But nowadays, he could not be arsed, he wasn’t interested in women, even gorgeous women, and it was all Susannah Miller’s fault.
* * * *
Susannah was not at home, so he supposed she must be working late. Well, no surprises there. He strode across the Cathedral Close and went into the Abbot’s Library.
‘Er – hi, Gavin,’ said Susannah, looking up from her desk and blushing scarlet. ‘G-good journey?’
‘Yeah, it was okay.’ Gavin stared round the gloomy little room. ‘You all on your own here? Or is David lurking in the stacks?’
‘No, he had to go and meet somebody. Well, it’s nice to see you – ‘
‘Yeah, okay,’ said Gavin. ‘You sleep here these days, do you? I mean, it’s half past eight.’
‘We’ve been quite busy. But I’ve finished for today. If you’ll just hang on a minute while I set the alarms and stuff?’
‘All right.’
Susannah put her files away, shrugged on her padded jacket. They walked in silence through the Cathedral Close. As they passed the minster, Gavin glanced at her, and to his satisfaction he saw it would be all right.
She’d washed her hair that morning – it was soft and shining, and he knew that if he stroked it, it would feel like silk. She was wearing a short skirt that showed off her fantastic legs and was nice and tight across her bum. She was wearing cunning make-up that enhanced her features, but looked as if she wasn’t wearing any.
Brilliant, he thought, but she can wait.
‘So where do you suggest we look for the old sod?’ he asked, as they reached the Dean’s House.
‘I don’t know,’ Susannah said, and sighed. ‘I was hoping you’d have some ideas. All I’m sure of is Sir Alec must have had a hand in it. Julius was staying with him – ‘
‘When he disappeared.’ Gavin shrugged. ‘Yeah, all right, I get it. When the stuff was first discovered, Fletcher saw at once that it was worth a lot of money. But then he realised that as a businessman and minister, he’d most probably come under pressure to give it all away.’
‘Well, you must admit – ‘
‘So, he paid some heavies to break into the museum. They half-inched the lot. Fletcher’s in the process of flogging it to a Japanese consortium or something when good old Julius Greenwood finds out what he’s doing, and tries to stop the deal going through.
‘So now your precious Julius is lying bound and gagged in some damp cellar, waiting to be rescued by the Special Branch – or by you and me.’ Gavin grinned sarcastically. ‘Get a life, Susannah. We’re in Marbury, England, not Hollywood, USA.’
Susannah looked at him. ‘There might be something in the cellar theory,’ she said, calmly. ‘Sir Alec owns a lot of property in Marbury.’
‘Yeah? Who told you that?’
‘David, actually. He said if I was looking for a flat – because of course I can’t stay here at the Dean’s House for ever – I should ask Sir Alec, or his agent.’
‘So you did.’
‘Yes, then I made enquiries of my own.’
‘So now you have a nice long list?’
‘Yes, and an excuse to knock on doors.’ Susannah smiled at him. ‘Tomorrow, I’m going to look for a flat. I was sort of hoping you’d come with me.’
‘To rescue that old faggot?’
‘Well – ‘
‘I’ve got a better plan. Why don’t we ask that Mrs Fleming woman if she’ll dowse for him? She could probably find the treasure, too.’
‘Listen, Gavin – I don’t have any fantasies about getting that stuff back. I reckon it’s long gone. But I want to talk to Julius, and when I do, I’d like you to be there.’
‘But why do you need me at the reunion?’ asked Gavin. ‘I’d just be in the way.’
‘I don’t know what I might find, all right? I don’t know who I’ll meet, what they might do.’
‘Yeah, okay. I’ll come and hold your hand.’ Gavin glanced at his watch. ‘Well, I have to go and meet somebody. I’m sure you have your own plans for this evening, so I’ll see you at nine tomorrow morning.’
Gavin’s date was at a service station on the ring road, where he had a burger, triple fries and a half a pint of awful coffee. He drove back into the Copper Beech, ignored the smirk of the receptionist who was just going off duty, and went up to his suite.
Showered, relaxed and naked, he slid between cool, dark blue linen sheets. All this luxury, what a waste, he thought, as he drifted peacefully off to sleep.
* * * *
Susannah made herself some supper, chatted to Aubrey and the other masters, then picked up her keys. ‘Okay, guys – be seeing you,’ she said.
