of the prohibitive age into which he’d survived made him take it out again.
…At least his suffering seemed less than that of his editor, Mary Agnew, who was talking with head averted to a bald man shovelling canapes into his mouth from a piled-up plate like he’d just escaped from a health farm. He reached for a name…found it…Councillor Steel a.k.a. Stuffer…a man to avoid, by all accounts, not only because of his lethal breath but because it was frequently expended badmouthing the police and all other alleged abusers of the public purse. Still, the way he was gobbling that grub, he wouldn’t be long for this world!
Rye had disappeared now. Perhaps she’d gone to replenish her tray. Would need to if there were many appetites like Stuffer’s. Or perhaps she was secretly observing him to see if he took an intelligent interest in the exhibits. He certainly felt observed. He turned his head suddenly and caught the source of the feeling. Not that it was hard to catch, as the man viewing him from behind what looked like a huge wooden phallus didn’t turn away guiltily but gave him a friendly nod.
It was Franny Roote. Whose discreet surveillance he’d been boasting about to the DCI only yesterday.
But if he’d been so sodding discreet, how come Roote was smiling at him like an old buddy and heading his way?
“Hello,” he said. “DC Bowler, isn’t it? Are you into art?”
“Not really,” said Bowler, seriously hassled and trying for sang-froid. “You?”
“As an extension of the word, perhaps. Words are my thing, but sometimes the word is a seed which needs to flower into something non-verbal. It’s a circular thing, really. Pictures came first, of course. Nice cave paintings, a lot of them done, recent research suggests, while the artist was high on grass or whatever they used in prehistoric times. It’s easy to see how their pictures might have some sort of religious significance. Also they could have been of practical use, such as saying, If you go out of the cave and turn left down the valley you’ll find a nice herd of antelope for supper. But when it came to saying, Run like hell, boys. Here comes a Tyrannosaurus, pictures left something to be desired. So language, to start with, was no doubt born out of necessity. Yet soon it must have flowered into song, into poetry, into narrative, into the exchange of ideas, and out of these developed new and subtler forms of art, which in turn…well, you take my point, I’m sure. It’s a circle, or perhaps a wheel as it makes forward progress as it turns, and we are all bound upon it at some point or other, though for some it is a Ferris wheel, and for others it is a wheel of fire.”
He paused and looked at Bowler as if he’d just said something like, “Is it still raining outside?”
Bowler, slightly punch-drunk, said, “Have we met? I don’t remember you…”
“No, you’re right. In fact we haven’t actually met, though I think we may have come close to an encounter recently. Roote. Francis Roote. Franny to my friends.”
“So how do you know me, Mr. Roote?”
“I’m not really sure. A mutual friend could have pointed you out, I suppose. Sergeant Wield, perhaps. Or Mr. Pascoe. There he is now.”
He gave a little wave. Bowler followed its direction and found himself looking straight into DCI Pascoe’s accusing eyes. He couldn’t blame him for not looking happy. To come to something like this and find the guy you suspected was stalking you chatting merrily to the DC instructed to check him out with maximum discretion was enough to give anyone a touch of the Dalziels.
Roote said, “Excuse me. Time to get down to business, I think. Jude Illingworth the engraver’s here demonstrating her techniques and I don’t want to miss that.”
He moved away towards an alcove in which Bowler could see a tall woman with no hair talking to a knot of people. At the same time out of the corner of his eye he saw Pascoe heading in his direction and prepared to be defensive.
“Sir,” he said pre-emptively as the DCI arrived, “I’ve no idea what he’s doing here. Shall I check the invite list? Or maybe he came with a friend…”
“Relax,” said Pascoe. “I’ve a good idea how he got in. What I’d like to know though is how come you’re so friendly with him?”
Bowler explained what had happened.
“I’ve no idea how he got on to me, sir,” he concluded unhappily. “I really did tiptoe around…”
“The man’s a spider,” said Pascoe. “Not the kind that builds a web but one of those who leaves trailing threads drifting in the breeze. Slightest touch and he knows you’re there.”
This was almost as airy-fairy as Roote’s spiel, thought Bowler.
“Anyway, glad you’ve made it, Hat. I won’t keep you any longer. You’ll be keen to look at what’s on offer. And if you see something you fancy, grab it, that’s my advice. Don’t waste time.”
Jesus, why did the sight of young love provoke even sensible cops like Peter Pascoe into the jocularity of maiden aunts? Hat asked himself resentfully.
Then he glimpsed what he’d been looking for: Rye, appearing with a newly laden tray of nibbles.
“No, sir,” he said, moving away from Pascoe. “I’ll not waste any time.”
Time was still here and I was still in it, but as I moved around and regarded those who are its unwitting servants, my aura was coming in waves, or rather pulses, as if its source were a great beating heart like the sun. Twice, three times, its heat and brightness grew almost unbearable as I encountered first this face, then that. Could they all be marked down? Perhaps…but their time, or rather their time-out, was not yet…and in any case could surely not be here…
And then you brought us face to face.
“Councillor Steel, I’d like a word with you,” said Charley Penn.
“Oh yes? Normally I’d say words come cheap, but not from you writers, eh? I saw the price of one of your books in Smith’s the other day. Feed a family for a week, you could, on that money.”
“Not your family, I shouldn’t have thought,” said Penn, glancing at the nibble-loaded plate in the councillor’s hand.
“Me?” Steel snorted contemptuously. “Don’t have no family except meself, Mr. Penn.”
“That’s what I mean.”
Steel laughed. One of his political strengths was that he was uninsultable.
He said, “You mean I like my grub? Fill up while you can, that’s what growing up rough taught me. Mebbe if I’d gone to a posh school like you, I’d eat more dainty. Not that a man’s going to get fat on this bird-seed they feed you here. And who’s paying for it, eh? And the vino, too. The rate-payers, that’s who.”
“Well, they can afford it, can’t they? Out of those millions they’ll be saving once you get my literature group grant axed. Feeling pleased with yourself now you’ve kicked that bunch of sheep on your committee into recommending it, are you?”
“Nowt personal, Mr. Penn. You’ve got to treat the symptoms till you can cure the disease.”
“And what would that disease be?”
“Civic melogamania,” said Steel, mispronouncing the word carefully.
“That would be, what? An over-enthusiasm for music?” said Penn.
“Got it wrong, did I?” said Steel indifferently. “Doesn’t matter, you know what I mean. Building Fancy Dan centres like this when they’ve cut the council house budget by sixty per cent in ten years. That’s melogamania, however you say it. You want to complain about a few trendy trollops not getting paid to read mucky books, you should speak to the mayor. Or his missus. She’s a big fan of yours, I hear. Not big enough to save your class, but, not even rationing his oats. Not to worry, more to go round the rest, eh? Talk of the devil, there he is. How do, Your Lordship! Who’s looking after the maggots?”
The mayor was passing by. He gave Steel a nasty look, while across the room his wife turned her head to send Steel a promissory glare which turned to a lionizing smile when she saw Charley Penn.
Steel appropriated the smile to himself, and called, “How do, Margott? Looking well. Hey, luv, don’t pass a starving man without throwing a crumb.”
This change of direction was caused by Rye Pomona’s approaching within hailing distance with her tray which the councillor proceeded to lighten with more speed than discrimination.
“Shall I get you some more, Mr. Steel?” enquired Rye sweetly.
“No, lass. Not unless you can lay your hands on something a bit more substantial.”
“Such as?”
“A few slices of rib beef and a couple of roast spuds wouldn’t come amiss.”
“Rib beef and roast spuds. I’ll mention it in the kitchen,” said Rye seriously.
