‘And then the others all joined in!’
‘What exactly do you mean?’ Ross asked.
‘Well, because he’d punched the big guy, they all seemed to have a go at him,’ Wendy said sadly, ‘and they almost knocked him senseless. My poor Joel. They werebarbaric!’
‘What happened then?’ Ally asked.
‘Well, the bartender was no damned use because he’d joined the others,’ Wendy exclaimed. ‘So I got hold of the manager, and the manager called the police.’
‘What did the police say?’ Ross asked.
Ally couldn’t begin to imagine Amir’s reaction – if he was there.
‘The police said that Joel should go to his room and everyone else should calm down, and if there was any further trouble, every single one of them would end up in the police station accused of being drunk and disorderly. Can you imagine? Drunk and disorderly –my son!’
With that, she snorted angrily, finished her drink, said goodnight and marched upstairs to her bedroom.
‘Fancy watching some more ofFriends?’ Ally asked as she heard Wendy’s door slam.
‘Oh, why not?’ Ross replied. ‘We need cheering up!’
But Ally couldn’t really concentrate on the programme. Joel had certainly stirred things up in the short time he’d been here, and she could only hope that he wasn’t next on the killer’s list.
TWENTY
Morag was strangely quiet the following morning, other than muttering, ‘That bloody Canadian boy got his just deserts!’
Ally’s guests appeared for breakfast and picked at cereals and coffee, but not much else. It was Julie who asked, ‘Is it OK if I go out in the garden for a while?’ as she drained her coffee. ‘I just need some fresh air.’
It wasn’t a particularly warm day, so Ally was a little mystified, and it wasn’t until she was hanging out washing that she became aware of voices in the garden – one male, one female.
Immediately alert and, by now, well practised in eavesdropping, Ally made her way silently to the dividing wall.
‘Tom!’ she heard Julie exclaiming. ‘What are you doing over there?’ She was obviously referring to the wall that sheltered the back of the garden.
‘I can’t be seen,’ he said, ‘because I’m not supposed to go anywhere, but I wanted to see you.’
‘Well, I got your message…’
‘I wanted to ask you why the hell you told that detective about what I told you.’
‘Because he kept asking me…’ Julie protested.
‘You promised not to tell anyone,’ said Tom. ‘Why did you tell themanything, for God’s sake? I’m not allowed to go anywhere now, and neither is Angus – not that Angus goes anywhere anyway,’ he whined.
‘Well, that’s too bad!’ Julie sounded increasingly exasperated. ‘And because of what you said, my mom isn’t allowed to go anywhere either!’
There was silence for a minute.
‘It’s that cop,’ Tom said eventually. ‘He worms stuff out of you. I shouldn’t have told you – or him.’
‘So, if you’re not allowed to go anywhere, what are you doing here?’ Julie asked.
‘I told you – I sneaked out cos I wanted to see you, Julie.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I like you, and I’m really sorry about the other day in the barn.’