She walked back through the Close and let herself into the library. She turned off all the lights and sat down at her empty desk. She waited for the rustling to begin.
She didn’t wait very long. The swish of robes and pattering of feet could now be heard upon the spiral staircase, and soon the little office was full of ghostly whispers.
‘Aescwin, I just hope you’re right,’ she said. ‘The whole thing seems far-fetched, but I suppose it might be worth a try?’
At this, the whispers grew indignant, so she sat and listened and didn’t interrupt them any more.
She left an hour later. As she walked briskly through the gloomy cloisters, shuddering as she passed the spot where Offa’s statue fell, she told herself that she was going crazy. What normal person sat there in the dark, talking to a gaggle of rustling ghosts?
Especially if they didn’t believe in ghosts?
* * * *
Gavin picked her up at nine o’clock. No, he didn’t want breakfast, he said scowling, could they just get on with it? He hadn’t got all day.
They drove around the city, calling at various addresses on Susannah’s list. ‘Jesus God,’ said Gavin, staring at a gorgeous Georgian house that had been converted into flats, ‘there might be a recession, but certain people seem to be all right.’
Susannah knocked on doors, pretended she was looking for a flat, apologising when she learned that this one wasn’t coming on the market. The tenants were all charming. None of them looked capable of holding anyone hostage or tying up a helpless, frail old man.
The sixth house was a shell and there was scaffolding all round it. A notice said enquiries should be made at Lane and Pearson, in the High Street. ‘No,’ said Gavin, as Susannah peered beneath a sheet of flapping plastic. ‘You’re not going in there. A ton of bricks might come down on your head.’
‘But what if Julius – ‘
‘Christ, get real, Susannah! There’s nobody in there.’
‘Perhaps you’re right.’ Susannah checked her list. ‘The next one’s 60 Jury Street.’
This was a much smaller, terraced house. The middle-aged woman who came to the door said she was a sort of caretaker, she kept her eye on the whole row – and sorry, dear, she didn’t know when a flat might next be vacant. These in Jury Terrace, at reasonable rents, were quickly snapped up nowadays. Yes, she knew the tenants, they were all her friends.
‘No, dear,’ she concluded, ‘nobody’s moved in just recently. Everyone’s been here for years and years.’
* * * *
‘This is fucking stupid,’ muttered Gavin, as they sat in the car, as he ate doughnuts and drank coffee while Susannah pored over her list. ‘It’s a wild goose chase, and you know it. Okay, you have this feeling Julius is in the city – ‘
‘Gavin, I know he is,’ Susannah said.
‘How do you know?’
Aescwin told me, thought Susannah, Ceola whispered he was here, although they couldn’t say exactly where, the city’s changed so much since they were earthbound. ‘I just know,’ she muttered.
‘Yeah, right.’ Gavin scowled. ‘We still don’t know what Julius gave you, but whatever it was it made you crazy. Listen, what will that Fletcher bastard think when he hears that you’ve been driving all round bloody Marbury, talking to his tenants?’
‘It’s no crime
to talk to people, and – ‘
‘Anyway, you’re not asking the right questions. Instead of saying, is this flat available, you should ask if there are any strange old men lying trussed up in the basement.’
‘You’re so funny, aren’t you?’ Susannah looked up from her list. There were at least twenty places still to visit, and she was getting sick of being taken for a Jehovah’s Witness. ‘Just one more,’ she wheedled.
‘Where?’ growled Gavin.
‘You decide.’ She handed him the list. ‘There are half a dozen near the minster.’
‘Yeah, and it’s double yellow lines down all those narrow streets.’
‘So where are we going?’
‘Castle House.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s nearest.’ Gavin put his foot down. ‘Afterwards, you buy me lunch, all right?’
* * * *
Castle House turned out to be a large Victorian mansion, skulking amidst the laurels and rhododendrons in its spacious grounds.
‘Listen,’ murmured Gavin as Susannah rang the bell, ‘this time, ask the tenant if he’s seen a daft old bugger who looks like bloody Merlin in that film, wild hair, mad eyes and stuff. We ought to have a photograph. Why didn’t you think of that?’
‘Oh, shut up, Gavin.’
‘We should be offering a reward, then we could say – ‘
‘Gavin!’
