Bill grinned amiably. She was tall, like Jon, and with a similarity of build which had led many people to take them for brother and sister. Where on Jon the look was loose-limbed and laid back, on her it was elegant and graceful, an impression compounded by her long brown hair, tied loosely at the nape of her neck with a scarlet silk scarf, and by the slender fingers which at the moment dangled the pair of spectacles which she had put on to scrutinise Bills face and then removed as though a ten second scan was enough for a lifetime.
I need your help, Bill. I need somewhere to live for a bit. She paused and gave him a slow, reluctant smile. I wondered if I could stay in your cottage.
Bill frowned. My God! You must be desperate. Do you know where my cottage is?
She laughed. Its up in North Essex, isnt it?
Its in the most beautiful corner of Essex, which is, to my mind, the most beautiful corner of England. But alas, at this time of year, it is also the most inaccessible and cold. I have only a minimum of so-called mod cons, the bedrooms full of rubble, the roof leaks and its very damp and cold. Youd be miserable. Has Jon thrown you out?
Its in the most beautiful corner of Essex, which is, to my mind, the most beautiful corner of England. But alas, at this time of year, it is also the most inaccessible and cold. I have only a minimum of so-called mod cons, the bedrooms full of rubble, the roof leaks and its very damp and cold. Youd be miserable. Has Jon thrown you out?
In a manner of speaking. She narrowed her lips. I thought we shared a flat, but apparently not.
So, you have split up?
She nodded. The histrionics are over. Were both being frightfully civilised. It hurt to talk about it.
She had known Bill for fifteen years, since they had been freshers together at university. He was one of her best friends, but she was not going to tell him about the money. What she had done with her savings to render her unable to pay a decent rent was none of his business. Besides, Jon had promised he would pay her back when he received his next advance. Or the next Cheerful, generous, feckless, selfish bloody Jon! and she was the mug who fell for him!
Bill leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. A stout, balding man in his mid thirties, he had a humorous, likable face which to his chagrin, failed to convey anything other than a perpetual, cheerful bonhomie.
Am I right in thinking Jon has relieved you of most of the dosh you made with Jane?
She raised an eyebrow. Is that what he told you?
Not in so many words, no. I guessed. Ive known you both a long while, after all, before you even met each other. Are you completely skint or can you afford some rent?
Some, she said guardedly. But not London prices.
No. Near me. In Essex. Up at Redall Bay. My neighbours have a cottage they want to rent to someone for six months. Its a couple of miles from mine; a lot more civilised. Quiet. He gave a sudden laugh. Quiet as the grave.
Would they rent it to me?
Im sure they would. They were talking about it last time I was up there. They need the money. If I recommend you and if you can rustle up a cheque for three months rent in advance Im pretty certain I can fix it for you. He leaned forward abruptly and pulled open a desk drawer. The sheaf of photos he threw onto the blotter in front of her were crumpled and much thumbed. Its bleak, Kate. Youd better think hard about it. You would be terribly lonely.
She picked them up with a glance at his face. I know its bleak. I know the coast. Ive been up there once or twice.
The pictures featured a series of holiday scenes: people, boats, dogs, children, sand, shingle and always the sea a grey-green, muddy sea. In one she saw a small cottage in the distance. Is that your place?
He nodded. I dont go there much in the winter. I cant stand the cold and the desolation.
It looks lovely. But too crowded. She glanced up at him mischievously. I want solitude. I am writing a book, dont forget.
What else? With an expansive gesture of his arms Bill stood up. If I can find a tenant for Roger and Diana who can pay good solid money for the privilege of staying in that God-forsaken cottage of theirs freezing their balls off saving your presence I shall earn loads of Brownie points with them and theyll be in my debt forever. Give me a couple of days to phone them and send them your cheque and I can assure you that provided it doesnt bounce, they will welcome you with open arms.
She stood up. Dont tell Jon where Im going, Bill, assuming hes even remotely interested, she said as she left. At least for now I want it to be a complete break. On my terms.
Bitch. It was said with great affection.
Well, why not. Hes dropped me in it. She was surprised at her own lack of anger.
Silly sod. Bill grinned amiably. Ill tell you what. Ill drive down with you at the weekend. It wont do any harm for my place to have a quick airing, then you can drop me at the station on Sunday night and I shall abandon you to the east wind and return here to my creature comforts.
