Midnight Dolphin (23 page)

Megan said
nothing in reply, but her brain was a mass of ideas. She couldn’t
wait to get hold of Owen Davidson’s article on the Trinity Caves.
She knew that somehow the caves and the old tin mines were
connected. Somehow, she was determined to track them
down.

Chapter
Fourteen:

As the Land
Rover rattled along, Lucy curled herself up on the back seat. The
car was cold and draughty and she pulled a couple of coats over
herself to keep warm. Dad’s coat smelled of mothballs and Bethany’s
smelled of mints and turpentine. Eventually her eyes fluttered
closed and she dozed off.

Lucy started
dreaming about dolphins, but they were a long way away from her and
try as she might, she could not get near them. Then the scene
changed. She was walking, half bent over, down a narrow rocky
tunnel. She could sense water dripping down and she could feel the
drops striking the back of her neck. Somewhere in the distance Lucy
could hear the low rumble of the sea. The rock beneath her feet was
irregular and slippery, and Lucy had to hold onto the sides of the
narrow cave to steady herself. She had a bicycle light pinned to
her chest which gave her just enough light to see by, but it was
barely enough to illuminate the damp rock around her.

She kept on
going, but her progress was painfully slow. The tunnel turned to
the right and then started to slope upwards. Then, a few metres
away, she could see the mouth of the tunnel illuminated by an eerie
green light. ‘
Almost
there
’ she thought to herself as she
struggled on. It was so tantalisingly close.

‘
Lucy. Do you
fancy a sandwich?’ asked Dad, glancing over his shoulder from the
passenger seat of the Land Rover. Lucy was pulled abruptly from her
dream and opened her eyes.

‘
No thanks
Dad’ she replied, sitting up and rubbing her stiff neck.

‘
Not so far
now’ called Bethany from the driver’s seat, keeping her eyes firmly
fixed on the road in front of her. ‘Can you smell the sea
yet?’

Lucy smiled.
When she was small, and her Mum and Dad drove down to the sea, she
was always convinced that she could smell the sea and that they
would be able to see the sparkling ocean over the crest of the very
next hill they drove up. Mum used to say that she would do that for
an hour before they got anywhere near the sea. Bethany had
obviously heard the stories.

Lucy sat up
and looked out of the window at the traffic rushing past on the
other side of the road. It started to rain gently and Bethany
turned the windscreen wipers on which swished rhythmically from
side to side. Lucy glanced at Dad. He was staring out of the window
on the other side. She wondered what he was thinking about. Was it
the job that he hated so much but which he devoted such a lot of
his time to? Was he thinking about the funeral that they were just
about to go to? Lucy remembered Mum’s own funeral less than two
years before. Lucy cried so much in the days before the funeral,
that at the ceremony itself she felt almost numb. Dad clasped her
so tightly round the shoulders that it had almost hurt. It was as
if by containing her, he could keep a grip on his own feelings and
emotions. She’d wondered what would happen to him if he let go. She
never did find out.

Eventually
Bethany turned the Land Rover off the bigger highways and down the
smaller country roads that led towards Merwater. Finally they
rattled down the tight farm lane that led to Mary and Darren’s farm
where Bethany also had her studio. It was late afternoon and it had
already got dark. Bethany had switched on her big head lights and
apart from the road and verge ahead of them illuminated by the
beams from the car, all was dark. In the town where she lived with
Dad, even when darkness fell there was the ever-present glow of
street lights. Out here in the countryside, it was pitch-black.
They bumped over the cattle grid and into the familiar
farmyard.

Mary came out
of the farmhouse. She was as tall and lean as ever, but now she was
wearing a wool-lined sheep-skin coat and a woolly hat. Lucy thought
she looked like a cross between a cow girl and a hippy. Mary
embraced Lucy warmly and beckoned them all inside.

