CHELSEA
SOUTH-WEST LONDON
He was on his way to the lift that would take him to his car when Lynley was accosted by Dorothea Harriman, whose first words were “Acting Detective Chief Superintendent Lynley? May I ask you something?” When he turned, she went on without waiting for him to reply. “This is . . . Well. Right. I rather need you to clarify something. I can’t think who else to ask and since you’ve worked with her for so long . . .”
“DS Havers, I take it?”
“Yes, yes. Barbara. I thought GroupMeet would be just the ticket, you see. We’d find something beyond our tap dancing. Tap dancing is fine and well—I’ve lost over a stone and would probably lose more if we didn’t go for a curry after almost every lesson—but the thing is it’s mostly women. I mean, our instructor’s a man. He’s quite good, by the way. But the students . . . ? Of course, there is a fourteen-year-old boy just joined, but he’s not going to do, is he, although I must admit he’s an extremely talented dancer. So while we’ll continue the lessons—we’ve learned so much it’s pointless to stop—I did feel that another venue would be, as I’ve said, just the ticket.”
“GroupMeet being the venue?” he asked.
“No, no. GroupMeet is merely the means to find the venue, although venue probably isn’t the best word in this case. I thought sketching would appeal, but . . . well, it became quite clear Barbara wasn’t on board with that. So I thought: badminton, croquet, tennis—not that I play and I seriously doubt Barbara plays either except we wouldn’t be there to play, exactly, would we—allotment gardening, cemetery restoration—”
He raised an eyebrow at that.
“I mean, really, anything. GroupMeet has it all. We could even learn to judge wine.”
“A useful talent,” he acknowledged gravely.
“Oh, I know you think it’s all foolishness, but have you any idea how difficult it is for a woman to meet someone even vaguely suitable in London?”
“Joining a church choir no longer being of help?” he noted.
“If anyone even went to church other than for weddings and funerals, and at Easter and Christmas. And anyway, that’s not the point. That’s not what I wanted to get clarity on.”
She’d been walking alongside him, and she lowered her voice as they reached the lift. “It’s this.” She looked round to make certain there were no eavesdroppers. “It’s occurred to me that perhaps Detective Sergeant Havers—Barbara—might not . . . well . . . you know what I mean . . . men?”
“I’m afraid I’m now the one seeking clarity,” he told her.
She sighed. “Do I have to spell it out?”
“Apparently.”
“What I mean is p’rhaps Barbara doesn’t actually like men. I mean p’rhaps she doesn’t like men as in liking men in the way that, well, women generally like men.”
“I see,” he said. “At least I think I do. You’re asking me if Barbara Havers is a lesbian.”
“My God! Shhhh!” Dorothea looked round once again. Then she said to him, “Please! I don’t at all want her to think . . . you know what I mean, don’t you?”
Lynley didn’t, actually, but to put them both out of her misery, he said, “I’ve never had the first inkling of anything regarding Barbara’s sexual proclivity, Dee. Not that I’m altogether sure what I should be looking for if I did have an urge to develop such an inkling.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Are you laughing at me, Acting Detective Chief Superintendent?”
“I most certainly am not,” he replied.
She tapped her foot, a pensive expression on her face. “It’s only that I don’t want to put her in the position of having to tell me. I mean, she could tell me. I’d welcome knowing if she wants me to know. But I don’t want her to feel she must tell me if only to stop me banging on about GroupMeet.”
“Hmmm. Yes,” he said. “But you’ve forgotten that Barbara could easily meet a woman at GroupMeet, couldn’t she? I mean, if women are her interest. And if not, she could meet a man.” Or, he thought, she could meet a three-legged hedgehog, but that wasn’t likely. “I tend to think you’ve just not hit on the most appealing activity for her, Dee.”
“So you’re saying I should continue? I should look for opportunities on the GroupMeet site?”
He wasn’t at all saying that—he had a very difficult time seeing Barbara engaged in cemetery restoration—but he didn’t want to be the one to dash Dee’s hopes or her good intentions with regard to his long-time partner. He settled on saying, “You might want to gauge her level of interest in an activity first.”