She shrugged. 'He's not a very good teacher, but I've picked up quite a lot. I've tried to help him in his work -- I think a wife should help her husband.'
'What do you think of this Vivero thing -- the whole caper?'
She was silent for a time, then said frankly, 'I don't like it, Jemmy, I don't, like anything about it. It's become an obsession with Paul -- and not only him. Look at Fallon. My God, take a good look at yourself!'
'What about me?'
She threw her cigarette away half-smoked. 'Don't you think it's ridiculous that you should have been jerked out of a peaceful life in England and dumped in this wilderness just because of what a Spaniard wrote four hundred years ago? Too many lives are being twisted. Jemmy.'
I said carefully, 'I wouldn't say I'm obsessional about it. I don't give a damn about Vivero or Uaxuanoc. My motives are different. But you say that Paul is obsessed by it. How does his obsession take him?'
She plucked nervously at the towel in her lap. 'You've seen him. He can think or talk of nothing else. It's changed him: he's not the man I knew when we were married. And he's not only fighting Quintana Roo -- he's fighting Fallon.'
I said shortly, 'If it weren't for Fallon he wouldn't be here now.'
'And that's a part of what he's fighting,' she said passionately. 'How can he compete with Fallen's reputation, with Fallen's money and resources? It's driving him crazy.'
'I wasn't aware that this was any kind of competition. dc you think Fallon will deny him any credit that's due to him?'
'He did before -- why shouldn't he do it again? It's really Fallon's fault that Paul is in such a bad state.'
I sighed. Pat Harris was dead right. Katherine didn't know about Halstead's bad reputation in the trade. The advertising boys had got it down pat -- even her best friend wouldn't tell her! I debated for a moment whether or not to tell her all about Pat Harris's investigations, but to tell a woman that her husband was a liar and a faker was certainly not the best way of making friends and influencing people. She would be come more than annoyed and would probably tell Halstead -- and what Halstead would do in his present frame of mind might be highly dangerous.
I said. 'Now, look, Katherine: if Paul has an obsession it has nothing to do with Fallon. I think Fallon is eminently fair, and will give Paul all the credit that's, coming to him That's just my own personal opinion, mind you.'
'You don't know what that man has done to Paul,' she said sombrely.
'Maybe he had it coming to him,' I said brutally. 'He doesn't make it easy for anyone working with him. I'm not too happy about his attitude to me, and if he keeps it up he's going to get a thick ear.'
That's an unfair thing to say,' she burst out.
'What the hell's unfair about it? You asked to come on this jaunt on the grounds that you could control him. Well, you just do that, or I'll do a bit of controlling in my own way.'
She scrambled to her feet. 'You're against him, too. You're siding with Fallon.'
'I'm not siding with anyone,' I said tiredly. 'I'm just sick to death of seeing a piece of scientific research being treated as though it were a competitive sporting event -- or a war. And I might tell you that that attitude is one sided -- it doesn't come from Fallon.'
'It doesn't have to,' she said viciously. 'He's on top.'
'On top of what, for God's sake? Both Fallon and Paul arc here doing a job of work, and why Paul doesn't get on with it and await the outcome is beyond me.'
'Because Fallon will . . .' She stopped. 'Oh, what's the use of talking? You wouldn't understand.'
'That's right,' I said sarcastically. 'I'm so dumb and stupid I can't put two and two together. Don't be so bloody patronizing.'
It's said that some women appear more beautiful when angry, but for my money it's a myth probably bruited about by constitutionally angry women. Katherine was in a rage and she looked ugly. With one quick movement she brought up her hand and slapped me -- hard. She must have played a lot of tennis in her time because that forehand swing of hers really jolted me.
I just looked at her. 'Of course that solves a lot of problems.' I said quietly, 'Katherine, I admire loyalty in a wife, but you're not just loyal -- you've been brainwashed.'
There was a sudden throb in the air and then a roar as the helicopter appeared over the trees and passed overhead. I looked up and saw Paul Halstead's head twist around to watch us.
Seven.
Every three days a big Helicopter came in from Camp One bringing drums of fuel for the diesel generators and cylinders of gas for the camp kitchen as and when necessary. It also brought in the mail which had been flown from Mexico City by Fallen's jet, so I could keep in touch with England. Mount wrote to me telling me that probate was going through without much difficulty, and Jack Edgecombe had taken fire at last and was enthusiastic about the new plan for the farm. He was going ahead in spite of acid comments from the locals and was sure we were on to a good thing.
Reading those letters from Devon while in that stinking hot clearing in the middle of Quintana Roo made me homesick and I debated once again whether or not to quit. This business had got nothing to do with me and I was feeling more on the outside than ever because there was a distinct coolness now between Katherine and myself.
On the day of the quarrel there had been raised voices from the Halsteads' hut quite late into the night and, when Katherine .appeared next morning, she wore a shirt with a high collar. It wasn't quite high enough to hide the bruise on the side of her throat and I felt an odd tension in the pit of my stomach. But how a man and his wife conducted their marriage had nothing to do with me, so I left it at that. Katherine, for her part, pointedly ignored me, but Halstead didn't change at all -- he just went on his usual bastardly way.