It did not take long to clear her stuff out of Jons flat. There didnt seem to be much of it apart from her books, of course.
They had discussed it all amicably in the end, just as she had determined that they should. They had been adult and businesslike and utterly calm in the division of their affairs a divorce without the complications of a marriage and with a cool kiss on her cheek Jon had departed for New York several days earlier than he had originally intended. He did not ask her where she was going; they had not mentioned the money.
A half-dozen boxes and suitcases packed into the back of her car, a carton of plants, carefully wrapped against the cold wind, and an armful of unwanted clothes. That was the sum total of her life in London which she ferried to the attic of Bills house in Hampstead all to be put in store except the plants which were to be pampered and coddled by him far from the East Anglian wind. That left her laptop and printer, her books, her boxes of filing cards and notes and a couple of suitcases packed with jeans and thick sweaters and rubber boots. It was not until she had piled them into her small Peugeot and gone for one last look around the flat that the small treacherous lump in her throat threatened to choke her. She swallowed it sternly. This was the beginning of the rest of her life. Slamming the front door behind her she pushed her keys through the letter box, hearing them thump onto the carpet the other side of the door with a dull finality which suited her mood exactly. She had not enquired how Cyrus Grandini would gain entry to the flat and Jon had not told her. Turning the collar of her jacket up around her ears she ran down the steps towards her car. She would pick Bill up at the Beeb on her way across London and then together they would head north-east.
III
The tide crept higher, drawn inescapably onward by the full moon lost behind ten thousand feet of towering cumulus. Softened by the sleet in the ice-cold wind the sand grew muddy and pliant beneath the questing fingers of water. The shingle bank was deserted, lonely in the darkness. As the water lapped the stones in silence, gently probing, a lump of sand broke away from the mound behind it and subsided into the blackness of the water. Behind it, a further fissure formed. Matted grass strained and tore, a network of fine roots pulling, clinging, interlocked. The grass hissed before the wind, grains of sand flicked into the air by a gust, veering round into the east. Now the wind and the tide were of one mind and, inexorably, the water crept forward.
The small pocket of clay, left on the floodplain of the River Storwell after the glaciers had melted, had two thousand years ago, been at the bottom of a freshwater marsh. Long ago drained, the marsh had gone and the rich pasture which replaced it had turned, over the centuries, to arable then to scrub and to woodland, and then, as the sea advanced inexorably on the eastern coasts of England, to shingle beach. Now, after nearly two millennia of change and of erosion the soil, sand and gravel which still separated the clay from the air and the light was only centimetres thick.
IV
Diana Lindseys plump figure was swathed in a thick pair of trousers, an anorak and a vast lambswool shawl as she stood in the doorway of Redall Cottage watching her eldest son lighting the fire. She was a small fair-haired woman, pretty, with light green eyes and reddened, work-worn hands.
Hurry up. Lunch will be ready soon, Greg. Ive already wasted enough of this morning with all your fuss. She cast a professional glance around the small living room. Watery sunlight poured through the window, illuminating the bright rag rugs on the floor and the small sofa and chair which had been pulled up around the fire. She was pleased with the room. They had only had twenty-four hours to tidy the place, to move Gregs belongings out of it and to replace them with a few pieces of respectable furniture: a table and two chairs for the kitchen; a small Victorian nursing chair for the bedroom where the double bed had been the only fixture; sheets, towels, a box of basic groceries Bills idea and well beyond the landlords brief, but she had agreed with him that the place would be cold and lonely enough without finding there was no food or coffee in the cupboards and no shops for miles, and those there were, not open until Monday morning. The final touch had been to light the woodburner which was settling now to a steady roar, and fill a vase with winter jasmine for the kitchen table.
Greg latched the burners doors and stood up. His burly presence filled the small room and he had to bend his head beneath the ceiling beams. Right. Satisfied now, Ma? Lady Muck will be comfortable as a bug in a turd here.
Dont be vulgar, Greg. Her reproach was automatic. Bored. She went through into the kitchen and had a final look round there, too. The pots and pans and plates were almost unused Greg had never bothered to cook anything except coffee as far as she could tell. The knives and forks and spoons she had brought over from the farmhouse. Right. Lets get back. Bill phoned to say they would probably be here by tea time. He wanted her to settle in before it got dark.