The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time - Mark Haddon [20]
But Mrs. Alexander still didn't answer. Instead she asked me a question. She said, “So you don't know?”
And I said, “Don't know what?”
She replied, “Christopher, look, I probably shouldn't be telling you this.” Then she said, “Perhaps we should take a little walk in the park together. This is not the place to be talking about this kind of thing.”
I was nervous. I did not know Mrs. Alexander. I knew that she was an old lady and that she liked dogs. But she was a stranger. And I never go into the park on my own because it is dangerous and people inject drugs behind the public toilets in the corner. I wanted to go home and go up to my room and feed Toby and practice some maths.
But I was excited, too. Because I thought she might tell me a secret. And the secret might be about who killed Wellington. Or about Mr. Shears. And if she did that I might have more evidence against him, or be able to Exclude Him from My Investiations.
So because it was a Super Good Day I decided to walk into the park with Mrs. Alexander, even though it scared me.
When we were inside the park Mrs. Alexander stopped walking and said, “I am going to say something to you and you must promise not to tell your father that I told you this.”
I asked, “Why?”
And she said, “I shouldn't have said what I said. And if I don't explain, you'll carry on wondering what I meant. And you might ask your father. And I don't want you to do that because I don't want you to upset him. So I'm going to explain why I said what I said. But before I do that you have to promise not to tell anyone I said this to you.”
I asked, “Why?”
And she said, “Christopher, please, just trust me.”
And I said, “I promise.” Because if Mrs. Alexander told me who killed Wellington, or she told me that Mr. Shears had really killed Mother, I could still go to the police and tell them because you are allowed to break a promise if someone has committed a crime and you know about it.
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Your mother, before she died, was very good friends with Mr. Shears.”
And I said, “I know.”
And she said, “No, Christopher. I'm not sure that you do. I mean that they were very good friends. Very, very good friends.”
I thought about this for a while and said, “Do you mean that they were doing sex?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Yes, Christopher. That is what I mean.”
Then she didn't say anything for about 30 seconds.
Then she said, “I'm sorry, Christopher. I really didn't mean to say anything that was going to upset you. But I wanted to explain. Why I said what I said. You see, I thought you knew. That's why your father thinks that Mr. Shears is an evil man. And that will be why he doesn't want you going around talking to people about Mr. Shears. Because that will bring back bad memories.”
And I said, “Was that why Mr. Shears left Mrs. Shears, because he was doing sex with someone else when he was married to Mrs. Shears?”
And Mrs. Alexander said, “Yes, I expect so.”
Then she said, “I'm sorry, Christopher. I really am.”
And I said, “I think I should go now.”
And she said, “Are you OK, Christopher?”
And I said, “I'm scared of being in the park with you because you're a stranger.”
And she said, “I'm not a stranger, Christopher, I'm a friend.”
And I said, “I'm going to go home now.”
And she said, “If you want to talk about this you can come and see me anytime you want. You only have to knock on my door.”
And I said, “OK.”
And she said, “Christopher?”
And I said, “What?”
And she said, “You won't tell your father about this conversation, will you?”
And I said, “No. I promised.”
And she said, “You go on home. And remember what I said. Anytime.”
Then I went home.
101. Mr. Jeavons said that I liked maths because it was safe. He said