Guy had offered to drive Tony to hospital himself, but Mary insisted so vehemently that it was her responsibility, and her face had become so drawn, so intense, that he dared not contradict her for fear of how she might react. Besides, having something practical to do might be the best thing for her, he thought.
They were ail on edge, every one of them. Tessa from the Gazette was actually trembling as she tried dutifully to write down the main points in her notebook, getting on Guy’s nerves with her questions. Only Tony himself seemed absolutely calm as he patiently allowed Mary to plug both ends of his wound with lint from the first-aid box in her car. When she had finished, he nodded and got into the passenger seat without accepting help from anybody.
‘Guy, I’ll call you later in the day,’ Mary said with a quiet urgency before she drove off. ‘Will you be in your office?’
‘Mostly.’
He needed to think it all through, he felt, as he stood watching her car slowing down at the end of the road and seeming to pause for a few seconds before slotting itself into the main stream of traffic. He needed to look at the facts again, including this latest incident, if only to work out why each encounter with these insects left him with such a strong sense of foreboding.
Tessa put her finger on it when she asked, ‘Other insects feed on humans, don’t they? Yet we don’t feel half so scared of them. It’s spooky.’
She was right, too. These were different.
Stooping, Guy picked up the beam section he and Tony had gone through so much trouble to obtain. Balancing it upright on one end, he considered for a moment stowing it in his car boot in case they could Seam something more from it. Christ, as if they hadn’t learned enough already! The way that worm had bored through Tony’s hand was something he’d never forget, not as long as he lived.
Yet…
He hesitated. Taking the timber with him would mean cutting it in half to get it into the boot, which was a prospect he didn’t welcome. God knew how many other worms were hidden inside. Nor did he like the thought of taking them anywhere near Dorothea or Kath.
Impulsively he carried it over to the ruined building and tossed it into the rubble. ‘Best place for that!’ he declared. ‘Could be full of woodworms.’
‘Bloodworms,’ Tessa said.
Her thin lips twisted into a weak smile, then she made some more notes.
‘Hell!’ he exploded at her. ‘D’you have to write everything down?’
Parking close to his own house proved impossible, as usual, but eventually he found a space at the far end of the road, reversed into it, then got out, locked the car and began to walk back. To judge from the pointed glances he received from passers-by he must have looked a bit of a scarecrow.
Dorothea thought so too when she saw him.
‘You back? What happened — did they sack you?’ She sounded amused rather than concerned. ‘And bloody hell, your clothes! Guy, have you been mugged or what?’ Briefly he explained about the collapsed building and how they had needed a sample of the timber for tests. Then he told her what the worm had done to Tony’s hand.
‘So you had to climb down there!’ she exclaimed, disgusted. ‘Guy, you might have been killed!’
Yet a look of understanding crossed her face as she went to him and there was a glint of interest in her eyes which he hadn’t seen for years. ‘But you knew that, you bastard,’ she went on, her voice softening. ‘You bloody knew it. You’re still the crazy boy I married, aren’t you?’ She leaned forward to kiss him and he felt the tip of her tongue darting rapidly across his, though before he could respond she’d pulled away again and begun to brush the dust off her dark blue suit.
‘Oh, look at my skirt! This is muck off your clothes. You’re quite hopeless, Guy. You should’ve stayed in the Army instead of selling adding machines, or whatever it is you do. An eternal boy scout, that’s you!’
‘Why are you al! dressed up?’ he asked, noticing that she was wearing the new suit they had bought together on a shopping spree only a few weeks earlier.
‘Temp job, phoned through this morning. Managing director in the City. One of his secretaries was in a traffic accident so they want someone right away.’
That must be why she was in such a good mood, he thought, She’d nagged for years about buying a house of their own, but she was only really happy when she could get out of it.
‘I must go,’ she said in a rush, ‘but have a look at the front _room first. Tell me what you think. Though don't get too close to the wall; I don’t want your dirt on the fresh paint.’
All the woodwork was jet black, the end walls a deep green and the two longer walls a light rusty colour. The room, though empty of furniture, seemed dark and forbidding. Guy made some complimentary noises, but then said:
‘Kath’s in school, I suppose?’
‘Where else?’
‘Did she mention beetles to you?’
‘What beetles? Oh, Guy, can’t you get your mind off beetles?’
‘She said something about one of the classes keeping two beetles in a jar. We should get in touch with the school and check up on it. You know her teachers, I don’t, so I wondered if you…’
‘Not this morning. I’m off to work.’ Dorothea went back into the hall and examined herself in the mirror. ‘You’ll have to do it, Guy, if you’ve so much time. Never been to her school, have you? Now’s your chance.’
She picked up her handbag, opened it to check that she had everything, offered Guy a quick peck on the cheek and went.
Guy felt unaccountably hungry. He glanced into the kitchen but Dorothea had obviously not yet been shopping that morning. No eggs even. She and her helpers must have used up the last few the night before, after finishing the painting, and the bacon with them. He made himself a round of bread and marmalade to eat while he was changing.
Upstairs, he stripped everything off and stood under the shower for a couple of minutes to wash the dust out of Ins hair. Plenty of old woodwork in these houses too, he thought as the hot water streamed down over his body; of course they’d had a full report from the surveyors but…
But.
That was the problem. The workshop owners had taken that precaution too. Where had it left them?
While he was dressing he put a call through to his office to warn his secretary that it might be noon or later before he could get to the office.
‘Mr Rawnsley phoned again,’ she informed him, slightly offhand. He heard a whisper in the background; he’d probably caught her gossiping again with the girl from the next office. ‘He says he’s sorry but he can’t make it tomorrow. Could you lunch with him today by any chance? I said I’d ring him back.’
‘Damn.’ That was the third time Rawnsley had cancelled, but it could be an important order if they got it.
‘I’ve checked your diary. You’ve nothing else written in A sotto voice See you later told him her visitor had left.
‘Same time, same place, I suppose? You’d better tell him it’s all right. Say I’m looking forward to it. Oh, and Sarah—’
‘Yes?’
‘Be nice to him.’
‘Aren’t I always?’ she laughed. ‘But he is a bit of a creep, you must admit.’
A creep with the power to channel a six-figure commission in their direction, Guy recalled as he replaced the receiver. Half a million at least.
He searched the telephone book for Kath’s school, intending to warn the head before going along, but he must have mistaken the name because he couldn’t find it. It was not a name they ever used. Both Kath and Dorothea — who had taken her along there when they moved into the district — simply referred to the place as school. He considered trying directory enquiries but decided it would be quicker just to drive there. Before leaving his house, he searched the kitchen cupboards for a container of some kind. The best he could find was a small, empty biscuit tin, which he slipped into his briefcase.