‘I’d better go,’ Amy said, heading for the staircase.
‘Come and find me, when you’re finished with her. Please?’ Tad said and she nodded, grabbing at the handle of her own suitcase as she took the stairs.
* * *
Tad was about to retreat into his safety zone – otherwise known as the kitchen – when another door opened, and the entrance hall was bathed in late afternoon light as Hugh and Kathleen hurried in from the street.
‘Ah, Tad. Just the chap,’ Hugh said, shooting across the umber flagstones of the hallway floor as Kathleen closed the door. Hugh was puffing and red-cheeked as he added, ‘Need a word. Also, have you seen Amy?’
‘She’s gone upstairs with the Wicked Witch of the West,’ Tad said.
On reaching him, Hugh stumbled, then grabbed at Tad’s arm. Unlike before, when Hugh had faked being unable to move a dining room chair, or when he had slipped at the summit of Monte Baldo but had recovered without intervention, this time Tad had to take the full weight of Hugh’s frame as the man all but folded up.
‘I told him not to walk so fast. Stupid old duffer,’ Kathleen said, but her voice was laced with genuine concern.
Hugh tried to straighten, then slumped back into Tad’s arms. ‘I’m fine. Nothing to see here. Although maybe a chair…?’
‘I’ve got you,’ Tad said, hooking his arms under Hugh’s and holding him close to better support his weight as Kathleen dragged a chair across.
‘If I were fifty years younger, Tad, I’d be in such trouble with you,’ Hugh said, earning himself a snort from Kathleen and, despite his level of concern, a laugh from Tad.
With Hugh installed on the chair, Tad sank on his haunches in front of him. ‘Are you OK? Do I need to call a doctor?’
‘God, no. Just out of breath, that’s all. Haven’t moved that quickly in a while.’
‘A glass of water, perhaps?’ Tad said.
Sweat was pooling on the elderly man’s temples, and Tad glanced at Kathleen.
‘Well, if you don’t call someone, I will,’ she said, rounding the chair to face Hugh. ‘I told him to slow down, but would he listen? No. If it’s going to be like this, Hugh, there’s no way I’m travelling anywhere with you. Although from the look of you it won’t be a problem. I’d be surprised if you don’t keel over with a heart attack in the next few minutes.’
‘Stop fussing, woman.’ Hugh tutted. ‘I need to talk to Tad, although I’m not sure I want to do it sprawled out on a chair in the hallway. And Amy – I need to see Amy…’
The words came between hurried gasps for breath and Tad’s concern spiralled.
‘I don’t think we should be worrying about having a chat right now, Hugh. Let me call someone. We can talk later.’
‘No. Now.’ Hugh’s breaths became even more rapid, colour leaching from his face before a strange expression crossed his face, and he reached for his shirt, grabbing up a bundle of the material over his heart as his breaths turned into gasps. ‘Amy – wanted to tell her but that bloody woman phoned her, and she shot off. What she’s done – she doesn’t need to… Wanted Amy to be able to tell you. Your job here… Safe… Doesn’t matter what she writes… Amy… Need to talk to Amy…’
‘Oh Christ, he really is having a heart attack,’ Kathleen said, as Tad reached for his mobile and dialled 112.
* * *
Amy was zippering Billie’s suitcase when she heard the siren. Unsure what it signified, sure it wasn’t a police car – especially right outside Casa del Cibo – Amy craned at Billie’s picture window. The two-tone blare, like the intro to a pop song gone wrong, was emanating from an ambulance. And the vehicle had stopped right outside Casa del Cibo’s doors.
‘What’s going on out there?’ Billie said, her gaze fixed on the fingernail she was filing.
‘It’s an ambulance.’ Amy frowned. ‘I’ll go and find out what’s happening.’
‘Well don’t take too long. My car will be here any moment. It had better not still be blocking the road.’
Amy fled the room, suddenly overwhelmed by the thought that something might have happened to Tad. That the ambulance could have been called for him. Billie’s lack of concern barely registered as images of Tad in trouble crowded her thoughts. What if she never got to tell him how she really felt?
Amy was pleading with God for Tad’s safety as she rounded the stairs and took in the scene.
‘What’s happened?’ she said, closing in on the supine figure of Hugh.
She tried to see past the paramedics, to look beyond the fluorescent pockets and strips on their jackets reflecting in the light flooding in through the open doors. What had happened to Hugh? Last time she’d seen him, he’d been down by the lake and their coffee time had been cut short by Billie’s phone call. What had happened between then and now to have caused him to have taken ill?
