Dialogues of the Dead

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

This edition published 2001 ByBCA By arrangement with HArperCo\msPttl>liyhers

CN19533 t' First published by Collins Crime 2001 Copyright © Reginald Hill 2001

Reginald Hill asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Set in PostScript Linotype Janson by Rowland Photo typesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Printed and bound in Germany by GGP Media, Possneck

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers. paronomania (psronau'meima) [Factitious word derived from a conflation of paronomasia [L. a. Gr. 'n'apovou.acTioi] Word-play + mania (see quot. 1823)] i. A clinical obsession with word games. 1760 George, Lord LYTTELTON Dialogues of the Dead: No XXXV BACON: Is not yon fellow lying there Shakespeare, the scribbler? Why looks he so pate? GALEN: Aye, sir, 'tis he. A very pretty case of paronomania. Since coming here he has resolved a cryptogram in his plays which proves that you wrote them, since when he has not spoken word. 1823 Ld- BYRON Don Juan Canto xviii So paronomastic are his miscellanea. Hood's doctors fear he'll die of paronomania. 1927 HAL D1LLINGER Through the Mind-Mazf. A Casebook So advanced was Mr X's paronomania that he attempted to kill his wife because of a message he claimed to have received via a cryptic clue in the Washington Posf crossword. 2. The proprietary name of a board game for two players using tiles imprinted with letters to form words. Points are scored partly by addition of the numeric values accorded to each letter, but also as a result of certain relationships of sound and meaning between the words. All languages transcribable in Latin script may be used under certain variable rules. 1976 Skulker Magazine, Vol I No. iv Though the aficionados of Paronomania contested the annual Championships with all their customary enthusiasm, ferocity and skill, the complex and esoteric nature of the game makes il unlikely that it will ever be degraded to the status of a national sport.

OED znd Edition)

3)u sagst mr l)eimlicl) ein leises SBort Unb gibst mil ben Strauss oon Cgpressen. 5cl) wac^e auf, unb her Strauss ist fort, Hub's 2Bort I)ab' ici) oergessen.*

Harry Heine (1800--18^6)

I fear there is some maddening secret Hid in your words (and at each turn of thought Comes up a skull,) like an anatomy Found in a weedy hole, 'mongst stones and roots And straggling reptiles, with his tongueless mouth Telling of murder ...

Thomas Lovell Beddoes (18031849)

* A -word in secret you softly say And give me a cypress spray sweetly. I -wake and find that I've lost the spray And the word escapes me completely. Chapter One

THE FIRST DIALOGUE

''aMI

Hi, there. How 're you doing? Me, I'm fine, I think.

That's right. It's hard to tell sometimes, but there seems to be some movement at last. Funny old thing, life, isn 't it?

OK, death too. But life ... Just a short while ago, there 1 was, going nowhere and nowhere to go, stuck on the shelf, so to speak, past oozing through present into future with nothing of colour or action or excitement to quicken the senses. . . Then suddenly one day 1 saw it! Stretching out before me where it had always been, the long and winding path leading me through my Great Adventure, the start so close I felt I could reach out and touch it, the end so distant my mind reeled at the thought of what lay between. But it's a long step from a reeling mind to a mind in reality, and at first that's where it stayed - that long and winding trail, I mean - in the mind, something to pass the long quiet hours with. Yet all the while I could hear my soul telling me, 'Being a mental traveller is fine but it gets you no suntan!' And my feet grew ever more restless. Slowly the questions began to turn in my brain like a screensaver on a computer. Could I possibly ... ? Did I dare ... ? That's the trouble with paths. Once found, they must be followed wherever they may lead, but sometimes the start is - how shall I put it? - so indefinite. I needed a sign. Not necessarily something dramatic. A gentle nudge would do. Or a whispered word. Then one day 1 got it. First the whispered word. Your whisper? I hoped so. I heard it, interpreted it, wanted to believe it. But it was still so vague . . .