Charlie gave her a brief smile. 'Good.' She stood up. 'I'll see you at dinner.'
With that she was gone, and Eve stared at the space she'd vacated. Quite apart from the fact that she'd just been warned off by Harker's personal Rottweiler did they really think she was attracted to him? We'd all appreciate it. Everyone's sanity. Did they all think?
'He's not even that good-looking,' she said out loud. His lips were too thin and his nose was too big, and he was always scowling or mocking, and would it seriously kill him to shave, or wash his hair? All right, so he was tall and he was undoubtedly in great shape, but so what? He was also rude, unpleasant, angry and sarcastic. He was bitter, he was brooding, and what was that thing he had about pretending not to be the major? 'I think I can bring him to mind', yes, hilarious.
Angry now, she reached for her guitar. She'd prefer the piano better for pounding notes but that would involve going out into the house, where she might meet Harker, and she really didn't want to do that.
What the hell was wrong with these people? All right, so there was that one time when she'd tried to kiss him, but he'd promised not to tell anyone about that, and for some reason Eve didn't believe he was the type to break his promises. He might be arrogant, rude, bitter, angry, brutal and the most annoying man she'd ever had the misfortune to have her life saved by, but she didn't think he was a liar.
Although he did seem to enjoy bending the truth enormously.
The guitar was altogether too soothing for Eve, who was far too angry to even want to calm down. She picked it up and stalked through the house, preparing herself to meet Harker and do battle with him no, bad idea Eve, what did you just promise Charlie? but she didn't see any of the squad.
Eventually stomping into the drawing room, she found the piano seat open and sheets of music loose inside.
Beethoven. Chopin. Schubert.
Eve stared, then pulled out the top sheaf. Ludwig von Beethoven: Sonata No. 14 in C# Minor op.27 no.2 3rd movement. The end of the Moonlight Sonata. The fast, fiddly, tricky but incredibly wonderful third movement.
Eve stared for a long time at the notes dancing over the page. I remember that arpeggio, and that fortissimo mark, I could never get my electric keyboard to sound fortissimo.She bashed the keys, and it sounded the same as it had in Mrs Mason's front room. The piano needed tuning and Eve's fingers were too sluggish for the fast, intricate notes, exactly as they had been fifteen years ago.
The music was the same.
They don't know Brothers in Arms and they've never heard of the Beatles, but they have Beethoven.
Eve pinched the bridge of her nose. All right, so none of these composers were English a quick ruffle through the remaining music told her that the majority was French but they did exist. She had heard of them.
It ought to have been comforting, but Eve felt less sure than ever.
Mist rolled in over the Wolds, swirling around the house at Hatfield Chase like a thick cloak. Like, Harker thought, remembering a distant cocktail party with Saskia, a lady in a fur coat.
Well, now he was getting poetical. It was surely time for a drink.
He drove the car around the back of the house to its garage in the stables, ignoring Banks's chatter and heading through the dark courtyard to the golden square of light oozing from the kitchen window. Hot food, he thought longingly, no more damn stew or stale bread.
But as they passed one of the wings, music spilled, flowed and trilled from a window just above their heads.
''Cos I ain't sure' Banks went on, and Harker said, 'Shut up.'
'Shutting up, sir.'
They both stood still, listening to the intricate piano notes. The music tripped and flowed like fast water, lyrical and complex, sometimes light and sometimes heavy, but one of the most incredible things Harker had ever heard.
'That's amazing,' Banks breathed.
Harker just nodded.
'If she can play the piano like that, I bet she's great in uh,' Banks broke off as Harker blinked and glanced at him.
'Who?'
'Eve. Who else is it gonna be, sir?'
'Right,' Harker said distantly. He'd never heard anything like it before. His feet took him onwards, through the kitchen and up the stairs, occasionally losing the sound, then catching it again as he opened the stair door, turned a corner of the hall, came closer to the glorious sounds, stood outside the drawing room and listened He closed his eyes, let the music twist and twirl around him, those golden notes coming from Eve's fingers, and tried not to imagine what else those fingers were capable of.
