Chapter 9

They went into gardens that lay between a cluster of four contemporary buildings in the north-west corner of the science park. The landscaping reminded Harri of a doodle she might have absently drawn as a bored teenager. Gravel swirled in endless loops, and winding stone paths cut through beautifully manicured asymmetric lawns. A dozen benches were scattered around the space, most beneath well-trimmed trees. Only a couple were occupied, one by a man on his phone and the other by a young woman who was reading a book.

‘You want to know about Beth and David?’ Dr Abiola asked. Her tone was smooth, her accent sufficiently upper-class that Harri found herself making a conscious effort to soften her harder London edges. ‘What would you like to know in particular?’

They walked the widest path, which encircled the whole garden.

‘They both worked for you?’ Harri asked.

‘Yes. Beth was one of my first PhD students. A long time ago, when I was young and fresh,’ Dr Abiola replied.

Harri studied her closely. She could have passed for mid-thirties, but delicate wrinkles around her eyes and mouth hinted she was much older.

‘Beth was brilliant at particle dynamics. She helped build that holographic simulator you saw in there. David joined us from Cambridge eleven years ago. He was a brilliant physicist. I can’t believe what happened to them both. It’s so sad.’

‘They met here?’

‘Yes, and fell in love. They married ten years ago.’

‘What about Ben Elmys?’

Harri noticed Dr Abiola’s eyes narrow slightly.

‘Ah, Ben. A brilliant man, but not quite of this world.’

‘How so?’

‘Have you ever read The Lord of the Rings, Ms Kealty?’

‘I saw the films,’ Harri confessed.

‘Ben is like one of the Rivendell folk, the Eledhrim – the elves. A projection into this world from somewhere else. Part of this reality, but disconnected by a mind that sees beyond it.’

‘I’m not a huge fan of magic,’ Harri said. She thought she was a good judge of character, and that certainly hadn’t been her impression of him after two and a half dates, but their more recent encounter suggested he might have a looser connection to reality than she’d previously thought.

‘Neither am I. I’m a scientist, but it’s the best way I can describe him. Brilliant, but he’s different. I’m sorry he’s no longer here.’

‘He left?’

‘Shortly after David died. He said he needed to devote himself to Elliot,’ Dr Abiola replied.

‘When did Mr Elmys start here?’ Harri asked.

‘Six months after David.’

‘What was their relationship like?’

‘It’s funny – for a while I thought Ben and Beth might have had a thing,’ Dr Abiola said.

‘Why?’

‘He was always hanging around her. Even when she and David got together. And . . .’

Harri waited expectantly. The more Dr Abiola spoke, the more she made Ben Elmys sound like a weirdo. It certainly fit with what Harri had experienced when she met Ben at Longhaven, but it was so different from the man who’d inspired dreams of love a year ago. She knew she still had feelings for him because she was instantly jealous of the thought of him with Elizabeth Asha. She chided herself inwardly for feeling envious of the poor woman.