Daisy and Bernard (The Blind Sleuth Mysteries 3)

Chapter 12

After going back and forth a few times more between her sculpture and Bernard's face, Daisy declared herself washed out, and decided to stop. "Shall we go for an early dinner in the park?"

"Excellent idea!"

Daisy covered the clay with damp rags and a sheet of plastic, then she and Bernard went to the bathroom, she to wash her hands, he his face. "But first call your cousin Claire. I want to study her nose. Does she live in London? It would be nice if she could come over later, after dinner."

"Should be feasible; her place is not that far from here."

And then they were walking towards the Albert Bridge along the Embankment, Daisy pushing the wheelchair and Bernard steering. He started to describe the autumn colours of the plane trees. As they crossed the bridge, Daisy sighed with satisfaction. "Do you think it will always be this enjoyable if we're together all the time?"

"Well, darling, we certainly get on like a house on fire. But don't ask me if it will last or pall. I was never married; you had that privilege twice."

"Yes, but don't you see? For me this is also an entirely new experience. Ralph and Richard were both pilots, they were hardly ever at home, and I had my own job. Now we're both pensioners, if we wanted we could be together all day long, every day."

"Yes, we could. I'd like that. But before that can happen, we still have some unresolved issues to discuss."

"Oh, bother!"

"I'm sorry, Daisy, as much as I love you, I don't want a relationship based on lies... or omissions. You told me about Richard, and how he adamantly refused to recognise Jonathan. How you two got divorced. I suspect that this was an example of a relationship that faltered because there were secrets between you; things you didn't tell him and that he was very much shocked to find out in 1967..."

"Yes, yes, you're quite right, Bernard."

Those last words were said in a way to close the conversation, in a tone that suffered no contradiction. In the meantime they had entered Battersea Park and were walking towards the Boating Lake. As soon as they reached the Central Avenue, Daisy cried, "Shall we have a run, Bernard?"

"Oh no, not again! You didn't say beforehand."

"I don't need to; I'm wearing trainers and a sports bra all the time now. Come on, just five hundred yards, don't be a spoilsport!"

And off they went, by now a quite familiar sight to the regulars walking their dogs: an ugly man in a wheelchair bombing along at full clip, pumping with his arms, with a blind lady running at top speed behind him, pushing on the handles. Quite extraordinary.

Then they were sitting on the covered terrace of the Lakeside Café, waiting to order dinner. It was a circular brick building from the forties with a covered terrace under a concrete canopy. Bernard described how the arc of the terrace was lined with slender steel columns, designed to avoid obstructing the view over the lake. He reported how pretty the park looked in its autumn attire.

Daisy said, "Speaking of architecture, there's one place I've heard about recently that I'd like to visit very much."

"Tell me."

"There was a thing on the Beeb about the new Lloyd's Building. Very spectacular, apparently. If we could visit it together, you could describe what you see and help me get an idea of the place."

"I'm not sure the public can visit..."

"No, they can't, but you're not the public. Can't you make up a good reason to search the premises? I'd be your assistant, of course; just tell them I'm a clairvoyant!"