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Back Dancing With the Virgins
Chapters (44)
  1. Dedication
  2. 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. 5
  7. 6
  8. 7
  9. 8
  10. 9
  11. 10
  12. 11
  13. 12
  14. 13
  15. 14
  16. 15
  17. 16
  18. 17
  19. 18
  20. 19
  21. 20
  22. 21
  23. 22
  24. 23
  25. 24
  26. 25
  27. 26
  28. 27
  29. 28
  30. 29
  31. 30
  32. 31
  33. 32
  34. 33
  35. 34
  36. 35
  37. 36
  38. 37
  39. 38
  40. Acknowledgements
  41. Author’s Note
  42. About the Author
  43. Also by Stephen Booth
  44. About the Publisher

‘Do you care nothing about your own career any more, Ben? Because the way you’re heading, you’re risking everything. Do you know that?’ She didn’t wait for him to answer. ‘That’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? You’re never going to forgive or forget that I got the promotion. You thought you had a divine right to it, just because you’ve been in the area for ever and your balls are made of limestone or something. And now you’re going to sacrifice yourself for some self-righteous idea that you’ll probably call justice, just to prove that you don’t care about the job, that you never really had any ambition after all. Well, go on, then – enjoy your martyrdom.’

After she had slammed the door behind her, Cooper read a few of the memos that were in his tray, but without taking in what they said. He made some notes on an assault case that was waiting to go to court. He looked through his drawers and found a half-eaten packet of Polo mints. He ate a mint. Then he ate another. And then he began to wonder what Owen Fox was doing now, back at Cargreave.

Owen was a man whose life and background had not stood up to close investigation. Whose life could? He had heard Owen described as a good man; but what did that mean? Was it a person who had never made a mistake? The papers would call Owen a sex beast, if they got the chance. But he wasn’t an animal, just a man whose circumstances had left him with a weakness. His fallibility had contributed to an evil in the world, it was true. But there were so many evils – too many to count, even in Edendale. And being weak didn’t make Owen Fox a monster; it only made him human.

Cooper knew that he had failed to help Cal and Stride, and he had failed to prevent the tragedy that had destroyed the Leach family. Maybe it wasn’t too late for him to help Owen Fox. But there would be a price to pay, if he tried. He was aware that he was walking a fine line already; his loyalties were under question, and not just by Diane Fry. It was vital that he stayed away from Owen Fox. There would be plenty of people ready to throw stones after all this, and it would be madness for Ben Cooper to put himself deliberately in the line of fire. Absolute madness.

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