Bellamy breathed in his relief. He would much rather have the fellow pointing it at him than at Zaira.
“What are you doing here?” Mr. Wright’s tone was laced with accusation.
“We got carried away last night.” Bellamy hated that he had to lie again but knew there was no other way at the moment. “And somehow we got locked in the room.”
“How did you get in there in the first place?” The bank teller kept his voice low, but the suspicion was all too clear.
“I came to make a deposit for the pub and noticed the back door open. We stepped inside to, well, to have a wee bit of privacy...” He tried to sound embarrassed. “And somehow we got locked in.”
Mr. Wright’s gun didn’t waver. “So you were here last evening?”
“We were busy,” Zaira chimed in as she laid her head against him and rubbed his arm.
“Ach, you can be putting away the gun.” Bellamy nodded toward the weapon. “We didn’t take anything, if that’s what you were thinking.”
Mr. Wright seemed to be considering whether to believe them.
“We got stuck,” Bellamy repeated, “and now we’d like to be on our way.”
Zaira wiggled slightly. “Aye, I’d like to use the privy as soon as possible.” She was playing along well, although she probably really did need to use the privy.
Mr. Wright narrowed his gaze upon them. “Our bank was broken into last night. What can you tell me about it?”
“Nothing—” Bellamy started.
“We did hear some noise,” she said at the same time.
Why did she admit that? Maybe their story would be more believable if they didn’t deny everything. After all, anyone trapped in the storage room would have at least heard some noise rather than none at all.
“Oh aye,” Bellamy quickly amended. “There was some hammering, but we weren’t paying heed to that.”
“So you know nothing about the bank robbery?” Mr. Wright persisted.
“Should we?” Bellamy wrapped his fingers more securely around the hilt of his knife.
“Of course we would like to find out who was behind the safecracking. So if you have information, we will pass it along to the police.”
“No.” Bellamy shook his head. “We didn’t see anyone, not until just now.”
Mr. Wright still didn’t budge.
Bellamy didn’t like the way the conversation was going. Something told him the fellow didn’t entirely believe their story.
“The two of you know more than you’re admitting.” Mr. Wright readjusted his grip on the gun. Although the darkness of the hallway shrouded him, it was clear he had no intention of letting them off easily.
“In fact, I think you were involved.”
Zaira huffed. “How could we be when we were locked up all night?”
Mr. Wright waved the gun back and forth. “You probably were finishing with the break-in when you heard people arriving.”
Bellamy tried to guide Zaira behind him, but she clung to his arm.
“You stashed the money,” Mr. Wright continued. “Then you hid in here hoping you would be able to sneak out later.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Zaira didn’t seem to be in the least afraid or disturbed that someone was holding them at gunpoint. “We can’t lock ourselves in.”
“The door wasn’t locked when I came down.” Mr. Wright’s voice dropped again. “And when I had to shoot, it was in self-defense because you were trying to escape, and I needed to stop you.”
