The House With No Rooms by Lesley Thomson

Author:Lesley Thomson [Thomson, Lesley]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781784972202
Publisher: Head of Zeus

Chapter Thirty-Six

November 2014

The Herbarium at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew was originally in an eighteenth-century mansion outside the Elizabeth Gate. Over two centuries, initially under the auspices of Kew’s Director William Hooker and then his son Joseph as the collection of specimens grew, it was extended several times. In 2010 an air- and temperature-controlled building opened. Cylindrical-shaped and clad in wood, it housed the library, botanists and artists with a roof terrace commanding a sweeping view of the Botanic Gardens, the Thames and the misty reaches of West London.

Jack was cleaning in Wing C, the Victorian building. Wendy and the rest of the team had been allocated the modern complex.

He approached the desk, the wood rich and mellow in the light of a lawyers’ lamp, at which stood a wooden office chair upholstered in cracked leather. It was empty, although a mug of steaming coffee testified that the occupant couldn’t be far away. Given the receptionist was absent today, Jack hesitated over the visitors’ book: he preferred to arrive and leave unnoticed. But Stella, Queen of Risk Assessment, stipulated that operatives must sign in. He scribbled his name, noting that, not counting Clean Slate people, he was the first visitor of the day. He was pleased; he wanted to be alone with the specimens.

He wheeled his equipment cart to the lift. It contained only a Henry vacuum. No chemicals for this job, nothing must damage the integrity of the dried plants. Already Jack thought of them as his friends.

He watched the lift light descend and wondered how Stella was doing in the Marianne North Gallery; he had offered to clean it with her, but she had refused. Instead of going home from Kew Villa early that morning, he had stopped at Stella’s house in Rose Gardens North.

Cashman’s car had been parked outside. Lucie May had said that Cashman had left his wife, but Jack didn’t trust him. He hadn’t yet told Stella about seeing Terry on Street View. Since seeing her kiss Cashman he feared she would dismiss the idea that he had found a new case. Stella was moving with real detectives now.

He looked again at the lift light: it was still descending; yet he didn’t see why it had gone up. Wendy and the others were starting at the ground floor. He was the first visitor. It would be the security guard doing a final round, he decided as, at last, the lift arrived and the door slid aside. Stepping in he was intrigued to find that the interior had been padded with canvas quilting. A notice was stuck to the material: ‘Caution Mirror Behind’.

A message for Medusa! Jack imagined telling Stella. Although she might not have got the reference to the gorgon who turned people to stone with a look. Perseus had vanquished Medusa by looking at her in the reflection of his shield. Stella didn’t have time for myths, she faced life head on.

‘Everything is a myth,’ he said as the lift rose upwards.

He entered

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