Chapter 16

I had expected Mikaere to return from Tuakau on Sunday afternoon and he makes it back by about 3.30. I am very pleased to see him, given the events of Saturday, but I can’t mention them. The Lambretta was fully laden. He unpacks in his room but emerges with a bluetooth speaker in one hand and a motorcycle helmet in the other. The speaker is a good asset as there is no other way of playing music except earbuds. At first I think the helmet is his but then he asks me to try it on. Apparently it is one that Hemi had and is surplus to requirements. It fits well enough. I knew Mikaere wanted to be able to take me on the back of the Lambretta. I had never ridden a motorcycle or scooter myself but had ridden behind various young men in my youth and had learned how to let my body follow the angle of the bike. I also remembered how intimate an activity it really is. Your body needs to be up against the rider’s and the best way to hold on is to hold his waist. Mikaere clearly understands that but thinks nothing of it.

After a cup of tea, he wants to take me out for a ride. Normally I would have put him off but I just want to get out of the house and away from the immediate vicinity. I usually like to walk places, but now I wish I had a vehicle of my own. Perhaps I should think about getting a car, when I am more used to vehicles driving on the left. But for now, riding pillion on the back of a Lambretta it is. Mikaere suggests going for a short trip to the Auckland Botanic Gardens. He says it is really not very far. We get on to a rather busy road, the Great South Road, which takes us through downtown Manukau and past the Mall. Here there are some tall modern buildings with an urban feel more similar to cities I know. I find it a scary ride, but it genuinely isn’t very far. The gardens are extensive with some broad vistas and some specialist areas such as one for threatened native plants, with their particular habitats created in miniature. Mostly, I appreciate the broad expanse of green. It brings home to me that, apart from the trip to Tuakau, my life so far in New Zealand has been confined to a very small area. As a first step, I really do need to see more of Auckland, maybe not always from the back of Mikaere’s Lambretta.

The schedule for next week appears uneventful and I am even able to get on with some work. On Monday afternoon I receive an email draft of a section of my student Maria’s directed study, though she may not be able to meet me this week. She has taken up some of my suggestions and has made some good progress after really a very short time. Maybe she has her weekends free from her job, whatever that is exactly. The document is a credible first piece of work. If it is largely her own, I think she might really be a better student than ‘my’ Maria, who was good at idea generation and big plans but was weaker at executing them. This student, on the face of it, is able to follow a thread methodically and clearly, or at least clear enough for a first attempt. Successful academic writing, at student level, and perhaps even in general, is 20% ideas and 80% execution.

I am curious about her and, as I have access to the student record system, possibly on the basis of my professorial rank, I look up her details. There is information about previous study at the Victoria University of Wellington some years back and, interestingly, her address provided is a Wellington one. I wonder if she really does live in Wellington. I don’t think the flights are very long from Wellington, so it would be possible for her to come up just for the day when she needs to. Isn’t it a slip up not to provide an Auckland address for appearance’s sake, though? Undergraduate students might keep their family home address on the record, though, so perhaps it is not so unusual. I copy her cell phone number in the records into my phone. I am disappointed not to be able to talk over the events of Saturday so, after adding comments to her Word document, I reply saying it would be useful to talk over some points if she were able to make an appointment this week. I'm reluctant to try the phone number I have just found.

On Tuesday, I receive a response from Maria saying she has found some useful new sources and is able to see me on Wednesday, at any time after 10 am. We settle on a time. She must now be up with the play about what happened on Saturday. This is all very cloak and dagger. I'm very pleased we can meet on Wednesday. When Wednesday arrives, she tells me that once again the office has been swept for bugs. That was quick work! I unload on Maria my growing anxiety about the situation. I explain that I feel isolated as I am a recent arrival in New Zealand, and that I do not have anyone to share my concerns with.

“That’s what I’m for, in part” Maria replies. “It is really good that you understand the need for secrecy.”

“I take it Hope Wilson is the one I contact about urgent matters.”

“Yes, you did exactly right on Saturday.”

“I have a lodger, Mikaere, and I am concerned about him getting involved in this.”

“Yes, we know about Mikaere. I am sure you haven’t talked to him about the bugs or Sammy Becker-Lau’s death?”

“That is correct, and nor did I discuss any of this with his mother, even when she told me how the Chancellor had arranged your enrolment.”

“That's very good. You have been acting in a very responsible way.”

“The Chancellor did speak to me briefly about the death.”

“Really? What did he tell you?”

“Nothing!”

Maria gives a little laugh. “Don’t be concerned about speaking to him but I am your main point of contact.”

“Do you live in Wellington?” I ask.

“Sometimes, but I move around the country as required.”

“Can I use the cell phone number on your enrolment?”

She stops to think. “Yes, if really necessary, preferably by text. I will monitor that phone but make it sound like an academic matter.”

“How long are things going to be like this?” I ask.

“It is impossible to know, but matters might be resolved in a few weeks.”