‘
Come in, come
in out of the cold’ she urged them. ‘I’ve got a casserole on the go
and a glass of something to warm you all up. Lucy shivered. It
definitely felt colder down here in Cornwall and she was glad to
take Mary up on her offer. She wondered what it was like to be in
Bethany’s studio. With all that glass and no central heating, it
must be an ice box at this time of the year. They all went in to
the farm house’s living room. There was a fire lit in the big
hearth and Lucy was instantly drawn to the leaping flames. Darren
appeared from the kitchen with glasses of mulled wine for the
adults and a hot chocolate for Lucy. It felt very good to be back
at the farm again.

Three hours
later Lucy lay under a warm duvet cover in the same holiday cottage
that she and Dad had stayed in during the summer. Bethany was
sleeping in the spare bedroom in the farmhouse during the cold
weather because her studio was too cold to occupy. Thelma’s funeral
was going to be the next morning. Lucy wasn’t looking forward to
it. Eventually she fell asleep.

It was still
dark when Lucy awoke the next morning. She shivered under her
bedclothes. The central heating in the cottage had not yet come on
and Lucy could tell it had been a chilly night. Getting out of bed,
she pulled the curtains and looked out of the window. For a moment
she thought it had been snowing, but then she realised that there
was a layer of frost across the landscape. The blue sky was clear
of clouds. A pair of sheep stood in the field on the other side of
the fence blowing steamy breath into the sharp morning
air.

She pulled on
her jeans and a sweatshirt and tumbled downstairs. Dad was already
up and dressed in his suit for the funeral. He was sitting in the
dining area, a mug of tea in his hand, staring fixedly out of the
window onto the frosty world beyond the glass. He glanced round
when Lucy came down. His eyes were red and he looked grey and
drained. He sniffed and wiped his hand quickly across his face when
Lucy approached.

‘
Hey Luce’ he
greeted her. ‘Sorry, I was just thinking about, you know…’ He
trailed off.

‘
I know’
replied Lucy quietly. She gave him a hug.

After
breakfast Lucy put on her formal clothes for the funeral and she
and Dad took the short walk down the lane to the farmhouse to find
Bethany. Lucy was always used to seeing Bethany with her mass of
unkempt, curly blond hair and the brightly-coloured, unconventional
clothes that she tended to wear. Today though Bethany was
transformed. She had tied back her hair neatly and was wearing a
sombre grey trouser-suit.

‘
Right, are we
ready to get going?’ she asked. They climbed into the Land Rover.
The metal was so cold that Lucy half expected her skin to freeze to
the door handle. She huddled in her coat on the back seat while
Bethany started the engine and Dad scraped away the ice from the
windows. When he was done, Bethany drove cautiously up the
lane.

‘
Do you think
it will snow?’ asked Lucy. She loved the snow but it never seemed
to happen much back home.

‘
Oh I
shouldn’t think so Kiddo’ replied Bethany. It’s unusually frosty
this morning, but it generally doesn’t get cold enough for snow
down here in Cornwall, especially near sea level. The Gulf Stream
brings over warm moist air from the other side of the Atlantic and
keeps the worst of the winter weather away. According to Darren
it’s been ten years since there was any decent snow in these
parts.’ Lucy felt disappointed. Christmas in the snow would have
been fantastic.

Before long
they pulled up outside the chapel of rest at the corner of the
cemetery. Lucy had imagined that the funeral would take place
somewhere more picturesque, like the old church at the end of
Bussey Lane.

Instead the
cemetery was at the edge of town, just off the main road, tucked
away behind a DIY store. The chapel of rest looked rather bleak and
modern. The cemetery itself though had a good view out towards the
sea. There was already a small array of cars pulled up in the car
park next to the chapel.

Inside there
were a few clusters of mourners in sombre suits talking quietly in
corners. Bethany went up to a group of ladies and started talking
to them, leaving Lucy and Dad to stand awkwardly, surveying the
scene. There was Nate looking uncomfortable in a suit. He seemed as
sad as he had done when she’d been with Spirit and seen him
standing on the prow of his boat the Lady Thelma. Someone was
talking to him now, but he broke away and came over to
them.

