A few months before, just before the farm vehicle thefts had started, Tim had been surprised by his wife, Katrin. Katrin often surprised him and usually delighted him with her surprises. However, he’d learnt that they did not always gratify them both in equal measure.
‘Tim!’ Katrin had said suddenly, when they’d settled down to a quiet evening after supper.
Tim had looked up immediately, an ignoble presentiment of fear striking his heart. When his wife invested this much energy in pronouncing his name, it was usually because she wished to discuss something of importance to herself (and possibly correspondingly disagreeable to him).
‘Yes?’
‘I’ve been thinking…’
‘Go on.’
‘Sophia starts school next year.’
‘I know.’
‘The thing is… just lately I’ve had the strong impression that my brain is getting rusty.’
‘Your brain isn’t rusty. You’re the sharpest knife in the drawer.’
‘Thanks! I’m flattered. But that very much depends on whose drawer, doesn’t it? Anyway, I’ve been thinking…’
Tim had waited. Rather meanly, he’d offered her no encouragement to continue.
‘I’ve been thinking I’d like to study for an MA.’
‘You mean, go back to university?’ Tim had tried to make his voice non-committal. He hadn’t wanted to show Katrin how much he disliked the idea.
Katrin had laughed. She could read Tim like a book.
‘Only part-time. And I’d mostly be studying remotely. I wouldn’t be giving up my job or have to live away from home.’
Tim had stifled a sigh of relief.
‘I think you should go for it. What do you want to study?’
‘Criminology.’
‘Criminology! Whatever for? You know far more about it already than a bunch of poncy academics.’
‘In a haphazard way, maybe. But I’ve worked only on individual cases. I’ve never studied criminal psychology systematically. And if I had the qualification I could probably find a more interesting job.’
‘Such as?’
‘Well, criminal profiler, for example. I’ve always thought that must be really absorbing.’
Tim had laughed sardonically.
‘Charlatans, most of them. Though I have met the odd one who had something useful to tell us.’
‘I’m sure I could be one of the useful ones.’
‘You could be. On the other hand, you could be bloody dull.’
‘Thanks very much!’
‘What I mean is, when you’ve got a job that demands results, there’s an unspoken imperative to come up with something, even if the evidence gives you no fucking clue. And you wouldn’t want to do that.’
‘You mean, I’d be more likely to admit that I ‘had no fucking clue’?’
‘Precisely.’
Katrin had been silent for a moment. ‘I’d still like to give it a try.’
‘I’ve already told you to go for it,’ Tim had said ungraciously.
Katrin had leaned across to kiss him. ‘Thank you, Tim.’
‘There’s no need to thank me. Your instincts are usually right, which is why I usually go along with what you say. Just promise me you’ll jack this in if it proves to be disappointing. There’s no need to waste your time and money just to prove you can do it.’
‘Okay, I promise.’
Tim had taken a while to reply. The turn the conversation had taken had triggered a new, unwelcome, chain of thought.
‘How much does it cost, by the way?’
‘Oh,’ Katrin had said airily, gathering up coffee cups, ‘I
think it’s… affordable.’