Johnny was willing to take him seriously because he was a fellow army man, and that meant something, and he saw that the pilot wasn’t intoxicated, like the rest of them.

‘What the fuck are ye’ talking about?’ the landlord asked, echoing everybody’s sentiments.

‘I was watching the race from the lake. Then I saw the ’copter. I watched the trajectory of the thing. It wasn’t normal, then the pilot lost control. Catastrophic mechanical failure isn’t common in helicopters – I know, I know what everybody says about them, but it’s weather disorientation that brings most of ‘em down, that and enemy fire.’ He laughed. No one joined him.

‘Ye’ should write fiction stories, pal,’ the landlord said.

But Johnny wanted to know more. Nobody on the ground had been interviewed officially yet; the rescue effort had taken up the whole day. Nobody had asked those witnesses in the surrounding area what they had seen, apart from to acknowledge that they’d watched a helicopter come down. Sure, the fog bank had been low, thanks to an earlier inversion, but at the time of the crash, the clouds had lifted, ruling out spatial disorientation. Johnny knew that part of the investigation would involve checking the pilots’ medical records, and their blood for drugs and alcohol.

‘Wait a minute, how can you tell the difference?’ Johnny asked.

‘I’m not saying I know for sure, but only some kind of catastrophic mechanical failure would cause a ’copter to behave in that way, and force an uncontrollable spin. I watched it; it should be non-survivable.’

‘Isn’t that the same as an accident?’

‘I made a few phone calls this evening, and I asked around. I knew the pilots, and that helicopter was less than three years old.’

‘Johnny Frietze.’ Johnny held out his hand. ‘Ex-Light Infantry.’

‘Lance Tatterall, Army Air Corps.’

Chapter 18

Lizzie’s cries woke Kelly with a start and she had no idea if it was day or night. She groaned and rolled over, expecting her arm to connect with Johnny’s back, but it wasn’t there. This awareness was followed by the same sinking feeling that she’d had every morning for the past two months on waking and realising anew that he just wasn’t there anymore. She sighed and put her pillow over her head, and then she heard Millie padding along the landing to her daughter.

‘I love you, Millie,’ she whispered to herself.