Chapter 33
CHAPTER
I’d prefer to hide in my room, but I’ve walked to the gentoo rookery almost every day for the past two months. Anyway, Jerry will expect me in the mess to collect my breakfast and, as it’s almost seven o’clock, Sebastien will have left for the ship and—
Sebastien, strikingly handsome but pale, pushes aside a glass and stands to attention. Everything about him is new yet familiar.
Dougie looks up from his seat at the end of the table and waves. ‘G’day, Flick.’
Jerry, standing behind the counter, manoeuvres an omelette from a pan to a plate. ‘Dougie! Come and get it while it’s hot.’
As Dougie walks to the counter, Jerry turns to me. ‘Morning, Flick. Did you sleep in? I’ve got your brekky ready.’
A thermos of coffee, a tub of muesli, long-life milk and a honey sandwich. I put the coffee on a table as I store the other items in my pack.
‘Back in time for lunch?’
‘I’ll eat in the professor’s office.’
‘Reckon it’s your office now.’
Sebastien, still standing at the table, turns towards me. ‘Flick.’
‘I didn’t think you’d still be here.’ My voice is wooden.
‘The ship was delayed.’
‘When will it leave?’
‘Nine.’
‘I’m on my way to the gentoo rookery.’
Dougie, back at the table, cuts his omelette in half. ‘Have you heard from Seb about his colleague, Nathan Gillespie? He’s been working on Casey but will join us at the end of the week. Once I get more details, I’ll let everyone know.’
Sebastien smiles, but his eyes don’t crinkle like they should. ‘Nate will be here for Angelina’s dance.’
‘Shame you’ll miss the fun,’ Dougie says.
‘Felicity?’ Sebastien steps back from the table. ‘Can we talk?’
We stand at the window, but the ocean is lost in the mist. Sebastien’s stubble was dark at three this morning, but now he’s clean shaven. My throat is so tight that it’s hard to swallow.
‘I told Dougie I wanted to settle an argument with you,’ Sebastien says quietly.
‘That sounds genuine.’
‘Last night.’ A pulse beats in his jaw. ‘Do you regret it?’
Blankets of drizzle hang from the clouds. ‘Do you?’
‘No.’
‘I don’t know what to do with the ring.’
‘You decide.’
My eyes sting. ‘Dougie is watching.’
‘Nate will be here on Friday morning. Stay clear of Dougie when you can.’
‘I’ll do what he expects, nothing more.’
‘You didn’t sleep.’
‘Did you?’
‘Flick!’ Kingsley holds out my coffee. ‘Do you want this over there?’
‘Seb!’ Jerry shouts, too. ‘Your toasted sandwich is ready.’
‘How is it going?’
Without waiting for an answer, Dougie walks into the professor’s office and, in the same way he’s done for the past three days, looks at my screen.
Sebastien told me to stay clear, but I can hardly stop Dougie joining me here.
Have I been too obliging? Am I supposed to be super helpful, or does that raise suspicions just like ignoring him would? I’ll ask Nate when he arrives.
‘I’ll get this to you soon.’
‘Great.’ Dougie rubs his hands together.
‘Did you look at what I sent through yesterday?’
‘Fascinating.’
It’s abundantly clear he isn’t fascinated, but I hold my tongue. ‘The professor will be out of hospital soon. I’ll be able to send him the data.’
‘Good to know he’s doing so well.’ A casual smile. ‘Seb mentioned you’d already met Nate Gillespie. What did you think of him?’
The one rule of interrogation I’m aware of, I’ve likely picked up from Netflix: The truth as far as is possible. ‘He was enthusiastic about me taking this job. He was also friendlier than Sebastien. I liked him.’
‘He’s worked out of Geneva for most of his career, but it’s difficult to pin down exactly what he does.’
‘If it’s Geneva, it could be UN projects like the one Sebastien is working on.’
‘How did your meeting with Nate come about?’
