WEDNESDAY
“Caitlin?”
“Yeah?”
“Fancy going swimming?”
“Swimming? Where?”
“Here! In the sea.”
It was coffee-time in the canteen on the following day, the Wednesday, and Katie and Maddie were sitting together.
“You do swim?” Maddie asked.
Did Katie swim! She opened her mouth to explain that she had swum for her school, had reached the regional heats, and almost been selected for the under-18 national team. At university she had spent her summers working as a lifeguard at the local swimming pool. Then she remembered that it was Katie who had done all that, not Caitlin. She contented herself with saying that she did swim.
“Just in swimming pools? Have you ever done wild swimming?” Maddie asked.
A memory flashed into her mind. A holiday in Greece with a boyfriend, a remote and deserted bay, stripping off and running naked into the sea. Perhaps when all this was over, she’d suggest to Justin that they had a holiday somewhere warm...
“Caitlin?” Maddie prompted.
“Oh, sorry. Does the Mediterranean count?”
Maddie laughed. “It’s a bit more bracing than that here, but I love it! About once a week, at lunchtime, I go down to the cove, where they’ve made a kind of swimming pool, and plunge in. I feel great afterwards. Today’s a perfect day for it.”
Katie thought about it. Well, why not? “OK, I’ll try anything once.”
* * *
At twelve thirty they met and walked down to the cove. The winter sunshine was dazzling on the sea, and a stiff breeze came off the water. There was a little bathing hut and they got into their costumes there.
Maddie jumped into the pool and came up spluttering and laughing. Katie decided on the gradual immersion approach. As part of the medical course preparing for Antarctica, there had been a session of surviving a fall into cold water. The instructor had told them that if you have to enter cold water, it’s better not to jump in. Cold-water shock is one of the biggest causes of drowning. No doubt Maddie was to some extent acclimatized to it, and that made a difference, but Katie wasn’t.
She walked gingerly down the steps into the pool, flinching as her feet entered the water. She forced herself on until it rose up and gripped her round the waist. It was like being encased in ice and she had to fight the urge to jump straight back out. She took a breath and launched herself into the water.
“Oh, oh, oh,” she gasped.
Maddie was treading water nearby. She laughed and said, “It’s lovely when you get used to it.”
And, strangely enough, once she’d swum around for a few minutes, it was.
They climbed out, stripped off their swimsuits and rubbed themselves dry. The endorphins had kicked in now and Katie was buzzing.
“Do you get it now?” Maddie asked.
“I get it! But Maddie, you don’t come here alone, do you?” Katie asked, as she struggled into her jeans. This was always the worst part of swimming: pulling your clothes onto damp skin.
“Tarquin’ll sometimes come with me, or on a weekend my boyfriend, but there’s not always someone available.”
That was something else Katie’s instructor had said: never go into cold water alone. Always have a partner and take it in turns to go in. Well, they’d already broken that rule, but it was sound advice. “I really think you should have someone with you.”
“It’s sheltered enough in the pool; it’s not like being in the open sea.”
“But still, it’s so cold, you might get cramp. I’ll come with you once a week if you like.”
“Every Friday?”
“You’re on,” Katie said. She was about to add “for as long as I’m around”, but stopped herself just in time. She couldn’t let Maddie know that there was a limit on her time here.
Maddie had brought a Thermos of tomato soup and one of coffee. Huddled in their heavy jumpers and parkas, hands clasped around their mugs, they sat in companionable silence, gazing out to sea.
Katie had been waiting for the right moment to return to what Maddie had been going to say about Gemma Braithwaite when Claudia had interrupted them in the canteen. This felt like it.
“So bring me up to speed with the gossip. The other day you were saying something about Professor Braithwaite?”
“Oh. Yes.” Katie got the impression that Maddie wasn’t all that happy to return to the topic. “There’s not really anything in it. The thing is, she has the nicest accommodation on the island. Bluebell Cottage? Do you know where I mean? That sweet little gate-keeper’s cottage on the edge of the wood.”
“I walked past it the other day. There was a Jag parked outside.”
“Yeah, that’s it; that’s her car. There’s been a lot of bad feeling about her living there and it’s understandable, because she’s not even here half the time. One or two people have been saying that she’s having an affair with Caspar and that’s how she managed to get it allocated to her.”
Katie thought of the scene she had witnessed and how she’d suspected something of the sort. “And are they? Are they having an affair?”
“Actually, they’re not.”
“Can you be sure?”
“Yes, because – well, I shouldn’t really say...”
Katie let the silence stretch out, hoping that Maddie would feel compelled to break it.
Eventually she said, “No, really, it’s just that I know they’re not.” Clearly there was more to it than that, but it wouldn’t do any good to press her.
Maddie changed the subject. “Something I’ve been meaning to mention. It’s best to be careful what you leave lying around in the lab.”
“How do you mean?”
“A few things have gone missing lately. Funny, really, nothing valuable. But it’s annoying. For instance, I’m trying to save money by bringing my own lunch in, and twice in one week my sandwich has disappeared from the fridge in the staffroom. I’m not the only one that’s happened to. It’s usually food. But Tarquin had a nice paperweight, a stripey stone from some Scottish island or other, and he thinks someone’s taken that too. Someone else is missing a pen.”
Katie’s antennae pricked up. She was reminded of a series of petty thefts and practical jokes that had taken place on the Antarctic base – with serious consequences. If it was money or something valuable like a phone that was taken, enquiries had to be made. But this kind of thing – a sandwich, a paperweight – was harder to follow up. Yet it could have a serious impact on the atmosphere in the lab. It isn’t nice to think that one of your colleagues, someone you know, is pinching your food.
“Do you have any idea who might be doing it?”
“Not really, no. But Tarquin’s keeping a log, so if anything of yours goes missing, let him know.” Maddie looked at her watch. “Oh, is that the time? I’ve got to get back. Got some mozzies due for a feed.” She gathered up their empty mugs and got to her feet, not looking at Katie. “Thanks for coming with me. It’s been great. Do you fancy the Karaoke evening tomorrow?”
“Yeah, maybe. Thanks.”
You’re not a very good liar, Katie thought, as they tackled the steep climb up from the cove. You do suspect someone. I wonder who it is.