Ginny began to go up to the bedroom to fetch a change of clothes, but she paused on the stairs.
‘You do appreciate what happened?’ she asked pointedly. ‘This morning we saw no caterpillars at the house nor anywhere else in the village, only at the fête itself. There, they deliberately waited till the field was crowded before attacking en masse. How do you interpret that?’
‘Assuming the purpose of the attack was simply for food —’
‘Well?’
‘Some animals hunt alone. Some in packs. Humans do both.’
‘As do caterpillars, it seems from today’s evidence. But that isn’t what I meant.’
‘You’re saying it was a deliberate ambush?’
‘Oh yes. They dropped out of the trees, most of them. What were they doing there in such large numbers? Why concentrate in those trees rather than any others around the village? I think it was planned, don’t you?’
‘That means an intelligence.’
‘Intelligence… instinct… It’s a matter of definition.’
She continued upstairs to the bedroom where she pulled off her stained T-shirt and dropped it into a plastic bag which she could later give to Bernie for the dried moth-saliva to be analysed. On her breasts and over her ribs she noticed traces of a mild rash corresponding to where the saliva had soaked through. Into a canvas grip she put some fresh clothes to change into after her bath, then slipped on a clean T-shirt and went down again into the living room.
‘Perhaps you could drive me to my sister’s,’ she requested. ‘I left my car up there.’
‘Be my guest!’
Dancing a little in the breeze, the long thin banner high above the road still announced the All Saints Spring Fête. Strung between the trees were the rows of coloured light bulbs which would now not be switched on. Several police cars were parked near the church, together with two undertakers’ anonymous black vans, but the last of the ambulances had left. Jeff stopped the Range Rover on the far side and they sat there looking across in silence.
‘When I’ve dropped you I’ll go over to see if they still need any help,’ he said quietly. ‘There might be something I can do.’
‘I discovered today that I’m a coward.’ Ginny felt a desperate need to confess to somebody. She couldn’t have faced telling Bernie; with Jeff still practically a stranger she found it easier. ‘I’d never given it any thought before, but when the real test came — well, I was so scared, it was like a kind of mental breakdown.’
‘Everyone gets frightened,’ Jeff told her.
‘This was more than fear. It was… I don’t know, I just seized up. A kind of paralysis. I didn’t function any more. I was… oh, so useless!’ She was not looking at him as she spoke but still gazing towards the field where it all happened. ‘All I can be certain about is that I shall think of myself quite differently now.’
‘From what I heard, people were praising your courage.’
‘That’s sweet of you, but it’s a lie.’ She turned to face him. ‘Anyway, I’ve got it off my chest now, not that it makes me feel any better.’
‘What a strange, complex creature you are!’ he murmured gently, resting the back of his hand briefly against her cheek.
She pulled back from him. ‘Drive on, please. That wasn’t at all what I intended.’
‘Yes, ma’am!’ he laughed.
He released the handbrake and the car eased smoothly forward, gathering speed. Within a couple of minutes they had reached the entrance to Lesley’s drive. Ginny swung her legs out and retrieved her grip from the back seat.
‘Let’s be in touch this evening — okay?’ she said. She was aching all over and winced as she bent down to say goodbye through the open window. ‘Thanks again, Jeff. For the rescue, I mean. The new lease of life!’
He smiled ambiguously, raised a hand, then drove off. Odd man, she thought wearily. Impenetrable. Like an actor in one of those old British war films, playing a part that was all on the surface. She wished now she hadn’t made that confession to him.
Ginny trudged up the drive and found Bernie’s Rover parked in front of the porch, its boot open. Phuong was on the point of loading a couple of suitcases into it.
‘You okay?’ she asked Ginny anxiously, stopping the moment she saw her. ‘Not hurt?’
‘No, I’m fine.’ Then she realised she must still have blood smears and God alone knew what else all over her. She’d not even washed at the cottage. ‘I’m sorry, Phuong, I must look awful. I came here for a bath. But what’s going on? Where’s Bernie?’
Before Phuong could answer, Lesley appeared. ‘Oh Ginny, I’m glad you’ve come. We’re leaving.’ She came down the steps one at a time, supporting herself on her stick. ‘I just can’t stay here with the children. You’ve heard the latest news, I suppose? They say forty-nine people died. And who knows where else they’ll strike? We can’t risk going into our own garden. And look at all the creeper we’ve got round the windows! They could even get into the bedrooms.’
‘Where are you going?’ Ginny was beginning to feel faint and longed to get inside out of the sun. ‘Is there anywhere safe?’
‘I rang Mary — you remember Mary? We shared a flat when we were students. Well, she’s now headmistress of a school in Wiltshire where they’ve never even heard of caterpillars. So I’m taking Phuong and the children.’
‘And Bernie?’
‘Oh, Bernie’s relieved we’re going. He’ll have to stay of course because of his patients, and I’ll leave him my car. The Mini would be too small for all of us.’ Lesley paused, her eyes troubled. ‘Oh, I know it seems like deserting the camp, but what else can I do? I can’t be much help, not with this foot.’
‘Can you manage the driving?’
‘Just about. And what about you, Ginny? You look as though you could do with a cup of tea.’
Ginny exploded. ‘Oh, for Chrissake, why is everybody going on about tea?’ She stared at her sister angrily, yet not really understanding why. A wave of fatigue washed over her and it left her feeling totally isolated and powerless. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, Les. I didn’t mean to shout.’
How it happened Ginny was not too clear, but she found herself following Lesley into the lounge and sinking gratefully on to the settee, while Phuong disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. Somewhere in the background she could hear the children’s voices: Frankie insisting shrilly on something she had to take with her to Auntie Mary’s. Then the clink of a cup as Lesley returned.
‘Here, I’ve put a drop of rum in it the way we used to. Bernie wouldn’t approve, but he’s not here, is he? Have a taste.’
Ginny could smell the rum already as Lesley held the cup towards her. She sipped it. Weak Indian tea with rum, just the way they once drank it during that cold winter together. It brought back memories. Gradually she felt herself begin to relax. That hard edginess slowly dissipated.
‘Another drop?’
‘Mm. Spoil me.’
When Ginny had finished the second cup, she became vaguely conscious of the children’s voices growing even more excited as Phuong took them out to the car. Lesley had already helped take off her boots. She stretched out contentedly, with no desire to move ever again.
‘We’ll be on our way,’ she heard Lesley say. ‘It’s a long drive. Do anything you want, Gin — you know that. Have a bath, use the spare room, plenty of food in the fridge… I’ll stop at the church to let Bernie know you’re here.’
‘How many did you say? Dead?’
‘Forty-nine. And about seventy in hospital. You saved a lot of those.’
Ginny shook her head, denying it urgently. ‘Not me. Oh God, I’ve never been so scared in all my life. Yes, you go, Les. Take the children somewhere those caterpillars can’t get near them. And phone, will you?’