Cut to the Chase (24 page)

‘Near to here?'

‘Not far away. I came down here in a hurry and stayed with Ben and Jane and then I found my own place. What about you?'

‘No, that is, not any more. I married Elsie Palmer, remember her?'

‘Yes, I do remember her,' she sniffed. ‘You say you married her?'

‘Yes, it wasn't the happiest five years of my life. I'm divorced now.'

‘Not surprised, I never could stand that girl. What were you thinking of?' Liz gave a grimace and wrinkled her nose again. ‘I could have told you what she was like.'

‘Why didn't you?'

‘I wasn't around then, was I?' she said defiantly. ‘I was forced back to England. But I never liked her. In fact I'd put it more strongly than that, I used to dislike her intensely, I thought she was a spoiled bitch.'

‘Well, that makes two of us,' Wallace said feelingly. ‘I thought I loved her, but things changed as soon as the marriage took effect, she seemed to think she had to change me to her specifications.'

‘That sounds like her,' Liz said pointedly.

They finished breakfast but didn't quite know what to do next. She had cleaned the house thoroughly the previous day and though she made some perfunctory dustings here and there, it seemed to Wallace it could be his presence that had drawn her to the house for a second time and not any tasks she may have had in mind.

That presented something of a problem. In their younger days they had been quite close, despite there being about five years between them, a large gulf when one is 19 and the other aged 13 or 14, but not such a gulf when aged 32 and 26. As she moved around between veranda and kitchen, and made one trip into the back garden to pin something on the line, he felt sexual stirrings as he watched her move around, he wondered if she had taken lessons in deportment. As she stretched up to pin a hand towel onto the line he felt his palms sweat.

When she came back in, Wallace realised he would have to do something to take his mind off things.

‘How about a trip out,' he suggested brightly.

‘Good idea,' she replied. ‘Where would you like to go?'

‘How about…um…is there anything around here of historical interest?'

‘Heaps, we've got Stratford, Warwick and Kenilworth Castles, take your pick.'

‘Great, let's do that,' Wallace said, removing his eyes from her cleavage with an effort.

She had her car outside. They took a trip to Kenilworth Castle, Wallace wasn't too keen on Stratford in case they ran into Ben, despite his more noble intentions to remove any temptation he wanted Liz to himself.

They spent an enthralled morning pottering around Kenilworth Castle, an edifice that was in a remarkably good state of preservation. As they wandered around, Wallace found that his eyes were wandering all over her most of the time, and he hastily looked away whenever she turned towards him. She caught him at it several times, she gave no sign but she didn't seem to ob ject.

‘Would you like a coffee?' she asked eventually.

‘Yes,' he replied. He caught sight of her reflection in the nearby shop window and managed to cast his eyes over her once more without being caught.

‘Come on then,' she said. They entered a coffee shop and he found himself looking around suspiciously for possible members of the Warwickshire Constabulary or the Indonesian secret police. They sat down at a table and began to talk.

They talked of the old days in Melbourne, and then moved to music, he discovered that, like him, she was a traditional jazz fan.

‘Do you like jazz?' she asked.

‘Yes, but traditional, I can't stand modern,' Wallace said. ‘We used to go to a few jazz club meetings back in Melbourne.'

‘We?'

‘Myself and Elsie…my dear ex-wife,' Wallace laid emphasis on the ‘ex'.

‘So you and Elsie had something in common.'

‘That didn't help in the long run,' he replied. ‘You know what she was like, you probably knew her better than I did in my pre-marital days. She couldn't admit fault with anything, she was always right, utterly intransigent. Maybe she thought I was. So we parted and it wasn't friendly. Are you…do you have…that is…are you involved with anyone right now?'

‘No, not since I came down here to live,' she wrinkled her nose again. ‘After the last disaster in Leeds I've decided to remain single!'

That seemed to have exhausted that topic so Wallace changed the subject, and reverted to another they had been on before.

‘Are there any jazz bands around here?'

‘Many,' she replied. ‘I often go myself.'

This set them off on the subject of jazz, jazz bands and music generally. They discussed the subject and related ones for about two hours and then became aware that it was past lunch-time and maybe they should be moving on. Wallace was astonished at how much they had in common though he remembered they hadn't differed on much in their young days.

‘Are you in a hurry?'

‘Well…no…far from it really,' she said. ‘I have a free day today.'

‘Well that suits me, I'm a gentleman of leisure right now,' Wallace suddenly thought of Kalim, the first time for several hours. He cast a quick look around the coffee house, half expecting to see him materialise from behind a curtain.

‘I've heard there's a jazz gig on tonight in Dorridge,' she said. ‘Interested?'

‘Very.'

‘I'll ring Ben and see if he's free tonight.'

She fished her mobile telephone out of her bag and dialled Ben's Stratford number. Wallace decided to go to the gents' toilet, when he returned she shook her head.

‘He has to go to Coventry tonight to see one of his larger connections, something's cropped up today.'

‘I've just remembered,' Wallace replied. ‘He said someone was trying to pinch one of his connections.'

‘Oh,' she replaced her phone in her bag. ‘That will probably be Bamfords. They're an engineering company in Coventry. He has to defend it every year. Anyway, there's nothing to stop us going.'

‘What time does it start?'

‘Six o'clock, we can go straight there from here.'

They toured around Kenilworth, and after that motored to Warwick, which also had a castle to be viewed. Then as the sun began to sink lower in the sky they headed for Dorridge.

The jazz idea did not go off as well as it could, the band started off well enough in the traditional mode, but after their first couple of numbers they began to go modern. After the first break this persisted, as it did after the second break. They began to get restive.

