‘It’s the only way one has to play God,’ he said.
One woman asked if that made him more like a poet than a novelist. He smiled, delighted, and said perhaps it did. Felicity had thought it all went way above her head. She worried about what she might say to him when they were alone.
‘But wouldn’t you make more money writing real, long books?’ This came from a farmer, who read voraciously but understood nothing of literary snobbery. She never bothered with reviews or award lists. There was a moment of silence. The other women were afraid that he’d been offended. But it seemed that question had pleased him too.
‘If I wrote a novel I’d get caught out,’ he said. ‘I’m not that good an author. I can’t keep going for more than five thousand words.’ He turned towards Felicity, giving her a look of complicity. The light from the fire caught his face. The women in the room laughed. She could tell that they all admired him.
Felicity had given him a lift to the book group and it had been arranged that she would take him home. In the car he suggested they go for a drink and she agreed. It was the least she could do. Her standing in the book group had changed because she’d introduced him to them. The pub was crowded and noisy, not the sort of place either of them would usually have chosen. Perhaps they landed there because it was so anonymous. They had a small table to themselves, crushed into a corner.
The announcement came out of the blue. He took her hands in both of his and said he thought he loved her. At first she couldn’t believe he was serious. It was a joke. He was a great one for games. Nothing could come of it, he said. He was Peter’s friend. Then she saw he was deadly serious and she was very flattered, moved. How noble and honourable he was! In the pub car park, which looked out over bare, open hillside, she reached up and kissed him. Droplets of mist clung to his hair and his jacket.
Later, back at his house, she asked, ‘Aren’t you going to invite me in for coffee?’ She knew exactly what she was doing, had already considered which underwear she was wearing, remembered that she had shaved her legs that morning. He had hesitated for longer than she expected. Perhaps his friendship to Peter was so strong he would refuse. But at last he nodded, held open the door for her, took her hand once they were inside. That had been five years ago. They had been lovers ever since. Very discreet. There were no phone calls which couldn’t have been overheard, no emails which might not have been read. They met every few weeks, usually in his neat little house in Morpeth. This was quite different from the public friendship – the trips to the theatre or the ballet. Nothing intimate ever took place on those outings.
Even after all this time, she didn’t consider the relationship as an affair. There was nothing romantic about it – no flowers or presents or candlelit dinners. She knew Samuel felt a continual guilt. He never talked about love after that first meeting. And she had never once considered leaving Peter. He needed her. She saw the delight and excitement Samuel gave her as a wage, her dues for living such a boring and unadventurous married life, for keeping the Calvert show on the road. She knew it wasn’t the way women usually looked at things, but couldn’t see why they couldn’t all maintain a civilized friendship. At least, she had thought that until Vera came blundering in with her questions.
Now Felicity wandered around the library shelves, as if she was having difficulty choosing a good read. She couldn’t see Samuel, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t working here. He was a manager, would have an office somewhere behind the door which said STAFF ONLY. He would be there, or in a meeting with his staff, or out of the region altogether on a trip to one of the big library suppliers to select books. She encouraged him to talk about his work in the little house in Morpeth when they drank tea together before they separated. She was always fascinated by other people’s working lives, and when she lay in her afternoon baths she imagined him sitting at his big desk, or chairing a meeting in his precise and authoritative way. It excited her that none of his staff could possibly guess what he did on his days off.
She was preparing to ask at the desk if he was in the building when he appeared through the STAFF ONLY door. He was carrying a briefcase and seemed to be on his way out. He was wearing an open-necked shirt and a pale linen jacket, a concession, she supposed, to the weather. Usually when they met up, if he’d come straight from work, he wore a tie. He dressed very well and cared what he looked like. At first he didn’t see her. He was smiling at the young girl behind the counter. Felicity felt a stab of physical discomfort which she realized was jealousy. She wondered if he took other women to his house on his free afternoons.
Then he turned and saw her. He gave no indication that they knew each other. He said to the young woman, ‘I’ll be in Berwick for the rest of the afternoon. But if anyone phones, tell them to call back tomorrow. This is an important meeting. I don’t want interruptions.’
Felicity caught up with him outside. He was walking down the pavement towards his car. If she hadn’t hurried after him, perhaps he would have driven off without giving her the chance to talk to him.
‘I’m sorry, Samuel. I had to speak to you.’
He must have heard her footsteps following, but he affected surprise.
‘I really do have a meeting in Berwick.’ He frowned, seemed more nervous than displeased.
‘Just ten minutes.’ Now that she was here, she wasn’t sure what she wanted from him. Reassurance, she supposed, that everything would continue as normal.
He agreed to meet her in the Little Chef on the A1 and was already there when she arrived, apparently engrossed in the menu. Even walking towards him she sensed he was frightened, that he needed reassuring more than she did. The place was almost empty. The windows were all open and the traffic noise came in from outside. They ordered tea from a sweaty youth, stared at each other.
‘You know something,’ she said suddenly. ‘Something about the girl. Lily. Had you met her?’
‘No. Nothing like that.’ But he was blustering, not at all his usual controlled self. This wasn’t like one of his stories. He couldn’t make the plot work out.
‘The boy, then. Luke Armstrong. You’d heard about him?’
‘I think Gary was going out with his mother. That woman he was talking about. She was called Armstrong. I’m sure she had a son. It’s a link.’
‘I told that detective Gary was seeing someone called Julie. He wouldn’t kill anyone!’
‘Of course not. But they don’t believe in coincidences.’
It seemed a tenuous connection to her. A woman called Armstrong who had a son. How many Armstrongs were there in the phone book? Samuel must know more than he was letting on.