‘
Lucy love,
thanks for coming’ said Nate, looking solemnly into her eyes and
squeezing her hand briefly.

‘
I’m so sorry
Nate’ she replied. ‘I…’

‘
I know’ he
replied. When Mum had died everyone had said the same things to her
so many times that they ended up being meaningless and she was sick
of them. Maybe Nate was feeling the same thing.

Organ music
started playing from speakers at the front of the chapel and they
all started taking their seats; family at the front and friends
behind. Lucy, Dad and Bethany sat in the second row from the back.
Just before the service was about to start, a skinny figure slipped
into the seat next to her. It was Paul.

‘
Hi Lucy’ he
whispered to her.

‘
Paul!’ she
exclaimed happily. ‘I didn’t know that you knew Thelma!’

‘
She was real
nice to my Mum like, especially in the last few months, and Nate’s
taken me out with him on the boat quite a few times as well. That’s
why we’re here. My Mum’s over there’ he went on, pointing to a pew
on the right.

‘
It’s good to
see you’ said Lucy as quietly as she could. ‘I’ve got so much to
talk to you about. But have you seen Spirit at all?’

‘
Yeah, I’ve
seen him a few times. But I don’t, you know, think I’m a
Dolphin-Child anymore. Not like you.’ The news reassured Lucy. Just
then the service began. Lucy didn’t recognise the Thelma she knew
from the stilted words and solemn hymns that she heard now. Instead
she thought of the jolly face she knew, and the big cakes that
Thelma used to make. Nate would get thin now that Thelma was gone,
she thought to herself.

Eventually the
service finished. The coffin bearers shifted the ornate box to
their shoulders and walked slowly outside. Nate, his children and
then the rest of the mourners followed them outside into the
cemetery. The frost was melting away now under the bleak wintery
sunshine. The sad procession snaked its way along the paths between
the grave stones. Here and there a teddy bear would be placed on a
grave, or flowers wrapped in cellophane.

‘
Are you down
here for Christmas then?’ asked Paul as they walked slowly
along.

‘
With any
luck, yes’ replied Lucy. ‘It’s only a few days away anyway. There’s
stuff I need to talk to you about. What are you doing tomorrow
Paul?’

‘
Not a thing’
he replied. ‘School broke-up today. I’ve got tonnes of time
now.’

‘
Meet you
tomorrow then? At the recreation ground at midday?’

‘
It’s a deal’
Paul replied.

A tidy
rectangular hole had been dug at one corner of the cemetery. A
mound of earth next to it had been covered up with a tarpaulin.
Lucy wondered what it must be like to dig a grave on a frosty
December day, but then she saw marks of the caterpillar track of a
digger in the grass. Of course, nowadays they used a mechanical
excavator instead. Lucy stood towards the back of the group and
couldn’t see very much. The priest intoned his prayers and Lucy
could see that someone had put an arm around Nate to comfort him.
Then the coffin was lowered into the ground and the family took it
in turns to scatter earth down on top of it. Lucy glanced at
Bethany. She could tell that her aunt was quite upset. Lucy felt
numb though, as though she didn’t quite know what to feel anymore.
After everything she had been through when Mum had died, it was
hard to feel anything so acutely this time. She looked around her.
‘
I hope I don’t have to come back to a
cemetery again soon
’ she
thought.

Nate and his
family started walking back towards the cars. The rest of the group
of mourners stood uncertainly, looking around them. Bethany was
standing staring out towards the sea in the distance. Lucy went up
to her and squeezed her hand. Bethany sniffed.

‘
Oh I’ll be
alright’ she said, wiping a hand quickly across her eyes. ‘Funerals
always get to me you know. It’s a fine view isn’t it?’ she added,
trying to change the subject. They turned around to see the
mourners drifting off along the side of the grave
stones.

A smartly
dressed middle-aged lady had been talking to another woman who Lucy
now knew was Thelma’s sister. Then she realised that Dad was
staring at the woman, almost rudely. Thelma’s sister and the woman
walked off up the path together and Dad came over to join Lucy and
Bethany.