The Memory of Trees by F. G. Cottam

Author:F. G. Cottam [Cottam, F. G.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
ISBN: 9780727883155
Google: pMm5mAEACAAJ
Amazon: 0727883151
Publisher: Severn House Publishers
Published: 2013-10-30T07:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

They took a Land Rover to the spot where Eddie Stanhope’s boys had built the airstrip and helipad. The five of them breakfasted together first and it was decided that they’d explore Pete’s cave once Curtis, with Pete’s help, had finally eradicated the thorn bush at Gibbet Mourning. When they’d completed that bit of unfinished business, Pete could return in the vehicle they were taking out and Curtis could return the one Freemantle had left there.

Curtis got the impression over his wholemeal toast and Marmite that Abercrombie never really expected to see his estate manager again. It was a mysterious and possibly ominous state of affairs but in an ironic way quite fitting. Soon there would be no estate for him to manage. There would instead be a huge forest for which his skill-set was not required.

After they’d told Francesca about the cave, she told them about the nocturnal interlude she’d shared with Pete. Dora stressed Pete’s terror in his brief exploration of the cavern in the cliff face. She played the story for laughs and got them from everyone, except Francesca. When Francesca related her story, she seemed determined to portray Pete as someone possessed of a cool and laconic courage.

‘He’s schizophrenic,’ Curtis said, who thought that Pete might be on the way to making a conquest.

‘The mark on the glass was a freaky incidence of condensation,’ Abercrombie said. ‘Not even that freaky, when you consider how often people claim to see the face of Christ in a soiled dishcloth or on a potato chip. The noise you heard was some nocturnal creature you disturbed. This is a wilderness, remember? We’re the interlopers here, not the other way around.’

The fog had thinned slightly by the time they set off for the rendezvous with Stanhope. Curtis called him first just to make sure that the conditions on the ground allowed for the scheduled chopper flight. He was told they did. He remembered his letter to Charlotte, which was buttoned into his jacket pocket.

Curtis drove. He released the handbrake and depressed the clutch and eased the transmission into gear. After a minute, he said, ‘The thing is, I never know where I stand, do I, Pete? I mean which Pete’s sitting beside me? Is it the trembling, cowardly Pete, or Pete the dashing hero? From one minute to the next, how the hell am I supposed to know?’

‘Very bloody funny, not. Did you notice Saul this morning?’

‘Of course I did. He’s our boss.’

‘I mean did you notice how he looked? He looked terrible.’

‘Don’t try to change the subject. Where did last night’s alpha male stuff come from? Was it just showing off?’

‘I had back-up. And I had a rifle in my hands.’

‘Get you, Annie Oakley.’

‘That would be a more fitting name for Fran. She was packing the pistol. And it’s probably escaped your notice, Tom, but she’s female.’

‘So it’s Fran, is it?’

Pete shrugged tightly, staring straight ahead at the featureless view through the windscreen.

‘I’m only kidding, mate. I haven’t had a chance to do much of that over the last few weeks.

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