As Susannah was about to kick him, the huge front door swung open. A middle-aged man in greasy shirt sleeves and blue cotton overalls stood staring hard at them. He had a spanner in his meaty hand.
‘Good afternoon,’ Susannah said. ‘I wonder if you could tell me – ‘
‘I don’t give at the door,’ muttered the man.
‘I’m not collecting.’ Susannah smiled at him. ‘I’m looking for a man called Julius Greenwood. Do you know if he’s here?’
‘We got no Julius Greenwoods.’ The man’s small eyes were narrow with suspicion, and he held the spanner as if it were a weapon. ‘We only got – ‘
‘Susannah, listen!’ Roughly, Gavin pushed the man aside, charged up the narrow staircase.
Susannah ran after him.
Chapter 25
‘Who on earth are you?’ The man at the mahogany desk in the elegant first floor drawing room stared amazed at Gavin and Susannah. ‘Dan, who are these people?’
‘They just come barging in, I couldn’t stop ‘em!’ Dan eyed Gavin nervously. ‘Shall I call the police?’
‘I’m sorry, we got it wrong.’ Gavin thought, it’s being with Susannah, these things always happen when she’s around. ‘I heard someone sobbing,’ he added, sheepishly. ‘Or I thought I did. We’re leaving now.’
‘But Gavin – ‘
‘Jesus Christ, Susannah!’ Gavin snapped. He took her by the arm and turned to go.
‘Oh, my God!’ As he pulled her round, Susannah stared towards the door.
‘What the hell?’ Gavin was staring, too.
For, shuffling towards them, unshaven, in pyjamas and a quilted dressing gown, came Julius Greenwood.
Susannah shook herself from Gavin’s grasp and ran to him. ‘Oh, Julius,’ she cried, ‘at last I’ve found you! What have they done to you?’
‘What ever do you mean?’ Julius hugged her to his bony body. Then, he noticed Gavin. ‘My dear young friend, what are you doing here?’
‘I was about to ask you that,’ said Gavin.
‘I had one of my spells.’ Julius looked hangdog and embarrassed. ‘I am upset, I need devoted care, and also rest. But, my dear Susannah, how did you know I was in Marbury?’
‘I – I sort of guessed.’ Susannah looked up at him. ‘Julius, who are these people, are they keeping you here against your will?’
‘I don’t understand you.’ Julius frowned. ‘I am a frail old man, my bones are rotten, I have the most distressing dreams. Nicholas says it is because they put me in the camp, they hurt me, and I saw such dreadful things – but we don’t speak of it. My nephew says – ‘
‘Your nephew?’ frowned Susannah.
‘Dear Nicholas.’ Julius shook his head. ‘I’m so sorry, I forget my manners. So – I must introduce. Here is Dr Nicholas Fletcher, the acclaimed psychiatrist. You already know his brother Alec. These two are my elder sister’s sons.’
While Susannah was digesting this, a nurse in a white uniform came in. ‘Here is dear Elizabeth,’ said Julius, benignly. ‘She gives me my injections, most necessary, I know. But I am very much the coward. I cannot help but groan.’
Gavin looked at Susannah. ‘I think we ought to leave,’ he murmured. ‘Now.’
‘Dear Gavin, please don’t go!’ Julius hugged Susannah. ‘Dear Nicholas, may my young friends stay to lunch?’
‘Of course,’ said Dr Fletcher, standing up. ‘But I’m afraid we don’t have anything special in the middle of the day.’
* * * *
Taking one arm each, Gavin and Susannah helped Julius totter to the dining room. He sat at the head of the long table, presiding over soup and baked potatoes, salad, bread.
‘I’m sorry we came bursting in like that,’ began Susannah, who could now see a family resemblance between Nicholas and Julius, although Sir Alec Fletcher looked like no one but himself. ‘But the man who came to the door said Julius wasn’t here.’
‘Daniel is an idiot,’ Julius muttered. ‘A stupid, surly fool.’
‘Now, Julius, let’s exercise a little charity.’ Dr Fletcher smiled. ‘Daniel Finch is one of my long term patients,’ he explained. ‘I have several of them living here. The others have gone to Hereford today – my students take them out occasionally. But Daniel thought the boiler needed servicing, so he didn’t go.’
‘So he’s a plumber?’ Gavin asked.
‘No, he’s just deluded,’ said Dr Fletcher, calmly.
