‘I guess we’ll all have a nightcap before bed,’ Greg said. ‘How about it, everyone?’
Nobody paid much attention to him, and so Ally thought this was a good time to take her leave. She retreated to the kitchen where, to her surprise, Amir and Ross were drinking tea together.
‘Just thought I’d wait and have a quick word with you,’ Amir said. ‘Obviously these people are in a state of shock at the moment, but tomorrow might be telling.’
Ally frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Just watch them. They might revert to type,’ Amir replied.
Ally was aghast. ‘You don’t think…?’
‘I don’t think anything. But someone shot Archie Armstrong, even if it was indirectly, and we can’t rule anyone out, not even his own family, not all of whom were close by watching, I’m told. Can you remember seeing themallwatching Archie?’
‘I remember seeing the girls at the front, and Archie’s sister was somewhere behind but, now you come to mention it, I don’t remember seeing Patti, but I think I saw the brother-in-law somewhere around the hospitality tent. But they’re alldevastated!’
‘That’s as may be,’ Amir said enigmatically. ‘Thanks for the tea. I’ll probably call in again tomorrow.’ He stood up and walked towards the door. ‘Sleep well!’
Unlikely,Ally thought as she closed the door behind Amir and stood for moment in the hallway. When she’d had the old malthouse converted, she’d had this spacious hallway made, with an oak staircase leading up to the three en-suite bedrooms. The rooms on either side on the ground floor had become a dining room and sitting room respectively. To her right, she could hear the murmur of subdued voices from the sitting room as her guests drank their nightcaps, still shocked at the day’s events.
Ally, lingering for a moment longer in the quiet hallway, had never dreamt that she’d be plunged into another murder investigation and realised, as she headed to the kitchen to tidy away the tea things, that she was feeling extremely apprehensive about what tomorrow might bring.
No, it wasveryunlikely she’d sleep well.
THREE
Ally predicted that breakfast was likely to be a shambles, and it was. She’d given the Armstrong family the usual spiel about breakfast times when they’d first arrived and, for the last couple of days, they’d all trooped down at nine o’clock, had full Scottish breakfasts and then gone out by ten, leaving Morag sufficient time to do their rooms without interruption. This morning, however, the only person who appeared at nine o’clock was Morag.
‘Wherearethey all?’ she asked as she removed her purple anorak and tied on her apron.
‘Still upstairs, I’m afraid,’ Ally replied. ‘I should think we can write off any normal routine this morning.’
Hands on hips, Morag surveyed the kitchen. ‘How am I supposed to do their rooms then?’
Ally shrugged. ‘We’ll have to play it by ear. See who comes down first, and then perhaps you could nip up and do a quick tidy while they’re eating.Ifthey’re eating.’
‘Tsk, tsk,’ said Morag grumpily, heading for the kettle to make herself a cup of tea. ’I suppose it’s to be expected.’
‘Of course it is. They’ve just lost a husband, a father, a brother – killed in front of their very eyes.’
‘Aye, well it wouldn’t be anyone from round here that would have tried to shoot him. It was probably one of them that pulled the trigger!’
‘I doubt that very much,’ Ally said, ‘because they were in such a state when they got back last night. They were really absolutely shattered and weeping. They all needed a drink, even the girls, and, in fact, there are probably still some glasses lying around in the sitting room.’
Morag wasn’t finished yet. ‘They was all standin’ well back whenthat manstarted off with the caber! Come to think of it, I only saw the daughters and the sister cheerin’, and nobody was lookin’ at them, was they? Everyone was gawpin’ at that big brute, Armstrong!’ She pursed her lips into a tight line. ‘That’sallI’m sayin’!’
At this point, Ross came in with two damp and exuberant dogs. He’d taken them for an early morning walk across the moors as he usually did when he stayed overnight. He grabbed an old towel and dried them off in the lobby at the back, where they’d stay while breakfast was being served.
Morag had gone to check the sitting room for any stray glasses and returned, wide-eyed. ‘My God, there’s a bloody woman asleep in there!’
‘Thereis?’ Ally rushed out across the hallway and peered around the sitting-room door. There was indeed a woman, fully dressed and fast asleep, draped across the sofa, and it took Ally several minutes to identify her as Wendy Watson. She had plainly fallen asleep in there the previous evening, and the rest of the family had decided to leave her to it.
Ally sighed. What to do now?
‘It’s Archie’s sister,’ she said as she re-entered the kitchen.
‘So how amIsupposed to get my work done?’ Morag asked,gulping her tea and running her hand through her mop of dyed-blonde hair.
At that moment, there was the sound of footsteps in the hall, and Ally looked out to see Greg, Wendy’s husband, heading towards the sitting room.
