Page 53 of A Curious Ending

Lara thought of Kate looking after her mum. She wondered how often she had a night off.

Sarah joined in the persuasion, ‘We could all meet at mine first to get ready – and drink Champagne or cocktails,’ she added, temptingly smiling at both of them.

‘Okay,’ Lara agreed, trying to smile back. ‘Thank you,’ she added after a pause.

As they cleared the glasses and sorted out the rubbish, the discussion turned to Lady Porter, although none of them could come up with a clear plan of what to do next. Of Abby there was no sign, and Lara was relieved, even though she felt the three of them would have benefited from her input. In the end the consensus was they should sleep on it.

As she left the theatre, Lara felt too weary to worry about her safety on the way home. She hoped if she kept to well-lit roads she would be okay. Her cottage was too close to warrant a taxi and Kate and Sarah were driving some of the younger waitresses home and their car was already full.

Abby watched her leave from behind the stage door. She sensed that Lara would not welcome her company tonight. That still did not stop her following her and watching her progress from the shadows.

Chapter 26

The clock on the church tower struck twelve as Lara reached the edge of the square. She was back in her black dress with a wool coat pulled tight around her against the cold. Her left arm was throbbing with a constant but subdued pain. She was just hurrying towards her side gate when she noticed a motionless figure by the railings of the park. They appeared to be staring across at Gillmore House. The hairs on the back of her neck rose and she looked about her, calculating how quickly she could get to her cottage. Then the figure stepped into the light of the square and looked towards her.

‘Dr Patil!’ Lara said, her overwhelming feeling being one of relief. She knew she should be wary of this man but she thought he cut a forlorn rather than a threatening figure. ‘I thought you were having supper with friends?’

Dr Patil walked across to Lara. ‘I found I wasn’t in the mood, and left early.’ He stood looking down at her. He seemed to be studying her face carefully in the streetlight. ‘Are you all right, Lara?’ he asked, looking concerned.

It struck her that she could ask the same of him. ‘Yes,’ Lara replied, as confidently as she could.

He continued to study her.

‘No,’ she said truthfully, overwhelmed by tiredness and fighting back the tears that threatened. She felt utterly exhausted and not a little lost.

He nodded at her several times. Then appeared to reach a decision. ‘I’m going to make you a Pink Gin, and you’re going to tell me all about it.’

Lara had no idea if going with the doctor alone at this time of night was an act of madness, but suddenly she did not want to be on her own and she also knew she still had a lot she wanted to ask him.

Dr Patil lived in a small townhouse a few minutes’ walk from the park. It was built of the same warm yellow stone as the houses in the square and it had a black shiny front door with a gleaming brass knocker. It appeared from the outside to be a ‘two up two down’ cottage, but inside the walls had been knocked through to create a wonderful open space. All the walls were lined with bookshelves and a small spiral staircase rose from the very centre of the room. Around a fireplace on one side of the room were chairs, a sofa and a series of low chests made of mahogany and inlaid with mother of pearl. Filigree lanterns stood on these and also around the base of the circular staircase. These reminded Lara of the lanterns she had seen in Lady Porter’s secret room, and she wondered again if that room had anything to do with this man.

Dr Patil put a match to the fire and took Lara’s coat. He settled her into a soft leather armchair and started to mix their drinks.

Lara sat studying the bookshelf nearest to her. Most of the tomes were historical books, some dedicated to the history of the Punjab, some to local history. There were also a number of books about painting and this reminded Lara of Dr Patil’s legacy. In the spaces between the books were photographs of Dr Patil as a young man and as a child, with what looked like his family in India.

As the doctor handed Lara her drink he raised his own glass in salute, ‘To absent friends.’

As Lara sipped her drink it struck her that Lady Porter had no photographs in Gillmore House of her childhood. There were photos of her and Reggie when they were a young couple, but certainly none of her time in India. What was it that Mrs M had said about Lady Porter’s parents? That there was ‘no love lost there’?

Eventually, Lara turned to Dr Patil, but before she could ask one of the many questions that were buzzing around her head, Dr Patil leant forward in his chair, ‘Now, Lara, would you like to tell me what happened this evening?’

Lara faced a dilemma. She wanted to tell this sympathetic man about everything that had happened. The trouble was, how could she be sure that he wasn’t the person who had tipped her out of the box? In the end, Lara decided to give in to some of the temptation and at least tell him about part of it.

‘I’m not sure if I fell or if I was pushed.’ She studied him carefully. He looked concerned but he didn’t look surprised.

‘Did you see who did it?’ He was watching her through narrowed eyes and Lara became instantly wary, remembering Abby’s comment about the doctor possibly pushing her and then ‘having second thoughts’.

‘No. And I’m beginning to think I was imagining it.’ Lara tried to sound dismissive and changed tack. ‘When I was in Gillmore House the other day, I saw the most beautiful room at the top of the house. The fabrics and hangings made me think of India …’ As Lara spoke, she wondered what the doctor would think of her sudden change of direction. But she was exhausted and hadn’t been able to think of any other way of bringing it up, apart from diving in. She watched the doctor carefully but could not read his expression. If she had to make a guess she would have said he had no idea what she was talking about.

Eventually, Dr Patil observed, ‘This past life in India will not go away, will it?’

‘You really didn’t know anything about it, Dr Patil?’

‘Please call me Mo. But no, I didn’t. As I mentioned, I knew a bit of her life in Nottingham.’

This reminded Lara of something else she wanted to know. ‘Do you know about her family, I mean other than Richard?’

Dr Patil stared into the fire. ‘Not very much, I don’t think she had a happy childhood. I really think she viewed her husband Reggie as her true family.’