell us who supplied them. It’s more than his life is worth, he’d