‘Daddy! Oh you darling, have you come to chauffeur me home?’
Kath’s face glowed with excitement as she ran lightly towards him, every inch a dancer. Her long hair was combed up into a bun and she still wore her rehearsal clothes, but what he noticed most was the way she moved and stood, what she did with her arms and legs, relaxed yet at the same time totally alert. If she were not so concentrated on dancing, he thought, she could develop into an Olympic-class athlete, given the right training.
‘Are you ready, Kath? I’m afraid Mummy’s not home from work yet, but I expect she’ll not be long.’
‘Daddy.. Her face became serious. ‘We were going to call home just to ask, but now you’re here — can I stay at Susi’s tonight?’
‘Well, I don’t know.. ’ he hesitated. He felt disappointed, which he knew was absurd. Why shouldn’t she stay with her friends?
‘Oh, please say yes! We’ve got loads to talk about, and our homework to do. Susi’s mummy says she doesn’t mind. Honest. Ask her if you like. She’s outside now waiting in her car. They live in those posh flats by the recreation ground.’
Guy knew the block she meant: purpose-built luxury flats with a uniformed concierge in the entrance hall and private tennis courts at the back.
i’d better have a word with her,’ he started to say reluctantly, when she interrupted him with a shriek of laughter.
‘But Daddy, not like that! D’you know you’ve got a black streak on your face? What have you been doing?’ Still happily giggling, she fished out her handkerchief and dampened it in her mouth. ‘Here, bend down. I’ll rub it off.’
It took her two or three attempts until she was satisfied that all the dirt had gone; then she kissed him, pressing her moist lips to his scar. ‘You do need me to look after you, don’t you?’ she said softly, her voice full of concern. ‘And look at your clothes! You don’t usually wear those old things.’
i was doing some work in the house,’ he admitted.
‘Does Mummy know?’
Before he could reply to that pointed question they were interrupted by an exclamation of‘Why, hello!’ from a girl who up till now had been standing talking with her back to them. It was Lise Tumstall, he recognised — the schoolteacher whose pet beetles he had confiscated that same morning. She had changed her clothes in the meantime and was now wearing jeans with a paint-smeared loose smock over them.
‘What are you doing here?’ she asked, apparently pleased to see him.
‘Do you two know each other?’ Kath made the most of her surprise, gasping and making big eyes, it seems you do.’
‘OK, young missie!’ he chided her good-humouredly. His daughter was so happy in these surroundings, it was a joy to watch her. ‘Go and tell your friend you can stay with her.’
‘Great!’ She dashed off, calling Susi’s name.
‘Your daughter?’ Lise enquired, smiling. ‘I hadn’t realised her father worked for the Public Health Department. That’s how you knew about my beetles. Have you found out anything about them?’
‘I do have a confession to make,’ he began, wishing now that he had never deceived her about that.
‘You’ve killed them?’
‘Oh no, they’ve gone off to be examined by an entomologist, I believe. But Pm afraid I don’t work for that department. I was lying to you.’
He explained his reasons, expecting her to show at least some signs of annoyance, but she seemed to accept it all quite equably. She asked for more information about the beetles, complaining that the poster and its accompanying circular had not given enough detail for her to be able to explain it all properly to her class, so he tried to summarise what he knew, which was precious little, considering how dangerous they were.
‘Daddy, did you want to speak to Mrs Smith?’ Kath asked, reappearing with her coat on. ‘ ’Cos we’re just off.’
‘Mrs Smith?’ Now who the hell was Mrs Smith, he wondered.
‘Susi’s mummy,’ Kath told him with long-suffering patience. Then she made up her mind: ‘No, obviously you don’t. Bye then! I’ll phone later on.’
‘Don’t forget to say thank you!’ he shouted after her, though he doubted whether she heard him. He turned back to Lise. ‘You didn’t tell me why you’re here. Are you a dancer?’
Lise laughed, waving the idea away. ‘No, nothing like that! And I’ve a confession to make too: I’m not really a teacher. If you want to know. I’m.an unemployed set-designer helping out with their Evening of Dance. I do supply teaching in the daytime to make ends meet.’ ‘You’ve actually worked in theatres?’
‘Of course. And TV. Luckily, 1 trained as a teacher before I went to art school. Now it comes in useful between jobs. She glanced around the hail. Apart from one woman tidying things away at the far end, they were the only ones left. 'We’ve a lot of old timber in this place,’ she said, indicating the heavy exposed beams above their heads. ‘Hope they’re not infested.’
Guy stared up at them. From this distance they looked solid enough, but that meant nothing. ‘You’re doing the Evening of Dance in here?’
‘That’s the plan. Guy, I really didn’t know it was so bad — this wood beetle plague, 1 mean. The poster — well, we often get posters warning us of this or that. Last year where I was working it was beetles — Colorado beetles. But they only eat potatoes, don’t they? Not like these. Guy, what d’you think we should do? I can’t look at those beams now without thinking of what you told me.’ ‘There’s nothing we can do tonight,’ he said, suddenly furious — with the police, with Mary, with the whole bureaucratic set-up at Worth Hall. The old school where he had nearly died was no more than a hundred yards away, yet they’d done nothing to warn the rest of the neighbourhood, as far as he could see. ‘First thing tomorrow, whoever’s in charge should call in a reputable firm to inspect and treat the timbers, whether they think it’s necessary or not.’
‘Come and meet Miss Rosalie,’ Lise commanded, taking him by the arm. ‘She runs this place. Tell her.’ Miss Rosalie turned out to be the person he had noticed at the far end of the hall, a dark-haired woman with Mediterranean looks and quick graceful movements. Guy had already heard quite a bit about her from Kath, who worshipped her with a fervour which had frequently sent Dorothea into loud snorts of unthinkingly cruel laughter. She was right, of course — Kath could be very tunny when she overdramatised, and they both knew she’d one day grow out of it; but she also had talent, he was convinced, which should not be discouraged.
‘Wood beetles?’ Miss Rosalie repeated after Lise had broken the news to her. ‘That’s why they burned down the old school, isn’t it? And you think they’re spreading?’ ‘We know they’re spreading,’ Guy assured her seriously. ‘And they’re very dangerous.’
Her eyes rested for a moment on his scarred face. ‘They did that to you? Yes, I read about it in the Gazette, though the article didn’t say much.’ Guy told her what he had personally witnessed that afternoon and how two people had been killed. These insects were unusually vicious in both stages of their life cycle, he explained, which made it all the more vital to take some form of preventive action.
‘Oh, I’m sure you’re right,’ she responded with a glance at the beams, then back to him. if only I could afford it,
but I just don’t know where the money would come from,’
"The authorities may insist.’
‘Oh, I’m sure they will, but that doesn’t pay any bills, does it? All of which puts me into a deft stick. I can see the scenario: if I don’t have it done, they’ll close me down; if I do. I’ll he brought up for non-payment of debts and they’ll still close use down. You’ve made my day for me, Mr Archer, though I suppose that’s not your fault.’