If ever a piece of classical music could be more Harry and Nikki than this, I'd like to hear it. Do give it a try and be patient it is quite different but you too might find yourself unable to move until it finishes. YouTube: Nicola Benedetti Spiegel im Spiegel.
Chapter Forty-One
Sunday 7th July
Arvo Part: Spiegel im Spiegel
It was an understatement to say that Harry was nervous when he rang Nikki's bell at 9:30 that Sunday morning. A trip to Sheffield was going to place them in a confined space for hours at a time and he still hadn't had the time or inclination to figure out Leo's car stereo. There were going to be many hours of silence ahead.
He needn't have worried, her bag was by the door and she was ready to leave but she answered the door with one hand and her phone attached to her ear. When eventually the call and the scribbling on the note pad had finished, Harry knew exactly what she was going to tell him.
"You've been called out," he said.
She nodded. "Sorry."
"Don't be, that's your job. Is it going to take long?"
Nikki looked back at the paper.
"I know you can't tell me." Harry smiled. "I can tell from your face that this is going to be an all-weeker, before you've even got to the scene."
He watched her push her hair back from her face and tie it up.
"Sorry," she repeated.
"It's fine," Harry assured her. "Go to work, do what you do best. It'll take your mind off all this house stuff with Leo and next week maybe we'll be able to get back to the books. You can always call me in as a locum if there's too much work. It would be good to get some actual income; my mother's going to have to guarantee my mortgage as it is. They're not keen on self-employed people."
"I'll call you if we need you." Nikki said. "Say hi to Leo for me."
"Nikki?"
She shrugged.
"He's not there, any more than he's here!"
"I know. I just…"
"It's alright, I'll tell him you miss him. Now you'd better go."
"Do I still get the lunch though?" Nikki asked.
"Lunch?"
"Yes, you were taking me out to lunch."
"Is that the only reason you were coming today?" Harry scoffed, but pleased the mood had lifted slightly.
Nikki shrugged again.
"Next Sunday at one?" Harry asked.
"Great," she replied. "See you then."
##
He'd found the grave easily but once there wasn't really sure what to do.
"Nikki's missing you Leo." He said, his voice blowing away from him. The branches of the trees around the edge were churning in the strong wind, magnifying its sound.
"I miss you too." Harry added after a while. "Sorry I wasn't there for you. I'm trying to be there for her. I know you'd laugh when you know what lengths I'm going to just to do something you told me to. It's probably the only time I haven't gone off, ignored you and done exactly what I wanted. Maybe because you always seemed to know what I wanted better than I did. It's not easy though." Harry sighed and read through the names on the head stone again. The wind whipped his hair across his face and into his eyes making them sting.
"Goodbye my friend," he said and reached down to scoop up a handful of loose mud and throw it against the headstone.
"Goodbye Leo."
##
Harry had found Francis at the bar of the pub he'd suggested.
"Nice to meet you finally; Harry"
"Good to meet you too Francis. Thanks for all you've done."
"Oh, it was nothing. We've not got a large family but we do what we can for each other. I'd not seen Leo in years."
"I've got some of his things, if you're interested. Something to remember him by. Some photo's maybe you'd like a look later."
"Maybe I would," Francis agreed. "It were a lovely service, went off really well. There was a good turn out too. Leo would have been proud. His sister in law even made it down to London for it. I don't think she and Leo had spoken since her sister's death. I know it was an accident and Leo wasn't responsible but it's funny what stories people choose to believe about others instead of really getting to know them."
"It's hard to really get to know someone." Harry admitted. "Leo never had any trouble though. He always wore his heart on his sleeve."
"He was just the same growing up. He was always the first to invite the new kid to join in whatever we were doing. Usually just kicking a ball about the street but Leo wouldn't have anyone left out."
"Sometimes it got annoying though," Harry said tentatively.
"Didn't it just!" Francis guffawed and slapped Harry on the back. "Thanks for making the trip. I'm glad to have met you Harry. Leo made a good choice choosing you to be his friend. Shame you couldn't get back for the funeral. How's Nikki doing?"
"She's found it difficult. She was coming today but then got called into work."
Francis nodded.
"Thanks for taking the time to meet me, Harry."
"It was my pleasure," Harry said honestly trying to think when he had met a stranger in America and had such an easy conversation.
"Shall I come and look at the things?" Francis asked.
"I brought all the pictures I could find of Leo when he was younger. Maybe you're in one? I have those here." Harry reached into his bag and pulled out a small pile of black and white pictures.
"Here I am!" Francis said after the third or fourth picture. He showed it to Harry. Two boys smiled up at the camera, even in black and white it was clear their knees were muddy, their shorts slightly too short and their smiles punctuated by missing teeth. "I'd like to keep that one, if you don't mind."
"Be my guest." Harry smiled and ordered them both another pint.
##
The pub was on the banks of a canal, so when Francis left Harry walked along the towpath for a couple of miles and back. Firstly for something to do and secondly to work off the two pints he'd had before driving back to London. The wind had dropped but it was still coming from the east making the summer sunshine feel cold especially in the shaded sections of the path.
It was dark by the time Harry got back to London. Not proper dark. Not like driving through the streets at 5pm on a winter's afternoon. A lighter dark, the bright sky stretching across the road dipping to duck egg blue at the horizon and highlighted by the vapour trails of the planes to Heathrow. But the trees and houses on the side of the road were already cloaked by darkness making them shadowy and foreboding. The streets were deserted and the traffic lights of London shone brightly in the emptiness. It must have rained; there was an unmistakeable smell of summer rain. A freshness emanated from the baked tarmac and an earthy smell from the gardens. To keep him awake for the last few miles of his journey Harry had taken to fiddling with the radio whilst waiting at the lights.
He'd managed to retune it away from Heart, but there didn't seem to be any logical way of finding the next station. Finally through the mess of static he managed to home in on a signal. It sounded classical but anything was better than nothing. There was a piano playing a simple phrase over and over, it was gentle and hypnotic, repetitive but fascinating all at the same time. He carried on listening as a stringed instrument violin, cello he wasn't sure joined the piano. He'd never heard anything like it. It wasn't the usual hum along classic that ClassicFM usually put out. He drove through the quiet London streets back to Leo's, back home, he realised as the streets became more and more familiar to him.
He reversed onto Leo's drive still mesmerized by the piece of music. He couldn't turn the engine off until the music had reached its conclusion and he discovered whether the steady dependability of the piano ever united with the soaring lament of the violin. The two instruments did play the same rhythm briefly and in the same register and he remained where he was so he could find out what the piece was.
He sat on the drive, and felt as if he belonged somewhere. A year in New York was an exciting adventure but he was never at home, there was always something different about him. Something to give him away as a stranger. But here he felt he was on the right path, he was doing what he should be doing and he felt a calmness and peace about it just as the music had had. Not that it wasn't complex for all its simplicity nor was it totally joyful. Happiness and sadness you had to have them both, Harry recalled his fortune cookie telling him the night he'd returned.
Nikki had accused him of not being angry, or not showing his temper but it wasn't that he didn't feel angry, he just felt more in control for once.
He looked in the rear view mirror at Leo's front door and pictured his friend stood there welcoming him in as he had done so often in the past. He was pleased to see that in his mind's eye the Leo in the mirror was smiling at him.
Arvo Part: Spiegel im Spiegel
