“Hmmm, I’d rather you saved that for later, if at all possible. Torkel did mention somewhere in the gabble at dinner that we could make use of any facilities we needed in our investigations. So we will.”
She was up and out at what would have been considered by many of her peers an obscenely early hour. She wasn’t as surprised to see Whittaker Fiske as he was to see her emerging from her apartment.
“Why, Whit, what on earth are you doing up at this hour?”
He chortled. “The question applies more to you than me, Marmie.” He bowed gracefully over her hand with a real skin-touching kiss. “Early birding?”
She smiled, and the arrival of Faber driving the antiquated rattletrap 4×4 vehicle spared her the necessity of replying to the obvious.
“Can we give you a lift?” she asked.
“Depends on where you’re bound.”
“Kilcoole. Didn’t see very much from the air yesterday, and it seems the best place to start.”
Whit cocked his head at her, laugh lines crinkling at the comers of his amused eyes.
“It’s safe today,” he said, handing her up the first high step to the passenger seat.
“Oh, your leg!” Marmion said, starting to get down.
“Don’t mind me.” Opening the rear door, he agilely swung himself into the back.
“What’d you mean by ‘it’s safe today,’ Whit, dear?” Marmion asked as she snapped on her seat belt and Faber pulled the vehicle away.
The ride was going to be bumpy over the mangled plascrete, but later she would have exchanged that for the slip and slide of the mud-track to Kilcoole.
“Ah, well, Matt had his boys up before breakfast, scurrying about the place, accessing all kinds of records and reports so he’d ‘have the overall picture and the demographic levels’ and stuff like that.” Whittaker snorted. “No chance of your running into him today out at Kilcoole.”
Marmion smiled. She had hoped to do her research first without stumbling over those physically fit types. As the vehicle hit a particularly large bump, she clung to the handle above her head. She could feel Whittaker taking a firm grip on the back of her seat.
“Should still be able to use snocles this time of year,” Faber said. “Thaw caught everyone off guard.”
“So much so,” Whit said with a chuckle, that no one came close to winning the Pool.”
“The Pool?” Marmion asked, clinging tightly to her handle.
“The betting pool the locals have on when the river breaks up. The thaw was so early this year it took everyone by surprise. See?” he said, pointing to the river at their left, where soldiers were working at the water’s edge. “Still retrieving sunk snocles from their watery grave.”
From what Marmion could see as they drove by, the soldiers were having trouble: the tires of the tow truck were slipping on the muddy bank, unable to find enough traction to pull the vehicle on the end of its cable out of the fast-running river.
“Faber,” Whit said, leaning forward to point over the driver’s shoulder to the woods, “see that opening? I’d take that route were I you. Make much better time. I usually walk.”
Both Marmion and Faber were happy they’d taken his advice, for the narrow track gave a much smoother ride than the churned mud by the river.
“Oh, it is pretty here,” Marmion said, breathing in the rich damp-earth smells. “Trees are budding out!” she added in exclamation. “Almost overnight it seems.”
“I don’t think Petaybee’s keeping to schedule this year,” Whittaker said, sounding enormously pleased with himself. “I’d advise you to do the same, Marmie. You’ll get where you’re going faster.”
“Then where do you advise I go first, Whit?”
“Where I am,” he said, sitting back. “Just keep on this track, Faber, and when you reach the town, hang a right.”
Kilcoole, despite its mountains of once-snow-covered paraphernalia, had an air of desertion. Marmion remarked on it, nobly refraining from commenting on its appearance.
“Oh, a lot of folks have taken advantage of the thaw to visit relatives and exchange garden plants.”
“How wise. They’re ahead of schedule, too!”
“They did get the hint. And don’t be misled by all the stuff you see outside, Marmie. No one throws anything away that might be useful.” He pointed to several lads who were carefully moving machinery parts in the side yard of one house, obviously looking for a particular one.