‘The—?’
‘All the minors.Fifty. We did a count and got to fifty, and they all need bloody supporting—not a single job between the lot of them.’ She seemed to sense what he was going to say—that he wasn’t supporting her anymore—and suddenly switched tack.
‘How well do you know Scilly now?’ He wobbled his hand, and she nodded, thinking.
‘Do you remember I visited an old servant on one of the islands before I came over to see you—the one who was murdered? There was a bit of kafuffle about that, but then, well, we got a bit busy—long live the king, and all that sort of thing. Benhar—does it ring a bell?’
‘Vaguely, why?’
‘Have you been there? Pretty little place.’
‘No, I do not believe so. I have a very nice island of my own.’
‘Well, Benhar’s two islands really—at high tide anyway—and the second one to the west is smaller. Not much there except this old hospital or sanatorium or something, and that’s due to be demolished soon.’ She seemed to be arranging something in her mind as she smoked. Aleksey waited, picturing the demolition. Could buildings defend themselves? He reckoned if one ever did, then it would be the asylum on Benhar.
‘Beloved’sdecided to lease the smaller island to an offshore wind farm company—over a hundred wind turbines are going to be installed there.’ She turned from her observation of the offices at the back of the house at his telling silence and huffed. ‘Exactly.’ She angrily stubbed out her cigarette and took another from his pack on the table. ‘It’s going to supply twenty-five percent of the electricity for the islands. But more importantly, I suspect, it’s going to net us eighty million bloody quid a year. Just enough to keep the Cholmondley-Warners in gin.’
He still said nothing.
‘Bloody hell, Nikki, picture it! A hundred of those bloody things in that beautiful place. All the migrating birds that will be killed. I can’t bear it. I just can’t.’
‘What do you want me to do about it? I am good with chainsaws but not that good.’
She leaned forward, eagerly. ‘I want you to offer them a much cheaper lease for La Luz—for God’s sake, calm down, not for real. But you throw one of your little spanners into the works of this deal—you’re good at that—then pull out and leave them high and dry! I don’t know! You and your damn people come up with something, but I don’t want this to go ahead. It’s just too awful.’
He agreed that it was but for personal reasons did not want to become involved with anything that drew any attention to the asylum on Benhar, or what he now protected on Light Island. His refusal to help clearly surprised her. They parted on mutually frustrated terms, something which was not unfamiliar to either of them.
He was not in the best of moods the next day, therefore, when there was a knock at the cottage door, and Emilia, who was helping sort some of Enid’s things, dashed to open it and welcome in Dr Mark Trebetherick—evidently not finding his presence as entirely unwelcome or unexpected as he did.
Appearing to ignore him and Ben, Mark immediately addressed Miles, which Aleksey had to concede was a gracious thing to do.
‘I was so sorry to hear about your grandmother. Did you know the name Toogood used to be Thoroughgood in Anglo-Saxon? I think that’s rather nice. Thoroughly good.’
Perhaps it was purely coincidence that the young man had chosen those exact words to begin his question to Miles, but something in the boy’s eyes sparked back to life at hearing them.
‘It is nice. I wonder if Granny knew.’
Before Aleksey could ask the obvious, Mark explained, still addressing the boy, ‘I’m not sure if you’re going back to school next week, Miles, but I was wondering if you could spare a couple of days to help me prepare for the field trip we’re planning.’ He paused, perhaps waiting for the promised storm to unleash upon his head, as no one in the room, except possibly for Miles, mistook who was really being addressed. No destruction forthcoming, he smiled at the boy’s obvious puzzlement and continued,
‘We have a documentary filmmaker planning to be with us, and he’s studying the changes in sea temperature in the region. Emilia mentioned you’ve designed and built a sea thermometer that works directly with an app on your computer? I was wondering whether you would be willing to spend a few days onRogue Wavebefore he arrives. I’d like to map and record the various temperatures around the area we intend to explore. The results would provide the foundation for Lawrence McCullough’s documentary but would also go into our project report and be attributed to you.’
Entirely oblivious to the adult undercurrents around him, Miles appeared to be considering this deeply. Finally, he said with a sigh, ‘I do think he needs some help, yes. He got it awfully wrong about the polar bears, didn’t he? They are at record numbers—highest population for half a century, and I should know, because I’m a bit of an expert on polar bears. Did you know that polar bears’ fur isn’t really white?’
Mark’s brows lowered. ‘Yes, it is.’
Ben snorted and murmured, ‘Nope. Transparent.’
Miles sucked in his breath audibly. ‘Translucent. Goodness me.’
Aleksey poked Ben’s arm and suddenly all three men were laughing, and Aleksey ruffled Miles’s hair, a gesture he knew Miles found challenging, not liking being touched at all.
‘What do you think? Could you afford to miss school for a few days?’ Miles’s eyes lit up. ‘I can go then? Oh, yes, please. I’d better go and finish my calibrations.’ He put down his grandmother’s bird book and headed happily to his bedroom.
Emilia folded her arms and raised one eyebrow expectantly. Aleksey curled his lip at her but turned it into his lopsided smile for the young professor. ‘Thank you.’
‘Obviously, the invitation is extended to you both as well—or it might be a bit creepy.’
Aleksey allowed his smile to revert into a sneer once more. ‘I do not think I would be welcome onRogue Wave.’
