All of a sudden, I’d had enough. I couldn’t stay here. These were people whose good opinion I valued and it had gone. All I’d wanted was to get back to St Mary’s. I would have sworn St Mary’s was in my bones, but now it was spoiled for ever. I was out of here. I reached over to a work table. There was a coffee mug full of pens and markers. I selected something indelible, knelt beside Weasel and wrote, I RESIGN, across his forehead and signed and dated it.
Peterson chuckled, stepped forward and took the marker from me. He wrote, ME TOO, on one cheek and signed and dated the other one, picked up my jacket, and we walked out. We were half way down the stairs when he said, ‘Are you going to put that broom down anytime soon?’
‘Probably not,’ I said. ‘I’m not hungry. I’m going to the bar and I’m going to spend my last night at St Mary’s getting right, royally rat-arsed! Would you care to accompany me, Mr Peterson?’
‘An honour and a privilege, Miss Maxwell,’ he said. ‘Let’s see if we can’t set some sort of record for alcohol abuse, disreputable behaviour, and generally pissing people off.’
‘Well,’ I observed. ‘We’ve made a good start.’
‘Yes, but we can do even better. We just have to try harder.’
We entered the bar, radiating defiance and attitude and typically there was no one there apart from the bar staff. They eyed us uneasily. You’d think they’d never seen a woman clutching a broom before.
‘Now then,’ said Peterson to them. ‘We don’t work here any more, so you’re going to need to run a tab and we’ll settle up at the end of the evening, or more probably, the beginning of tomorrow morning. Margaritas for the lady and single malt for me. Keep them coming and I’ll sign the tabs.’
I protested.
‘Yeah, like you can even hold a pen. Come on.’
We found a table and got stuck in. I drank to drown the anger and betrayal. My own unit had rounded on me. More drinks arrived. Peterson signed, looked at me, and ordered another round.
It was either late afternoon or early evening, depending on how you approached things. Given that Weasel must be in Sick Bay by now, the lack of senior staff coming to investigate was surprising. Still, give them time. They did have a knack for turning up just as St Mary’s was on the verge of meltdown. I took another long drink and felt it start to do me good.
‘Tim, you don’t have to do this, you know. This is my fight.’
‘What?’ He pretended horror. ‘You’re surely not leaving me here alone with all these big, rough boys?’
I looked at him. ‘Seriously.’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I do have to do this. Firstly, I haven’t forgotten what I owe you, even if others have. Fourthly, we’ve given ourselves to this bloody unit and asked for nothing in return. You needed someone today and where are they?’ He gestured round the empty room with the hand not holding a glass. ‘Thirdly, I’ve had a brilliant idea for making our fortunes and secondly, let’s see them run this place with no historians. Barclay tried it and look what happened to her. On a related subject I have to say, Max, I’ve never seen anyone knock two people senseless in one day. I swear it’s a pleasure to drink with you. Hey, drink-slingers, another two over here please!’
‘What’s Kal going to do when she arrives back and we’re gone?’
‘She will pause only to torch the place on her way out.’
‘But what about you and Helen?’
He shrugged. ‘I’ll explain and give her an address. If she wants me she can find me.’
‘And Kal and Dieter?’
‘Max, you’re not responsible for all these people. We can all sort ourselves out. You concentrate on you. Drink up!’
So I drank up, sucked the salt off my bottom lip, and the corners of the room blurred.
Others started to trickle in. They stared across at us, as well they might. I looked down at my blood-splattered T-shirt. ‘It’s official. I now have nothing to wear.’ I sniffed and mopped my tender nose with my sleeve.
‘You’re such a class date,’ complained Peterson. ‘It’s a little late in the day, but should you be drinking with antibiotics?’
‘Relax,’ I said. ‘I stopped taking them to make room for the booze.’
‘Fine grasp of priorities, that woman.’
‘So what’s this fantastic money-making scheme, then?’
‘Oh, yes, you’ll like this. We play to our strengths.’
‘I’m not sure I’ve got any at the moment.’
‘Max, your presentations are legendary. That one you did on Agincourt for those school kids was epic.’
‘I taught them the origins of flicking the V-sign. Did you see their teacher’s face?’