The Mistress of Alderley by Robert Barnard Page A

Without Marius that was exactly how she felt. Still, that wasn’t something that should happen at her daughter’s triumph. She was just looking round for someone to talk to when there was a voice at her elbow.
    â€œAre you worried about your partner? Is there anything I can do to help?”
    It was Enid, the woman from the Opera North staff.
    â€œWell, I am a bit worried,” said Caroline. “Marius was so looking forward to the curtain calls and the party afterwards—he’s not an opera person, I’m afraid. And it’s not like him to promise to be somewhere and then miss it. He’s a bit of a stickler that way. I wondered if he’d maybe got trapped at the Playhouse—maybe got a seat at something that goes on late.”
    â€œBoth things there end before ten—barring accidents, of course.” Enid noticed that Caroline flinched at the word and said, “Would you like me to ring the police and the hospital, just to make sure?”
    â€œOh, I would . I know I’m being silly, but…I mean, I’m not sure how I’m to get home if Marius has had an accident.”
    â€œDo you need to? I could find you a hotel.”
    â€œOh, I really should. I’ve got children in their teens.”
    By now they were backstage, and the woman said quietly to one of the scene-shifters, “Could you stand by in case you’re needed?” Then Caroline and she went up to her office, and Enid rang the police, where she had contacts, and the hospital, where she had to go through a bank of bureaucracy before she got an answer out of the Accident and Emergency Department. Neither had any news for her. There had been the odd fracas after the Leeds United home game, but they had all involved young people. No serious car accident. No news at all about a middle-aged supermarket owner.
    â€œIn any case I don’t think Marius would have taken the car,” said Caroline. “Perhaps if I could just check that he hasn’t arrived at the party, and then if that nice stagehand could drive me home—Oh dear, I’m afraid I’ll have to pay him by check.”
    â€œOh, this is on us.”
    â€œNo—I shall absolutely insist on paying,” said Caroline briskly. “It’s not as though you’re rolling in money like Covent Garden.”
    So back Enid took her, and she stood at the door of the Circle Bar. Olivia was still surrounded by all the notables, though Colm had a lesser circle of admirers. Marius was in neither group, nor in any of the others. She shook her head, and the stagehand who had followed them took her out of the theater and down to the back, where a company car was waiting. As they began their drive to Alderley, Caroline kept saying things like “I’m sure I’m being silly,” then lapsing into silence. The last few miles she had to direct the man, and when they got there she insisted on paying him, then rushed indoors to check the answer machine. There was nothing on it. From upstairs there was silence, so the children had probably been long in bed. Caroline wondered whether to pour herself a drink and wait for Marius, but she was washed over by tiredness and she took herself to bed.
    She slept for an hour or two, then felt beside her to find only emptiness. The rest of the night consisted of alternately dozing uneasily and long spells of wakefulness. Sometimes she had something like a presentiment of future loneliness, at others only a resentment that Marius had spoiled one of the weekends she cherished so much.

Chapter 8
The Morning After
    The sun was up, and the city was starting to stir, but only mildly and tentatively, because Sunday still feels like a day of rest in the early hours, before the big chain stores open. Reg Liversedge was out with his Yorkie later than usual, and lingered longer at places of canine interest, because he wasn’t going to work. He rented one of the flats over a shop in