I feel like a naughty child as I creep back up the stairs in the café thirty seconds later. I’ve removed my red jacket, folded it, and placed it in my bag. I slip into a corner behind a column beside the toilet, and sit back to gain a view of the window seat that The Benefaktor and his young female companion have moved to. I find myself holding my breath, taking up as little space as possible, a silent shadow.
I can’t make out what they’re saying. But catching a few glimpses under the table as I pretend to search my bag, I can see the characteristic “y” of the earpieces to a stethoscope. The Benefaktor is in profile, his hawklike nose marking him out as a hunter. His partner in crime is face on, but as she turns to look out over the castle it’s clear she has the same nose. I have seen enough. I don’t need photos.
Outside, keeping close to the wall to avoid being seen from above, I flick through the images on my phone. I study the photos of the signing of the original artwork that The Benefaktor and I worked on, and find one that we didn’t use – a display of pictures on the bookcase beyond the desk showing a photo of The Benefaktor’s wedding, and two younger generations. The children now into middle age. And the grandchildren in various school uniforms, all teeth, braces and hair. And there she is – medical school graduation, a London university, dated 2023. She must be The Foundation Doktor.
I slip down the steps beside the café entrance and wait behind the bins, invisible as a vixen. I shrink back to avoid the staff as they prepare to close down, and stay in that position as I hear The Benefaktor’s patrician drawl as he descends the steps at a trot that is matched by The Foundation Doktor.
“Keep lights full beam”, he advises. “And no headphones”.
“But it’s just an audiobook”, she retorts. “For research. I always listen out for cars”.
She appears to look straight down towards the bins as she works on the lock, which she then fits back together and places in her pannier.
“Well, you do need to keep going with that”, The Benefaktor agrees. “And the writing. Holding position for now though”.
I share this here so that they know I know.
GANTOB
6 November 2023
Don’t forget to enter The Foundation Doktor’s competition to win a unique piece of art by GANTOB (inadvertently using TFD’s bootlegged text of an imagined Curt Finks story).
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