Desire Line (53 page)

My father's never married. He returned to Japan to the small property his parents left, and is a poorly-paid teacher of calligraphy for his living. His own art lies in smallness and obscurity, designed to duck even the possibility of reward. For instance, when he learned a painter from the ancient city of Kochi (Sato Tomiko) was being mentioned as a notable practitioner in ink, he took immediate action. To his most promising pupil he gave away his name. This isn't quite as weird as it sounds, not for a Japanese. The great Hokusai himself did the same and then faced with the commercial success of ‘The Floating World', was tempted to barter it back. Search for my father, any method, and you'll come up with a smug-faced
young
man from Osaka, but recently moved to San Francisco and becoming collectable— it says. You'll also find an image of him. Prominent ears and unchipped teeth. No scar.

D

No Such Thing As Good Luck

I did find her.

As I told Tess, some things shouldn't connect. Sara, for example, shouldn't have trusted in Kim Tighe's ‘talent' or let her latch on in the first place. Where was the scholar in her? You only had to look at this shell of a person to ask yourself how likely is
it? Tomiko's sayings make more sense. No wonder I wanted to forget the woman last seen running from Avonside with money in her pocket, fear in her wake, wearing black and totally right too.

Here's my Kim Tighe file:

1. A photograph taken at an outdoor party. In the crowd is Eurwen next to a dog-suited person, identity unknown, and someone blonde and familiar. Stare at it for long enough and you're left in no doubt. The red-haired girl and the blonde know each other.

2. The newspaper story of a female body found in an empty building off the Parade. (It turned out to be one of Clive Upton's properties). Her age was put at ‘around sixty'. An appeal was made for next of kin or anyone else with information to contact the police without delay. Date? Well the body had been there for some time. A spree with Sara's money would be my guess.

3. Two more snippets from the following week reporting the body as Kim Tighe's, aged, it is believed, 35. Cause of death? Drug toxicity.

4. A crude painting of a young bikini-clad girl, the caption is ‘This little smasher once gave passersby the come-on above an arcade near the corner of Sydenham Avenue, the edge of the funfair—' More text beneath carries over from a previous page and reads ‘and nobody's sure what the name Rhyl actually means. Tourists, when there were any, must have thought it was just one more Welsh word they were unable to say because of lacking vowels.' The book-plate had been so faded it was a wonder Kim Tighe's still recognisable as the face of Old Rhyl.

Painted Kim Tighe is disturbing— too pitiful, too scabby, too real. But when I finally did ask, Eurwen claimed they'd never met.

Acknowledgments

The lines from
Book Ends
are quoted with the generous permission of Tony Harrison.

Celebrity
is quoted with the generosity of lyricist Shane Renton Mellor.

Extracts from the libretto of
Peter Grimes
(Benjamin Britten/Montagu Slater) appear with the permission of Boosey & Hawkes Music Publishers Ltd.

My agent at MBA, Laura Longrigg, has been an unfailing support while this novel was in the making. Susie Wild, my editor at Parthian, took over and brought a clear, fresh look to the product. I'm grateful to both and all at Parthian.

Also thanks are due to Rhyl and all its inhabitants, friendly, cynical, funny, expecting little and rarely disappointed.

Parthian, Cardigan SA43 1ED

www.parthianbooks.com

First published in 2015

© Gee Williams 2015

ISBN 978-1-910901-08-3 ePUB

ISBN 978-1-910901-09-0 Mobi

Editor: Susie Wild

Cover design by Robert Harries

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