‘Yes, I think that’s what he said. So? I came. I don’t have all day. Convince me I don’t have to kill you.’
Jory’s eyebrows rose a little. ‘You still think I tried to kill Ben? Seriously?Ben?’
‘No, I think you tried to kill me.’
‘Oh, well, yeah. I guess. But I didn’t.’ He leaned forward suddenly. ‘I would never fucking hurt a car like that. You must be crazy.’
‘I saw you.’
‘I was admiring it! It was Ben’s car! He told me all about it. Shit, he was right, wasn’t he?’
‘He occasionally is. About what?’
‘You!’
He hesitated lifting his cup but knew neither of those at the table would have attributed this to the cold flood of unease that suffused his body at the thought that Ben had spoken with this boy abouthim.
Morwenna laid her hand on Jory’s arm. ‘Calm down. You promised me.’
Jory nodded and leaned back once more, folding his arms. ‘Do you know why Lamborghini have a bull as their symbol?’
‘What? No. Should I?’
‘How to replace the cam belt on a V6 transverse engine?’
‘Enlighten me—actually don’t. I pay people to do such things for me.’
‘There you go, that’s what Ben said. He can’t talk to you about things like this—you’re not interested. Nopassion. Oh, my, God. There it is—Mr Scar and Scowl joins us at the—’ Couch’s eyes widened above the hand suddenly gripping his throat.
‘Let him go! Youpromised.’ Morwenna was frantically glancing around at the suddenly very quiet tables.
‘You came to my house, you fucking little oil stain. You spoke to my daughter.’ He shook him. ‘You spoke tomy daughter.’
‘I—I wanted a chance to speak to Ben. She’s lovely. So sweet. Looks just like him. She seemed a bit young to be out on her own like that though. I just walked over to see if she was lost, but I—I got a bit confused. Talking to her.’ Morwenna succeeded in getting him to let go, and he sat again, adjusting his tie, sweeping his fingers through his hair.
‘Is she always like that?’
‘You have one minute, then I am leaving. The next time we meet will be without witnesses.’
Couch didn’t seem so cocky now. He appeared to have realised he’d bitten off far more than he could chew—that he was in the middle of something he didn’t understand, some dynamic he’d not planned for. With a glance at Morwenna, he explained in a rush, ‘We just started talking, Ben and me, and right away hit it off. I’d never met anyone like him before, and I think he felt the same. I mean, shit, he can quote the performance figures of all sports marques since 1960! He said he’d completed theNürbergringin under eight minutes! And the TT in eighteen minutes, which almost puts him in the top twenty-five! And I mean, that’s like adream. So, it just came to me—I could do it! Finally!The Dakar Rally. It’s about five thousand clicks this year.Extreme endurance. I reckoned Ben would go for it, so I asked him. Be my co-driver, or I guess I’d be his, cus he’s like fuckingColin McReagood. And he said yes, right off, but then it was like someone switched a light off. He reckoned he couldn’t. That he’d never be allowed to—I mean he made a joke of it, laughed he fucking couldn’t even go over the speed limit now or some shit. Then he corrected himself, claimed he couldn’t do it with me because of the little one—you know. Couldn’t get away. But he’s on holiday all the time without her, so I knew that wasn’t true. I knew what he meant—you. You came into the shop once or twice with him, didn’t you? And I watched you. You never sawmebecause you only ever sawhim—you watch him all the time. You have these—I mean look at them now. It’s like a fucking lion’s staring at me, and that’s how you look at Ben—predatory.’
Aleksey folded his arms, thinking. He unfolded them then pursed his lips. He began to play with his teaspoon, stopped. ‘Sorry. Run that all past me again. You want Ben to do what? Fuck you in Dakar?’
Couch’s chair slid back violently. Morwenna also shifted away a little.
Aleksey frowned. ‘Okay, well good.’
Jory suddenly shot a look to the toilets, waved vaguely and made a dash for them. Aleksey watched him go, puzzled. Without turning his head, he pointed out, ‘He doesn’t understand his own nature, does he?’
He heard her soft reply. ‘Did you at his age? He thinks it’s all about engines. This idea he’s got to do the rally. Can you imagine being a boy like him on Scilly?—and I don’t mean because we have no cars.’
‘No.’
‘I think Ben must have sensed it as well. That’s why he made excuses that he couldn’t go.’
He didn’t bother pointing out to this woman that Jory Couch had been right—Ben knew he wouldn’t be allowed to go. He heard himself thinking this, actually heard the words in his head. He closed his eyes briefly to stop the dizzying sensation of once more being outside his own body, looking down on these events. Ben had told himI don’t care what you’ve done or what you do; nothing will ever change the way I feel about you. He’d said, in fact,for better or for worse…
He opened his eyes as he heard a chair scrape and watched as the younger man pulled it in once more so he could sit, slightly hunched and miserable, over his tea. He had a shaving graze on his neck and nails that were filthy from oil.
