who wants to help Dad get elected to the council,' replied Tessa, foraging in the cupboard for biscuits.
'Why? Does she fancy him?'
'Grow up, Stu,' said Tessa crossly.
He plucked several slices of thin ham out of an open pack and poked them, bit by bit, into his crammed mouth, like a magician inserting silk handkerchiefs into his fist. Fats sometimes stood for ten minutes at a time at the open fridge, ripping open clingfilm and packets and putting chunks of food directly into his mouth. It was a habit Colin deprecated, along with almost every other aspect of Fats' behaviour.
'Why's she want to help him, seriously?' he asked, having swallowed his mouthful of meat.
'She wants the Bellchapel Addiction Clinic to stay open.'
'What, a junkie, is she?'
'No, she isn't a junkie,' said Tessa, noting with annoyance that Fats had finished the last three chocolate biscuits and left the empty wrappings on the shelf. 'She's a social worker, and she thinks the clinic is doing a good job. Dad wants to keep it open, but Miles Mollison doesn't think it's very effective.'
'It can't be doing that well. The Fields are full of glue-sniffers and smackheads.'
Tessa knew that if she had said that Colin wanted to close the clinic, Fats would have instantly produced an argument for its continuation.
'You ought to be a barrister, Stu,' she said as the kettle lid started to rattle.
When Tessa returned to the sitting room with her tray, she found Kay talking Colin through a sheaf of printed material she had brought out of her big tote bag.
'... two drugs workers part-funded by the council, and partly by Action on Addiction, which is a really good charity. Then there's a social worker attached to the clinic, Nina, she's the one who gave me all this - oh, thanks very much,' said Kay, beaming up at Tessa, who had set down a mug of tea on the table beside her.
Kay had taken to the Walls, in just a few minutes, as she had not taken to anybody else in Pagford. There had been no sweeping up-and-down glance from Tessa as she walked in, no gimlet-eyed assessment of her physical imperfections and dress sense. Her husband, though nervous, seemed decent and earnest in his determination to obstruct the abandonment of the Fields.
'Is that a London accent, Kay?' asked Tessa, dunking a plain biscuit in her tea. Kay nodded.
'What brings you to Pagford?'
'A relationship,' said Kay. She took no pleasure saying it, even though she and Gavin were officially reconciled. She turned back to Colin.
'I don't quite understand the situation with regards to the Parish Council and the clinic.'
'Oh, it owns the building,' said Colin. 'It's an old church. The lease is coming up for renewal.'
'So that would be an easy way to force them out.'
'Exactly. When did you say you'd spoken to Miles Mollison?' asked Colin, both hoping and dreading to hear that Miles had mentioned him.
'We had dinner, Friday before last,' Kay explained, 'Gavin and I - '
'Oh, you're Gavin's girlfriend!' interjected Tessa.
'Yes; and, anyway, the subject of the Fields came up - '
'It would,' said Tessa.
' - and Miles mentioned Bellchapel, and I was quite - quite dismayed by the way he talked about the issues involved. I told him I'm dealing with a family at the moment,' Kay remembered her indiscreet mention of the Weedons' names and proceeded carefully, 'and if the mother is deprived of methadone, she'll almost certainly end up back on the game.'
'That sounds like the Weedons,' said Tessa, with a lowering sensation.
'I - yes, I am talking about the Weedons, actually,' said Kay.
Tessa reached for another biscuit.
'I'm Krystal's guidance teacher. This must be the second time her mother's been through Bellchapel, is it?'
'Third,' said Kay.
'We've known Krystal since she was five: she was in our son's class at primary school,' Tessa said. 'She's had an awful life, really.'
'Absolutely,' said Kay. 'It's astounding she's as sweet as she is, actually.'
'Oh, I agree,' said Colin heartily.
Remembering Colin's absolute refusal to rescind Krystal's detention after the squawking incident in assembly, Tessa raised her eyebrows. Then she wondered, with a sick lurch in her stomach, what Colin would say if Sukhvinder was not lying or mistaken. But surely Sukhvinder was wrong. She was a shy, naive girl. Probably she had got the wrong end of the stick ... misheard something ...
'The point is, about the only thing that motivates Terri is the fear of losing her kids,' said Kay. 'She's back on track at the moment; her key