Stay calm. Do not overthink. ‘Sebastien wanted the journal data and Professor Johnson wanted me. At first, I turned down Sebastien’s offer, but then—’
‘Why was that?’ Dougie hides a frown.
‘The flights, the ship.’
‘Of course.’ He slaps the side of his head. ‘I get it.’
‘As it turned out, my contract at the zoo finished early, and I was broke, so I asked for another meeting. Sebastien brought Nate to that meeting and that’s when I met him.’
Dougie nods like I’ve passed an exam. ‘Got it.’
‘What’s with all the questions?’
A stilted laugh. ‘Just curious.’
About me or Nate? I continue to stick to the truth. ‘Like I said, Nate was friendly and I liked him. Angelina is bound to rope him in to her dance extravaganza.’
‘I’m not so sure about that.’ Linking his fingers, Dougie cracks a knuckle. ‘Last night, after seeing the email I’d sent telling everyone he’d be here on Friday, she stormed into the mess and demanded to know why she hadn’t been warned earlier.’
‘I’ve never seen Angelina storm anywhere.’
‘She clammed up when I asked what she was upset about, but I reckon she knows him, and they have history. Do you know anything about that?’
‘Nothing.’
‘When I asked whether she had any idea about what Nate did for the UN, she walked out. I haven’t seen her all day.’
‘None of that sounds like Angelina.’ I turn to the screen in the hope that Dougie will leave. ‘I’ll talk to her at dinner. Check she’s okay.’
When I ask Kingsley why Angelina isn’t sitting in her usual spot at the table in the mess, he tells me she’d asked him to carry a tray to her room.
‘Her newfound dust allergies don’t appear to have impacted her appetite,’ he says.
‘Had she been crying?’
‘Buckets, by the look of her.’
I wrap two of Jerry’s home-made sausage rolls in a napkin. ‘I’ll eat on the way.’
When I reach Angelina’s room, I wipe my hands on the napkin and tap on the door. ‘It’s Flick. Just checking to see you’re okay. Can I get you anything?’
Angelina, wearing pyjamas, her hair piled on top of her head in a ramshackle bun, is as attractive without makeup as she is with it. First up, I hug her.
‘Did Kingsley bring you the sausage rolls? I had two.’
A watery smile. ‘Delicious.’
‘Do you want to talk?’
Sighing dramatically, Angelina sits on the bed. ‘You’re peaky. You can talk first.’
I turn the desk chair around and sit facing her. ‘I’m okay.’
‘Going by the way Seb snapped my head off a few days ago, I doubt he is. What is it this time?’
We can’t go back to how we were. ‘There could have been something between us, but then he had to leave and that was a good thing because we needed a break.’
‘He was only here for five minutes.’
‘He said that too.’
‘Where is he off to now?’
‘Hobart for a week, then a flight to the station at Davis.’
She rolls her eyes. ‘No wonder there’s a transport problem.’
‘He hitches lifts on ships and planes that are already scheduled.’
When Angelina sighs, so do I.
‘Misery loves company,’ she says.
‘You haven’t told me what’s wrong with you.’
She throws her hands in the air. ‘I’ve spent all this time thinking about him, then this happens. I have no idea what it means.’
‘What has happened?’
‘Do you think I should call him?’
‘Sebastien? What about?’
‘Not Sebastien, Nate.’ She shudders before delicately blowing her nose. ‘Did you see Dougie’s email?’
‘That Nate will be here tomorrow?’
She dabs at her eyes. ‘What do you think I should do?’
‘Why do you have to do anything?’
‘Because it’s Nate.’
‘I don’t follow.’
She jumps to her feet. ‘He’s my bowerbird! You know that!’
‘Nate?’ I stand, too. ‘American Nate? Nathan Gillespie? He’s your bowerbird?’
‘I must have told you his name.’
‘If you had, I would have remembered it. Broad shoulders? Fair hair? Mid-thirties?’
‘Thirty-seven.’
‘I’ve met him.’
‘No!’ Her eyes are wide. ‘When? How?’