'... probably come to tell us to turn it down,' Eve's voice sounded, and Harker tried to pull himself together. The door opened, and Eve stood there, and the music continued, and they frowned at each other for a long minute.
'You're not playing,' he said eventually, his voice coming out a little hoarse.
She shook her head, and opened the door wider to reveal Tallulah at the piano, her fingers flying.
'I couldn't,' Eve said. 'There's no way I can play like that.'
'You play very well!' Tallulah protested, without even pausing in her playing. Her hands moved so fast Harker couldn't even see them.
'I think the best I could be allowed is "quite well",' Eve said. She looked at Harker, still frowning a little, and added to Tallulah, 'Back in a sec.'
She came out into the hall, closing the door behind her, muting the music.
'She's amazing, huh?'
Harker nodded, wondering why he felt so disappointed. 'Yeah. I ... I didn't know she was that good.'
'I mean, that's almost concert standard. And she dances too, did you know that? Ballet.'
'I've a vague recollection.'
'Yes, of course you would,' Eve said. She bit her lip. 'Look, I ... I'm sorry about what happened at lunch. I'm crazy; it's the only explanation I can think of.'
Harker felt his lips twitch in a smile. 'If you think you're crazy, doesn't that mean you're not?'
'Who knows? Look, Harker. I'm trying to deal here with a lot of stuff I don't really understand. This world, and everything in it. Do you know, that piano music is the first thing here I've actually recognised? Half of the time, I think I really must be mad. I'm on edge. A lot. But I shouldn't have yelled at you, and I'm sorry.'
It took guts to apologise. Harker nodded. 'It's okay.'
'Well, at least, I shouldn't have yelled at you in front of the squad,' she qualified, and he smiled again. Tallulah's playing had changed, to something slower, more melancholic, and he could feel his heartbeat slowing from its frantic race.
'Look, Charlie came to have a chat with me this afternoon,' Eve said, and from her pained expression he knew it hadn't been a cheerful, friendly natter.
Not that he could quite imagine Charlie nattering with anyone, but that was by the by.
'She ... well, she seems to think there's something going on between you and me. Like, I'm just fighting with you because I fancy you. Which is ridiculous, right? I mean look, no offence and all, but you're so totally not my type.'
'Right,' Harker said automatically. 'Yes.'
'And she well, look, she was just concerned that, I don't know, I'd be really bad for you or something. Which is crazy, because I'm just, I'm not I'm not interested, okay?'
'You violently dislike me,' Harker said, and she winced.
'Um. Yeah. Well, not violently. Well, not all the time. Just sometimes. When you wind me up. But look, Charlie seems to think ... apparently they all think there's something going on. Which is ludicrous.'
'Ludicrous,' Harker agreed. Her cheeks were flushed, he noticed. 'And anyway,' he snapped himself out of it, 'I'm not either. I'm not. I don't. I mean, I have a job to do here'
'Right,' Eve said, looking relieved. 'Yes, you do. And I'm ... well, I could be a spy or anything'
'Are you? A spy?'
'Like I'd tell you,' she said, and Harker's lips twitched again. Eve gave a half-smile too.
'Right,' she said again, taking a breath and smoothing down her shirt. 'So I just thought ... look, you just wind me up, okay? And I swear you do it on purpose.'
'I don't,' Harker protested. 'Why would I?'
'I dunno,' she said, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. 'S'fun sometimes.'
He ducked his head, trying to meet her eyes. 'Does that mean you do it on purpose, too?'
'No.' She looked up, and her gaze hit his. It forced a smile. 'Well, sometimes.' Her eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean, do I do it, too?'
Harker felt himself start to grin, and Eve broke eye contact, smiling.
'Truce?' Harker said. 'I'll stop pushing you if you stop pushing me?'
