In the meantime the activity in the watch-towers remained at zero. The endless lines of towers hung down from the bright, hazy sky, the observation windows closed, and the people in the streets below sank slowly into their usual mindless torpor, wandering from hotel to library to caf. Determined on his course of action, Renthall felt his confidence return.
Allowing an interval of a week to elapse, he finally called upon Victor Boardman.
The bootlegger received him in his office above the cinema, greeting him with a wry smile.
‘Well, Mr Renthall, I hear you’re going into the entertainment business. Drunken gambols and all that. I’m surprised at you.’
‘A fte,’ Renthall corrected. The seat Boardman had offered him faced towards the window — deliberately, he guessed and provided an uninterrupted view of the watch-tower over the roof of the adjacent furniture store. Only forty feet away, it blocked off half the sky. The metal plates which formed its rectangular sides were annealed together by some process Renthall was unable to identify, neither welded nor riveted, almost as if the entire tower had been cast in situ. He moved to another chair so that his back was to the window.
‘The school is still closed, so I thought I’d try to make myself useful. That’s what I’m paid for. I’ve come to you because you’ve had a good deal of experience.’
‘Yes, I’ve had a lot of experience, Mr Renthall. Very varied. As one of the Council’s employees, I take it you have its permission?’
Renthall evaded this. ‘The Council is naturally a conservative body, Mr Boardman. Obviously at this stage I’m acting on my own initiative. I shall consult the Council at the appropriate moment later, when I can offer them a practicable proposition.’
Boardman nodded sagely. ‘That’s sensible, Mr Renthall. Now what exactly do you want me to do? Organize the whole thing for you?’
‘No, but naturally I’d be very grateful if you would. For the present I merely want to ask permission to hold the fte on a piece of your property.’
‘The cinema? I’m not going to take all those seats out, if that’s what you’re after.’
‘Not the cinema. Though we could use the bar and cloakrooms,’ Renthall extemporized, hoping the scheme did not sound too grandiose. ‘Is the old beer-garden next to the car park your property?’
For a moment Boardman was silent. He watched Renthall shrewdly, picking his nails with his cigar-cutter, a faint suggestion of admiration in his eyes. ‘So you want to hold the fte in the open, Mr Renthall? Is that it?’
Renthall nodded, smiling back at Boardman. ‘I’m glad to see you living up to your reputation for getting quickly to the point. Are you prepared to lend the garden? Of course, you’ll have a big share of the profits. In fact, if it’s any inducement, you can have all the profits.’
Boardman put out his cigar. ‘Mr Renthall, you’re obviously a man of many parts. I underestimated you. I thought you merely had a grievance against the Council. I hope you know what you’re doing.’
‘Mr Boardman, will you lend the garden?’ Renthall repeated.
There was an amused but thoughtful smile on Boardman’s lips as he regarded the watch-tower framed by the window. ‘There are two watch-towers directly over the beer-garden, Mr Renthall.’
‘I’m fully aware of that. It’s obviously the chief attraction of the property. Now, can you give me an answer?’
The two men regarded each other silently, and then Boardman gave an almost imperceptible nod. Renthall realized that his scheme was being taken seriously by Boardman. He was obviously using Renthall for his own purposes, for once having flaunted the Council’s authority he would be able to resume all his other, more profitable activities. Of course, the fte would never be held, but in answer to Boardman’s questions he outlined a provisional programme. They fixed the date of the fte at a month ahead, and arranged to meet again at the beginning of the next week.
Two days later, as he expected, the first emissaries of the Council came to see him.
He was waiting at his usual table on the caf terrace, the silent watch-towers suspended from the air around him, when he saw Hanson hurrying along the street.
‘Do join me.’ Renthall drew a chair back. ‘What’s the news?’
‘Nothing — though you should know, Charles.’ He gave Renthall a dry smile, as if admonishing a favourite pupil, then gazed about the empty terrace for the waitress. ‘Service is appallingly bad here. Tell me, Charles, what’s all this talk about you and Victor Boardman. I could hardly believe my ears.’
Renthall leaned back in his chair. ‘I don’t know, you tell me.’
‘We — er, I was wondering if Boardman was taking advantage of some perfectly innocent remark he might have overheard. This business of a garden party you’re supposed to be organizing with him — it sounds absolutely fantastic.’
‘Why?’
‘But Charles.’ Hanson leaned forward to examine Renthall carefully, trying to make sense of his unruffled pose. ‘Surely you aren’t serious?’
‘But why not? If I want to, why shouldn’t I organize a garden party fte, to be more accurate?’
‘It doesn’t make an iota of difference,’ Hanson said tartly. ‘Apart from any other reason’ — here he glanced skyward ‘the fact remains that you are an employee of the, Council.’
Hands in his trouser-pockets, Renthall tipped back his chair. ‘But that gives them no mandate to interfere in my private life. You seem to be forgetting, but the terms of my contract specifically exclude any such authority. I am not on the established grade, as my salary differential shows. If the Council disapprove, the only sanction they can apply is to give me the sack.’
‘They will, Charles, don’t sound so smug.’
Renthall let this pass. ‘Fair enough, if they can find anyone else to take on the job. Frankly I doubt it. They’ve managed to swallow their moral scruples in the past.’
‘Charles, this is different. As long as you’re discreet no one gives a hoot about your private affairs, but this garden party is a public matter, and well within the Council’s province.’
Renthall yawned. ‘I’m rather bored with the subject of the Council. Technically, the fte will be a private affair, by invitation only. They’ve no statutory right to be consulted at all. If a breach of the peace takes place the Chief Constable can take action. Why all the fuss, anyway? I’m merely trying to provide a little harmless festivity.’
Hanson shook his head. ‘Charles, you’re deliberately evading the point. According to Boardman this fte will take place out of doors — directly under two of the watch-towers. Have you realized what the repercussions would be?’
‘Yes.’ Renthall formed the word carefully in his mouth. ‘Nothing. Absolutely nothing.’
‘Charles!’ Hanson lowered his head at this apparent blasphemy, glanced up at the watch-towers over the street as if expecting instant retribution to descend from them. ‘Look, my dear fellow, take my advice. Drop the whole idea. You don’t stand a chance anyway of ever holding this mad jape, so why deliberately court trouble with the Council? Who knows what their real power would be if they were provoked?’
Renthall rose from his seat. He looked up at the watch-tower hanging from the air on the other side of the road, controlling himself when a slight pang of anxiety stirred his heart. ‘I’ll send you an invitation,’ he called back, then walked away to his hotel.
The next afternoon the town clerk’s secretary called upon him in his room. During the interval, no doubt intended as a salutary pause for reflection, Renthall had remained at the hotel, reading quietly in his armchair. He paid one brief visit to Mrs Osmond, but she seemed nervous and irritable, evidently aware of the imminent clash. The strain of maintaining an appearance of unconcern had begun to tire Renthall, and he avoided the open streets whenever possible. Fortunately the school had still not opened.