‘Months ago, at the zoo in Dubbo. Sebastien had gone off me by then, but Nate was supportive.’ I blow out a breath. ‘Nate is your bowerbird.’
‘He’s kind and good looking and smart and—’ She sniffs. ‘He’s the one.’
‘So why are you shut up here? Why have you been crying?’
‘If I explain, will you tell me what you think? The unvarnished truth?’
‘I’ll do my best.’
‘I’ve been emailing Casey about all kinds of things for months. Nate must have known I was here. In the scheme of things, five days by ship means we’re practically neighbours. Why hasn’t he contacted me to say hello? Not even a peep since we were told he was coming.’
‘You could contact him.’
‘What if he doesn’t want that? What if he’s deliberately avoiding me?’
‘This isn’t like you, Angelina. You’re usually so …’
‘Confident?’ A giant sniff. ‘Nate and I have kept our distance since we broke up, but whenever he’s been in the country, he’s called, sent a text, at the very least emailed. We meet before family events and have a coffee or a drink, things like that.’
‘Dougie said you seemed upset that Nate was coming.’
‘I hope I didn’t speak out of turn.’ She grimaces. ‘What did he say exactly?’
It’s impossible to know how much to pass on, but Angelina looks at me expectantly.
‘He assumed you and Nate had history.’
‘Dougie asked me about Nate’s job with the UN. Did he tell you that?’
‘According to Dougie, you walked out.’
Angelina holds her hands together like she’s praying. ‘Thank goodness I had the sense to keep my mouth shut.’
I consider my words. ‘Nate works for the UN on projects that cross national borders. That’s what he told me when I met him.’
She points a manicured nail. ‘You can’t repeat this, Flick. Promise?’
Maybe the promise is irrelevant to spying and traitors and whatever else Sebastien and Nate are interested in, meaning I can keep it. But just in case it’s something I might have to pass on, I cross my fingers.
‘Sure.’
‘Many years ago, my sister Golden, who’s really a half-sister because we have the same mother but different fathers, was in trouble over a money-laundering scandal.
Golden hadn’t done anything wrong, but her father was a jockey, her grandfather a racehorse trainer, and they got messed up in it.
Tor Amundsen, who is now married to Golden, came to Australia to investigate.
Back then, Tor was also in the UN and working with Nate. Now Tor is a diplomat.’
‘Nate stayed at the UN.’
‘You mentioned crossing national borders, which is why Tor and Nate were involved, but Golden and I weren’t supposed to know what they were up to.
When they found out who was behind the money laundering, Interpol stepped in.
It was all a bit hush-hush.’ She blows out a breath.
‘That’s why I couldn’t talk to Dougie about it. ’
‘You didn’t give anything away.’
‘Has Seb told you what Nate is doing here?’
If I lie to Angelina, she’d likely see through it, so like I did with Dougie, I keep as much of the truth as I can. ‘Sebastien’s project has international implications because different countries have bases in Antarctica, and they operate ships and aircraft. Nate is helping Sebastien with that.’
‘When will Nate arrive?’
‘You’ll probably see him at breakfast.’
‘Right.’ She nods firmly ‘Right.’
‘And when you do, you can ask why he didn’t get in touch.’
‘A year after we broke up, I was a bridesmaid at Golden and Tor’s wedding and he was a groomsman.
’ Angelina is teary again. ‘Nate had had a couple of beers when he told me how much I’d hurt him.
He said we could be friends, but he’d keep his distance.
Eight years on, anyone looking at us would think we’re friends, but it’s much more complicated than that.
Have I been kidding myself in thinking there’s the tiniest chance there could be more than friendship between us?
’ She looks down at her linked hands. ‘Maybe he’s moved on, he’s found somebody else. ’
I hug her again. ‘There’s no one else like you.’
When I get back to my room, I open the bottom drawer of my bedside table. A dark grey jumper. A signet ring. One of Sebastien’s shoes must be missing a shoelace. I’m not sure why, but the thought makes my eyes sting.