‘I am in a mad-house,’ Julius muttered. ‘I have raving lunatics all round me.’
‘He seemed very hostile,’ said Susannah. ‘When I saw him brandishing that spanner – ‘
‘He looks aggressive, but he’s harmless.’ Dr Fletcher offered her the salad. ‘Also, he’s confused.’
‘So am I,’ said Gavin.
‘Yes, I should explain.’ Nicholas Fletcher met his uncle’s gaze. ‘The fact is, Julius has had a difficult few weeks. He’s always been a workaholic, but now he’s getting on in years, he shouldn’t take on so much. He forgets to take his medication, and he fails to follow the diet I’ve prescribed for him. It’s no wonder he has these relapses.’
‘You speak of me as if I’m stupid,’ Julius growled.
‘A person who forgets to take his tablets, then dissolves a week’s supply in brandy, even though he knows he mustn’t drink it, is extremely stupid. At least, in my opinion.’
‘Ach, you fuss as if you were my mother.’ Julius took Susannah’s hand. ‘My dear child, I tell you – this fellow would deny me any pleasure in my miserable life.’
‘What happened?’ Gavin asked.
‘He almost died.’ Dr Fletcher frowned at Julius, who made a face at him. ‘My brother and his wife are very busy people, and they hadn’t noticed Julius wasn’t eating well. He went into Marbury one evening, and Dr Linton took him for a drink – not that I blame Dr Linton, he could not have known – and when Julius got back to my brother’s house that night, he asked the housekeeper for brandy. Then he swallowed twenty or thirty pills.
‘When my brother found him later, he was catatonic. His blood pressure was off the scale, and he was raving, crying. It seems he thought he was back in the camp, and the guards were doing – what guards did.’
‘So his tablets cause hallucinations?’ frowned Susannah. ‘I mean, like LSD?’
‘Well, they’re not LSD,’ said Dr Fletcher, and he shrugged. ‘But yes, in combination with certain foods and alcohol, such adverse reactions may occur.’
‘But thanks to you, dear Nicholas, I have suffered no permanent ill effects.’ Julius twinkled merrily at his nephew. ‘Now I have a plan.�
�
‘Have you, indeed?’ sighed Dr Fletcher.
‘I should go back to Oxford.’ Looking from Gavin to Susannah, Julius grinned broadly. ‘I presume too much, I know. But I wonder, might you dear young people take me back there your motor car?’
‘We must ask Dr Fletcher,’ said Susannah.
‘Tomorrow, Nicholas?’ wheedled Julius, archly. ‘Maybe in the afternoon?’
‘Well – I don’t see any reason why you shouldn’t go.’ Dr Fletcher turned to look at Gavin. ‘But what does your prospective chauffeur say?’
‘That’s okay by me,’ said Gavin, feeling at a disadvantage here. After all, he’d almost broken in.
* * * *
As Gavin pulled up outside the Dean’s House, Susannah smiled at him. ‘Come in,’ she said.
‘I don’t think I should.’
‘Oh, Gavin! Please?’ Susannah touched his arm. ‘Look, I – well, I’m sorry for what I said that day. I was really horrible. If I could turn back the clock, I would.’
‘Yeah, right.’ Gavin shrugged. ‘I wasn’t very nice to you myself.’
‘But you’re not still angry?’
‘Yes. No. I don’t know.’ Gavin rubbed his eyes. ‘Susie, it would never work. We’d just make each other miserable. Look, I’ll see you here tomorrow. If you’re coming with us?’
‘Yes, of course I’m coming.’
* * * *
They collected Julius from Castle House at two o’clock. They made him comfortable, surrounding him with cushions and tucking travelling rugs around his knees. Julius fussed and rearranged the blankets and said he’d be too hot, too cold. But they humoured him. Even Gavin played the game today.
‘A nurse from your own GP’s surgery will call in first thing tomorrow morning,’ Dr Fletcher told him. ‘Then, she’ll come in every other day, to give you your injections and generally keep an eye on things. You have your little case there? Good. I’ll send her a list of what you take, and she will see you take it.’
‘Yes, dear Nicholas.’ Meekly, Julius nodded. ‘I know, I know – I am to drink no alcohol, eat no cheese, no yogurt – ‘
Elegy for a Queen Page 24