Liz got into conversation with a gentleman at the next table, who told her that he'd heard them before and that they usually only played modern jazz. She turned to Wallace.

‘What do you think?'

‘Let's go,' he replied. ‘This does nothing for me.'

They entered her house, and she motioned Wallace to sit down in the sitting room while she busied herself getting some coffee. She came into the room and sat down opposite him.

‘It'll be ready soon,' she said. ‘I've just set the percolator.'

She crossed her legs, the split in her skirt exposed far more than it should and Wallace felt himself begin to perspire. They engaged in desultory conversation as the coffee percolated, then she got up to prepare it, returning with a tray with a stainless steel percolator on it plus two cups. She stooped and set it down on the low coffee table, he hastily averted his eyes as her neck and thigh cleavage became more exposed. They drank coffee and talked some more.

‘You like it?' she asked.

Wallace had just torn his eyes away from her crossed legs, they had strayed there whilst she lowered her glance to her coffee cup as she drank from it, and he was at something of a loss.

‘Oh, yes…!' Wallace spluttered, realising she meant the coffee. ‘Yes thank you.'

‘Did you arrange anything with Ben tonight?' she asked.

‘Nothing specific,' Wallace answered. ‘We hadn't…um…fixed anything for tonight at all, how long did he say he'd be at Coventry?'

‘Until very late, he's taking them to dinner at a local restaurant.'

‘Oh, well, I'm in no hurry then…that is…well…!'

His voice trailed off, he wasn't sure what he had been going to say, except that he couldn't say he'd better go because her presence was becoming disturbing. He found that he was looking into her eyes and they seemed to be locked. Suddenly he felt a lack of interest in the coffee. He could feel pressure in his groin as his male organ decided to have a say and make its own contribution to the proceedings.

He wriggled uneasily; he had no desire for it to make its presence and intentions obvious and issued some stern counter orders which it persisted in disregarding. Maybe in their few hours together their interest in each other had blossomed and desires were coming to the fore. As he turned back to look at her he found her eyes had been riveted upon his groin area, she hastily averted her gaze and their eyes met.

‘It's started to rain,' she remarked as rain spattered against the window. It looked and sounded heavy.

‘Maybe I'd best get moving,' he said brightly.

‘It's very heavy,' she said.

Wallace realised he was going to have great difficulty in rising to his feet; he was liable to do a pole vault through the window. He had been associated with a few women over the past year or so, none of whom had affected him like this while still engaged in conversation.

He realised his reactions were becoming out of hand. If he rose to his feet his predicament would become obvious. He wriggled again and realised she was looking at fixedly at him.

‘Do you have to go?' she asked.

She smiled and he realised that their thoughts and emotions were moving in the same direction, fast!

‘No, I can't say that I do!'

‘Well, Ben won' be expecting you, so you can stay as long as you…!'

She broke off. Then he smiled and she smiled back. Then she rose to her feet, came over and sat beside him.

‘It's great to see you again, Harry, it really is. I think maybe you're the reason I couldn't settle with anyone else.'

His arms folded around her, and as their lips met, he wondered if she was the reason he had never been able to settle with anyone else either. Maybe Elsie had never had a chance!

It was very late when she dropped him back at Ben's place, as he opened the passenger door she leaned over, squeezed his hand and gave him a peck on the cheek.

‘You know my number,' she said. ‘Will you call me?'

Wallace nodded enthusiastically, a woman who could make love like that was not to be discarded lightly.

‘I have to leave tomorrow,' Wallace said. ‘But yes, I'll be back soon, very soon. Rely on it!'

‘You haven't been with a woman for a long time, have you Harry?'

‘It was the vitamin pills I've been taking,' he answered, and she collapsed into peals of laughter. As he got out of the car and stood on the pavement he was conscious that his legs felt wobbly. She sat there for a few seconds, then gave a brief smile and cheery wave and drove off, extending her right arm out of the driving window and waving until she vanished from sight.

W
allace rose early the next morning, and Ben gave him a lift to Dorridge station before he headed to Stratford once again. Wallace's very late return had gone almost unnoticed, Ben was working in his sanctum and didn't emerge until Wallace had been in the house for about half an hour, from his demeanour Wallace sensed that Ben's Coventry client seemed to be moving in his direction and could remain with him, at least for another twelve months. Wallace had been wondering whether to mention anything about his current status i.e. a fugitive, but found it wasn't an easy subject to bring up so he let it ride.

There were quite a few passengers waiting at Dorridge Station, he gave them a cursory glance before boarding the train, most of them were carrying brief cases and were obviously businessmen, there were others who were casually dressed.

He spent the day in Birmingham once more, went to a cinema and felt quite refreshed when he emerged. Then he returned to the Broad Street basin and after a perfunctory look around, boarded the boat, and turned in for the night.

Wallace stepped from the train at Stourbridge Town Station and made for the station exit. The station was in the centre of the town so he didn't have far to walk. Despite what he had said to McKay, he had decided to leave the boat where it was for the time being and take the train to Stourbridge, with Stourbridge being some distance from Birmingham.

He was contemplating travelling via canal to the north of England well away from London and environs, so he wasn't too keen on deviating to Stourbridge and then having to travel back again for a journey north. Wallace had a cousin in Surrey he had visited on previous visits to England, but decided to let that ride for the present. He had no wish to embarrass him by arriving on his doorstep possibly pursued by a contingent of policemen and Indonesian thugs. Wallace's plans were hazy and he was hoping that McKay would be able to unearth something that would clear his name.