Page 88 of The Secrets of Dragonfly Lodge
‘Mexico. A rather bohemian existence, but she sounds happy enough. Aaron has been to see her and we write to each other sometimes.’ Nancy cleared her throat. ‘Anyway, Edmund was forty-nine when he became ill. It was an aggressive form of cancer and there wasn’t anything the doctors could do… It was very quick.’ Her voice trailed off, her thoughts far away.
Eventually, Stef said, ‘That must have been awful. Still so young.’
‘Yes, it was awful. I wasn’t working at that point, but I knew I had to. I answered an advertisement for a post at the school in Norwich. A fresh start seemed right. So there we are, you know the rest. I’ve brought you up to date!’
‘What about your sister Helen?’
‘Ah, Helen. You’re too young to have known a BBC children’s television show calledStorytimewith Helen Royle.’
Stef frowned. The name didn’t mean anything.
‘When Andrew and Terry were safely at senior school, she decided she was going out to work. There was a bit of a row. Bobby wasn’t at all happy. An old schoolfriend of Helen’s gother an interview at the BBC for a job as a part-time typist. And when they were casting around for a female presenter for a new children’s show, one thing led to another.’
‘That’s wonderful! Did Bobby come round to the idea?’
‘He learned to put up with it, let’s say. Helen died ten years ago and I miss her still,’ Nancy said with a sigh. ‘We became quite close after my parents died. Roger and his wife Sally settled in Oxford, but we lost him, too. They never visited me here, which is rather sad, but I’ve never minded my own company, Stef. Getting to know Aaron and Livy has been marvellous, though.’
They smiled at one another. Nancy looked tired and Stef, glancing at her watch, was shocked to realize that she’d been talking for several hours. She knew she had learned everything that she was likely to, and it was time to leave. But before she did, there was an important thing to clarify.
‘I need to check with you, Nancy. Would you really and truly be happy for me to include your story in my book? Not the very personal stuff, obviously, but the experiences of being a scientist. I’d run everything past you and you’d have the final word.’
Nancy’s eyes were steady on hers. ‘Yes,’ she said very firmly. ‘I think it’s time. I wouldn’t like to think all this wallowing in the past has been for nothing. I often wonder, you know, what happened about my report. Whether it did any good. Oh well, it’s all a long time ago now.’
They sat for a moment, watching the rain coming down. Stef rose and went to the window. ‘There’s no sign of it easing,’ she sighed, ‘but I ought to get back.’
‘You can borrow my golfing umbrella if you like. It was Edmund’s once. I’ve never played golf.’
‘Thank you.’ But when Stef opened the front door, she was shocked to see a stream of water flowing across the path. ‘Nancy,’ she said, turning to the old lady in dismay, ‘I don’t like the look of this.’
Nancy came close and peered past her. ‘It’s just surface run-off,’ she said, but her tone was doubtful, then she straightened. ‘Let’s have a look at the Broad from the kitchen.’
She retreated up the hall, one hand on the wall for support, and Stef followed. In the kitchen, the cat was nosing at the cat flap, the tip of her tail twitching. Nancy bent and pushed the flap. ‘There you are!’ But the sound of rushing rain loudened and the cat backed away.
‘Oh, Nancy!’ Stef gazed out of the window in dismay. ‘This isn’t good.’ The heavy raindrops pounded the surface of the Broad so that it simmered. Tongues of water lapped at the shore, exploring the slope. The jetty was still clearly visible, but lower in the water than usual, and she couldn’t see the boat.
Nancy joined her, rubbing condensation from the glass. After a moment, she said, ‘It’ll be all right. There’s never been a flood while I’ve been here. The last time I believe was 1953.’
‘That’s nearly sixty years ago,’ Stef calculated.
‘Goodness, though, I suppose we’d better move the animals. Oh, Stef, do you think you could? It’s best to be on the safe side.’
It took a while for Stef to bring Nancy’s menagerie inside. Everything had to come, even the cages up on the shelves.After all, the outhouse was very near the Broad and, even if the building itself didn’t flood, it could become difficult for Nancy to reach it to tend her little zoo. Soon, every downstairs surface in the house had its cage or crate. Stef took care to leave nothing on the floor – just in case.
‘What about you?’ she asked, coming in soaked, carrying a last sack of seed. ‘Will you be all right?’
‘Of course I will,’ Nancy said brightly, passing her a towel. ‘I tell you, this house hasn’t flooded for years. It’s just a bit of rain, that’s all.’
Stef, drying herself, felt uneasy, but there was little she could do. ‘Keep your phone by you, will you?’ she pleaded.
‘Of course.’
When she left, the old lady was sitting happily on the sofa with a cup of tea amid her cages and tanks and the scuttlings, scufflings and pungent smells of their inhabitants.
Fifty-Three
Despite the umbrella and the towel, Stef’s clothes were quickly sodden and she was shivering by the time she reached Springfield Cottage. Her mother sent her straight up to run a bath.
She sank into the hot water with a blissful sigh and closed her eyes. For a moment, she thought of nothing but enjoying her own animal comfort. Soon, though, memories of the afternoon began to intrude. The story that Nancy had told her was extraordinary. Her doomed love for James, her thwarted ambition, the traumatic bullying she’d suffered and, finally, the nature of the secret that she’d concealed all these years. She knew all about ICP – they were now a huge multinational company. They would easily brush off a sepia-tinted scandal from fifty-odd years before – they’d undoubtedly dealt with much worse in their time – but, like Nancy, Stef was curious to know what had happened to Nancy’s research into Zalathion. Had the chief scientist she’d sent it to even read thereport? Was it gathering dust in their archives somewhere? Was it possible to find out? It would be fascinating and, more importantly, it might reassure Nancy.