Eve put her head on one side. She was still smiling, although it had faded a little. 'No,' she said.
'No?'
'Someone needs to push you, Harker,' she said, slowly, as if she was still working it out. 'When was the last time anyone challenged you?'
Saskia, he thought, but figured that was something he ought to keep to himself.
'I mean ... look at you. I think you're bored. You're always challenging other people.' When he opened his mouth to protest, she went on, 'Look at Sir Dennis.'
'Sir Dennis is a pompous twat,' Harker said.
'True. But you pulled the same trick on him that you did on me. "I think I can bring him to mind"?'
Oh yeah ... an old favourite. Harker didn't realise he was smiling until Eve said, 'See? You love it.' Eve looked at her hands for a moment, then said, 'Why should life be dull? I spent three years just existing, and I might as well have been dead. At least here there's something to do.'
'Are you telling me I'm your "something to do"?' Harker asked incredulously, and for just a second something flared in Eve's eyes that he'd very much like to have seen more of.
'' she said, and Harker laughed. After a second, she laughed too, her cheeks decidedly pinker.
'Just don't challenge me in front of my men,' he said. 'I do need to have some authority over them.'
'Okay,' she said. 'And I'm sorry I went ballistic earlier.'
'I'm sorry I told you what not to sing.'
'I'm sorry I accused you of sulking in front of your men.'
'That's okay.'
'No, this is where you apologise for sulking.'
'I was not' Harker began, then saw the glint in her eye and broke off. 'All right. Very funny.' She shrugged. He sighed. 'Listen, I'm we're going to need your help. Tonight, after dinner, I need you to describe as fully as you can what this computer will look like.'
Eve held up a finger, disappeared inside the drawing room, where Tallulah had fallen silent and probably heard every word they'd said, and came back with a notebook.
'Here,' she said, showing him some pictures and notes. 'It's a bit basic, I'm not much of an artist, but that should show you what you're looking for.'
The sketches were labelled. Harker stared at them for a moment, then looked up at her.
'Thank you,' he said, and meant it. 'That's ... exactly what we needed.'
She blushed. 'I ... well, I felt kinda bad about'
Harker shook his head, and smiled properly. 'Don't.' He lifted her chin with one finger. 'I'll see you at dinner?'
She nodded, and disappeared back inside the drawing room. Harker stood looking at his finger for a long moment, before he turned away and went to find Charlie.
Lady Winterton continued to attempt to make amends with Harker, mostly by inviting him, Charlie and Daz to dine with the family. Harker declined, not impolitely, citing inappropriate dress.
'Oh, but that doesn't matter,' Lady Winterton assured him. 'We're not snobs.'
Eve compressed her lips.
'We're also working very long and unsociable hours,' he said, ignoring her. 'I doubt we'll be able to reliably promise that we'll be there.'
Lady Winterton professed her sorrow at this, but Eve was pretty sure she looked relieved. She grinned at Harker as the lady left the kitchen.
'Oi,' he said. 'Not a word.'
She made lip-zipping gestures. He grinned back at her.
The squad spent three days 'reconnoitring the site'. Eve was never allowed to know where 'the site' was, and if Harker ever seemed in danger of speaking it out loud in her presence, Charlie's expression usually quelled him.
'We've had a stroke of luck,' he told them over dinner the first night. 'An old friend of mine lives nearby and works in Leeds. She thinks she should be able to get us the layout of the of the site. She was married to one of my men when I was a sergeant in the 17th. Her name is Mary White.'
Charlie's expression changed. 'Ah,' she said.
Eve looked at the others to see if they knew what that meant, but they looked as nonplussed as she felt.
'Are you sure we can trust her, sir?' Martindale asked.
'Yes,' Harker said, in a tone that said the matter was closed.
Eve made copies of her diagrams and sketches for each of the squad, and explained as well as she could what each component of the computer ought to look like, where it would be and how it would be connected.