Had it really been that easy for my father to buy Mum the chance of more life, of a cure even? It was breathtaking. I tried to think what I would ask, if this truly was news to me.
“Who’s running the trial?”
“Oh, I can’t remember. I wasn’t listening properly once they gave me the news. They’re going to email me, so I’ll forward it to you. I think they said it was a private clinic.”
“It’s spectacular news, Mum. I’m so happy for you.”
Viv poked her head into the frame, a smile wrapped around her face. She waved and gave a thumbs-up before disappearing again.
I chatted to Mum a little longer. She was so upbeat, I forgot where I was for a few blissful minutes. I kissed my fingers and put them to the screen as we said goodbye. She was still connected when bells began to ring. The clock on the college tower was chiming, and it was very distinctive.
I jabbed at the button to end the call. She’d lived in Cambridge with my dad. I was afraid she’d recognize the sound. For a few moments I stared at the phone screen, afraid she’d call back and ask where I was, but she didn’t and I relaxed fractionally.
While we’d been speaking, the sun had moved, and the shadow of the library was reaching across the pavement, almost touching the tips of my shoes. I checked the time. My father would be waiting for me.
Chapter Nine
Sid
Sid watched Paul closely. The fear in his eyes intensified as he changed the subject brusquely.
“What are you up to this morning, mate?” he asked. “Do you fancy a short hike? I could show you Maiden Rock. It’s not a challenging route, your grandma could do it, but it’s a cool rock formation.”
“Sure,” Sid said. “That’d be nice.” He wasn’t dressed for it, and the weather looked unreliable, but somehow, he didn’t think the hike was the point. He felt a growing sense of dread. If he hadn’t had the conversation with Mel next door, the self-styled private investigator, he would have thought Paul was behaving weirdly. If Paul was presenting more normally he could have written her off as a nut. For them both to be like this, Sid had to believe something bad was really happening.
They left the house and crossed a wooden pedestrian bridge onto East Sands Beach under a mackerel sky. The tide was half in and half out. Waves rushed and pounded the shore, throwing up a light mist. The sun was a dim halo behind the clouds. Where the waves dragged the beach they left a mirrored sheen on the sand, blendinglight, water, sea, sky, and sun. Paul and Sid walked where the sand was dry and powdery, scattered with pebbles and shells. There were just a few other souls out, most with dogs. Sid couldn’t enjoy it. His body felt tight with anxiety.
Paul, head down, remained silent until they passed the university’s Institute of Oceanography. At the far end of the beach they took an empty footpath leading over the cliffs. Away from people, Paul relaxed fractionally.
“You got the note,” he said.
“I did. Why not just talk to me? Or leave it at the cottage?”
“Because they’re watching your place and they’re listening to everything we say. Did you look Minxu up?”
“‘They’?”
“The Institute.”
“Why would they do that?” Sid’s heart began to pound the back of his ribs.
“Control,” Paul said, as if it were obvious. “Did you look up Minxu?”
“I looked, but I didn’t find much.” Sid wasn’t ready to share what Mel had told him yet. First, he wanted to know what Paul would say.
“I thought you might be able to find more than me because you’re a computer person. I want to know if she’s okay.”
“Why wouldn’t she be?”
Paul shook his head. A dog walker was approaching from the other direction, almost close enough to overhear them. They passed him in silence. To the right of the path was a holiday park, multiple tidy units, mostly empty, facing the sea. Just beyond, the path narrowed, and it was no longer surfaced. The mottled clouds were gathering into darker, heavier masses.
Atop the cliff, they reached an empty bench, angled for the view back toward St. Andrews. Sid hoped they might sit there and talk, but Paul said, “It’s this way.” Sid followed him reluctantly down a rutted track. Gorse scratched his arms, and he had to keep hisdistance from Paul to avoid the thorny shoots that whipped back as Paul pushed past them. A squall whipped over the open water and drenched them when it hit land.
“Should we turn back?” Sid shouted into the wind. The path was steep now, and fast becoming more liquid than solid. His feet were wet. His sneakers had poor grip.
“We can shelter at the rock.” Paul forged on, and Sid followed unhappily.
Maiden Rock was a solitary sandstone outcrop on a deserted rocky beach, tall and looming, eroded into an otherworldly silhouette. It reminded Sid of the weather-beaten cathedral ruins. They leaned against it, poorly sheltered, until the rain ceased.
