Schitt-Hawse shut the briefcase with a snap. His left eye twitched and the colour drained out of his face. He looked at us both and started to say something, stopped, got a hold of his temper and managed to squeeze out a half-smile before he climbed back into his car with Chalk and Cheese and was gone.
Landen was still chuckling as we spread a groundsheet and blanket on the well-nibbled grass just above the White Horse. Below us, at the bottom of the escarpment, a herd of mammoths were quietly browsing, and on the horizon we could see several airships on the approach to Oxford. It was a pleasant day, and since airships don't fly in poor weather, they were all making the best use of it.
'You don't have much fear of Goliath, do you, darling?' Landen asked.
I shrugged.
'Goliath is nothing more than a bully, Land. Stand up to them and they'll soon scurry away. All that large car and henchman stuff – it's for frighteners. But I'm kind of intrigued as to how they knew we would be here.'
Landen shrugged.
'Cheese or ham?'11
'What?'
'I said: "Cheese or ham?'
'Not you.'
Landen looked around. We were about the only people within a hundred-yard radius.
'Who, then?'
'Snell.'
'Who?'
'Snell!' I yelled out loud. 'Is that you?'12
'I didn't!'13
'Prosecution? Who?'14
'Thursday,' said Landen, now slightly worried, 'what the hell's going on?'
'I'm talking to my lawyer.'
'What have you done wrong?'
'I'm not sure.'
Landen threw his hands up in the air and I addressed Snell again.
'Can you tell me the charge I'm facing at the very least?'15
I sighed.
'She's not married, apparently.'16
'Snell! Wait! Snell? Snell—!'
But he had gone. Landen was staring at me.
'How long have you been like this, darling?'
'I'm fine, Land. But something weird is going on. Can we drop it for the moment?'
Landen looked at me, then at the clear blue sky, and then at the cheese he was still holding