Freezing

‘Possibly.’

‘And on the other side?’

‘Neighbors on the other side are tenants.’ Scott yawned. ‘Phoenix hasn’t run down the info on them yet but the owner lives outside the US and that’s confirmed. Let’s give the rookies a punch list of backgrounds we need when we get to the station.’

‘Make sure they know it’s a punch list and not a wish list. It’s Saturday night, so a list isn’t going to make them happy.’

Scott yawned again. ‘They’ve been on stakeout. What makes you think they won’t be happy?’ He twisted to look at the back seat. ‘We got anything else to eat in here?’

Steelie watched Marie snip the thin branches of the mint bush and held the willow basket out for her. Then she hurried to keep up as Marie moved on to a rose bush whose flowers grew in bunches, some buds yet to open, others just past their glory.

‘I think we’ll have some of these, too.’ Marie started cutting off little bouquets.

‘You’re putting roses in the mint tea?’

‘No, dear, these are for the table.’ Then she peered at Steelie over the top of her vintage sunglasses. ‘You’re teasing me, aren’t you?’

‘Hey, I found rosemary in my scone this morning so I had to check.’

‘I would have thought that you experimented with all kinds of herbs and spices, Steelie.’

‘Why, ’cause I’m a vegetarian? As someone pointed out, we don’t just go and eat a fistful of the nearest bush. Like you don’t pick up the nearest squirrel and throw it on the grill just ’cause you eat meat.’

Marie threw her head back and laughed throatily. ‘It is always such a treat to have you around, my dear. Come on, we’ve got enough of everything now.’

They walked up the sloping lawn of creeping thyme to the Cape Cod-style house shaded by two ancient oaks. The white siding contrasted with a particular shade of blue on the window shutters to give the effect of country retreat rather than beach house. The rear porch was screened in and the wooden door slammed gently behind Steelie as she followed in Marie’s perfume contrail. The lunch table was set with tulips but Marie picked the vase up as she swept into the house.

They passed through the dining room, its long table flanked by ten chairs, and into the bright white kitchen with its woodblock counters and island.

‘Right, give me the mint and I’ll leave you the roses. Here’s a vase.’ She handed Steelie a pot-bellied ceramic jug and the pruning scissors and pointed her over to a section of counter by a small sink. She hummed as she pulled iced tea from the refrigerator and prepared to submerge the mint in it.

After a few minutes, Steelie turned around with the jug. ‘How’s that?’

Marie looked at the rose arrangement, head tilted. ‘There’s hope for you yet.’

Steelie hoisted herself on the counter to watch Marie make salad dressing. Her gaze traveled over the room and came to rest, as usual, on the large framed watercolor that dominated the far wall, a bookcase on either side, each jammed with cookbooks sprouting bits of note paper, their colourful spines a contrast to the ephemeral quality of the watercolor. It was a portrait of Marie and Jayne when she was four years old, painted by her father, Elliott.

‘Tell me about the painting again.’

Marie looked up. ‘Again? But you know the story.’

‘Again!’

She shrugged elegantly. ‘We were in our back garden in Caracas. Nothing like this.’ She glanced out the kitchen windows. ‘Much smaller but wonderful soil. I was planting seeds I’d been experimenting with. Jayne had watched me harvest them and then decided to help me plant. I taught her how to hold the trowel and she was very good. No seeds too deep, nothing tamped down too hard.’ She smiled at the memory. ‘The plants began to grow. Everything was fine. Then one day, I went to check on their progress and discovered that she had excavated their roots. Not dug them up; no, no. She just wanted to see what was going on underground so she had simply exposed them, poor things. It was quite clinical. They never recovered.’

Steelie smiled. ‘Just think, you were the one who taught her to use a trowel. Little did you know.’

‘That’s what Elliott says.’ Marie turned back to the salad and began tossing in the dressing. ‘Little did we know our girl was going to grow up to be a forensic anthropologist. We’d never heard of such a thing.’

Steelie jumped down and came over to rescue a piece of cucumber that had fallen from the salad bowl on to the counter. She popped it into her mouth and crunched. ‘How is Mr Hall? It’s been, what, a couple of months since he was here last?’

‘Oh, he’s fast approaching emeritus level and there’s only so long the university will allow an old painter to hang on. So he’s asking himself if he can stop being an expatriate and come back to the States. It’s difficult, as being an expatriate rather suits Elliott. Has done since nineteen sixty-seven.’

‘You wouldn’t go back to Venezuela?’

‘My home is here. I am a true emigrante.’ She handed the salad bowl to Steelie and directed her toward the front porch. ‘Besides, how would the listeners of Weekends with Prentis manage without me?’

‘As your lawyer,’ Steelie called back, ‘I’d have to advise you to take the title with you at the very least.’

Marie joined her on the porch and put the roses on the table. ‘Now, do you think Jayne will be here soon or shall we begin without her?’

Steelie glanced at her watch. ‘I’m actually surprised she’s not back yet. Did you see her this morning?’

‘No, but she’d left a note in the kitchen that she was going to Carol’s.’

‘Yeah.’ Steelie pulled out her cell phone and dialled Jayne’s number. ‘Either her phone’s off or she’s out of range.’ She started to dial Carol’s home number and said to Marie, ‘Let’s go ahead; I’m sure she’ll be here soon.’

Jayne walked out to the back porch to find Steelie and Marie at the table with the remains of lunch. Half the quiche was just crumbs and the salad looked picked over. She sat down at the place setting that had been left for her and reached for the salad.

‘How’d she take it?’ Steelie’s tone was eager.

‘You know Carol – with equanimity. I tell her my apartment’s been bugged and we need her to call some TSCMs—’

‘TSCMs?’ Marie cut in.

Jayne spoke while examining the salad. ‘Technical Surveillance Counter-Measures. I can tell Steelie’s been here because there’s no avocado left and yet I can see smears of avocado stuck in the crenulations of the lettuce.’

‘They do say it’s trace evidence that gets you every time.’ Steelie didn’t sound remorseful.

Marie ignored their asides. ‘Couldn’t you have just called Carol?’

Steelie answered because Jayne had too much salad in her mouth. ‘Well, Eric said that it wasn’t always recommended to do what they did at Jayne’s apartment last night; I mean, to dismantle the bug. In a business setting, it’s sometimes recommended to leave it in, plant disinformation in it, and then see where that comes out to find the source of the spying. So in case this is all to do with the Agency and not just someone spying on Jayne, we’re not using any phones to discuss this or make the appointments with the TSCMs. If there are wiretaps at the office, we don’t want whoever planted them to take them away before a professional finds them.’

‘It all sounds rather sinister. I can see why you converged on me for the weekend.’ She stood. ‘And you’re welcome to stay for longer.’ She went inside.

Jayne looked after her, then cut a generous slice of quiche for herself. She regarded Steelie. ‘You’re having fun, aren’t you?’

Steelie threw her arms wide. ‘Why wouldn’t I? Great company, a comfy room, delicious food. My mom’s idea of lunch is tuna and potato chips on white. Followed by Jell-O on a bed of Cool Whip. And if you ask her what flavour the Jell-O is—’

‘I know; red.’

‘Yeah. I mean, that’s not a flavor!’

‘She’s just speaking a different language.’