‘The cipher was about death. There was a message in the garden, it was supposed to explain how the people who lived happened to die.’
‘Fascinating, don’t you think?’ Peter Flint asked. ‘And not a little spooky.’
‘What else do you know about the cipher?’ Daniel demanded.
The young man finished his bap. It was evidently more satisfying than the conversation. ‘That’s all. I never paid much heed.’
‘I’d like to take another look at your garden,’ Peter Flint said, ‘see if I can make out this cipher. Actually, Daniel, you have some pretty wicked plants growing around the tarn. Venomous plants are like weeds, you know. Give them time and they proliferate. I’m not just talking about all your foxgloves, or the belladonna. Hellebore is seriously toxic; the roots are poisonous as well as the leaves. Even its flowers strike me as sinister. As for mandrake…’
Sam bared his teeth. ‘Yeah. Mandrake is supposed to scream when you pull it out of the ground.’
‘Sorry I’m late.’ Nick was flushed after jogging over from where he’d parked, but Hannah thought he looked good in T-shirt and shorts. She liked his hairy arms and he had much better legs than Peter Flint. ‘The old lady who lives next door fainted as I was about to set off and I had to take her to Casualty. It’s the heat, none of us are used to it.’
‘Let’s cool down with a drink after Kirsty’s done her thing. Once I’ve had talked to her, you and I can have a word in private.’
‘Hey, someone’s waving at you. Don’t I know him?’
Hannah turned her head and saw a familiar face. Carefully, she said, ‘As a matter of fact, that’s Daniel. Ben Kind’s son.’
‘Of course. I’ve seen him on the box. Do you know the women with him?’
‘I’d hazard a guess at his partner Miranda and his sister. Let’s go and say hello.’
As they jostled through the crowd, Hannah caught Daniel’s eye. Impossible not to glow at the spontaneity of his smile. As introductions were performed, she considered the women in his life. Miranda was depressingly gorgeous; no longer did she find it so hard to understand why he’d thrown up his career to move to the Lakes with her. As for Louise, at first glance she didn’t look much like Daniel. But the resemblance was there if you set about looking for it — not least, she had her brother’s cool appraising stare. Ben Kind had had it too.
‘You look cheerful. I didn’t realise you were so keen on skydiving.’
He jerked a thumb in the direction of the plane circling overhead. ‘It’ll be interesting to watch. But there’s no way I’d go up there. A group of students tried to persuade us to book a tandem jump. We had to drag Miranda away.’
‘It must be so liberating,’ Miranda said dreamily. ‘Imagine floating through mid-air.’
Hannah caught Louise’s caustic glance. Not much love lost between those two, she guessed. Daniel noticed as well, and was quick to move the conversation on.
‘I’ve just had some exciting news. From Peter Flint and Sam Howe, of all people.’
Out of the corner of her eye, Hannah spotted Nick’s brow furrowing. For once she could read his mind: how come Daniel Kind knows Peter Flint and Sam Howe? Perhaps she was taking more of a risk than Kirsty, up there in that little tin can, but she couldn’t just walk away.
‘Tell us.’
‘Ever heard of a cipher garden?’
When she shook her head, he told them what he’d learned. His animation amused her. He was so natural, not at all her idea of an Oxford don or someone who had presented a television series.
‘So what do you think the cipher represents?’
Miranda tugged at Daniel’s sleeve. ‘Look! They’re about to jump!’
They craned their necks. The plane was directly above the field that served as the dropzone. A microscopic figure, little more than a dot, had appeared at the door.
‘That’s Kirsty,’ Hannah said. ‘Her mother told me she’d be first to go.’
‘How high would you say they are?’ Louise asked.
Nick said, ‘Nine thousand feet, at a guess. Maybe ten.’
‘A long way to fall.’
‘Right.’
Kirsty leapt from the plane. She was gliding through the air, elegant as a bird. As she came closer, they could make out her canary-yellow jumpsuit. But as they watched, she raised an arm.
‘Jesus,’ Daniel said. ‘What’s she doing?’
Nick swore. ‘She’s taking off her helmet.’
Kirsty pulled the helmet free and it flew away.
Hannah’s stomach lurched. She found herself squeezing Nick’s hand tight.
Miranda let out a cry. ‘What’s she doing? Is she mad? She’s…’
The figure in the sky was uncoupling her parachute.
‘She’s not wearing goggles,’ Nick said.
The parachute was flapping around the skydiver’s legs. It was as if she was dancing, as she tried to wriggle free.
‘Shit, she’s lost her parachute!’
People screamed as the white parachute billowed and spiralled away. Tears were running down Miranda’s cheeks, Louise had covered her eyes.
Kirsty was falling through the air, lying on her back, knees bent towards her chest.
Hannah thought she was going to be sick. She saw Daniel put his arm round Miranda. Their eyes were locked on the girl in the sky.
Kirsty arched her back and put her head down, pointing towards the ground. They could see her long red hair, rippled by a breeze. Her body spun in mid-air and then plunged towards the dropzone.
People were shouting. ‘No! Oh God! No!’
As the girl hit the ground, Hannah retched.
PART TWO
Chapter Fifteen
Tears filled Daniel’s eyes as he stuffed one more sack with clumps of grass and stinging nettles. He’d striven to expel the vision of Kirsty Howe’s shattered body from his mind through sheer hard labour, but in vain. However many times he bent his back, the scene at the airfield kept replaying in his mind. That tiny yellow figure in mid-air, intent on destroying herself.
What drove someone to such despair that suicide was the only way out? He’d wrestled with the question a thousand times since Aimee had hurled herself from that tower in Oxford, and never found an answer. To him, life was the most precious gift. To toss it away was unthinkable.
Chaos had engulfed the airfield the instant the girl hit the ground. People were crying out in shock and disbelief, strangers clutched at each other, unable to make sense of what they had witnessed. While Daniel, Miranda and Louise huddled together for comfort, Nick raced off to take charge of the scene. Once Hannah finished vomiting, she followed him. Daniel thanked God he wasn’t a police officer, charged with sorting out other people’s ruined lives. How had his father coped with the horror?
The three of them drove home in silence and had little to say to each other before going to bed. Kirsty’s death had numbed them. All night, he kept waking up, unable to settle. At first light, he headed out into the garden and threw himself into decoding the cipher garden, but his brain wasn’t working and he’d resorted to physical graft. Nothing added up, certainly not this eccentric overgrown landscape in the shadow of the fell. What did an old cipher matter, when the young waitress was dead for no reason?
Senseless, senseless, senseless.
He thrust his fork into the hard dry earth and struck something solid buried a few inches under the ground. A
