Wendy shook her head wearily. ‘He’s spending most of the time in his room because he still looks pretty bad. His nose isn’t broken, thank God, but it’s very swollen and bruised, and then his eye is also quite swollen…’ She glanced towards the door and lowered her voice. ‘Interesting that they’re keeping his assailant in custody, don’t you think? I’m hoping he’s going to be jailed for assaulting an innocent man. Patti, of course, thinks the sun shines out of her uncle’s you-know-what, and all she talks about is that boy – Tom, is it? – and what a liar he is.’
‘This is a very tense time for all of you after what you’ve been through,’ Ally said diplomatically.Understatement of the year,she thought.
Wendy made her way towards the sideboard and helped herself to some cereal, and when Ally returned with the coffee, she said, ‘It’s the girls I feel sorry for. Naturally they love their mom, but Patti’s turned in on herself. She’s very self-obsessed, you know. Always has been.’
Ally didn’t feel she could say anything other than to offer a further platitude. ‘I do hope this nightmare ends soon,’ she said truthfully, ‘and that you’ll all be able to go home.’
But the nightmare was not about to end.
TWENTY-TWO
Ally had always admired Amir’s powers of persuasion, and never more so than when Hamish rang up just as she got back into the kitchen. To say that he sounded agitated would be an understatement.
‘I just wanted to warn you, Ally,’ he said, ‘that Pat Armstrong is about to be arrested. Apparently, shedidask Angus to get her a gun, but he refused. He’s admitted this to Kandahar.’
Ally had to sit down, the shock of what she’d just heard slowly sinking in. Surely it couldn’t be true that Patti Armstrong had shot her husband? Then her thoughts turned to her two poor girls; to have your mother guilty of killing your father and then, doubtless, having your mother incarcerated for years and years! It didn’t bear thinking about. Could there be any mitigating circumstances? This could hardly be described as a crime of passion when it had so obviously been pre-planned.
Amir was likely to arrive at any minute. She needed Ross badly, and just as she picked up her phone to call him, in he walked.
Taking one look at her stricken face, Ross asked, ‘Whatever’s the matter, Ally?’
Ally told him about the earl’s call.
Ross put his arms round her. ‘Oh my God!’ Then, after a moment, he added, ‘Those poor girls!’
‘I should think Amir will appear at any moment,’ Ally said. ‘I suppose I should check that Patti’s still in the sitting room.’
As she stood up, Ross raised his arm to hold her back. ‘I’ll go,’ he said.
A minute later, he was back. ‘Yes, she’s in there, painting her nails, with the two girls, watching TV. She’s obviously unaware of Angus’s confession.’
Ally made coffee, and they both sat and waited, but it was almost an hour later before Amir, accompanied by one female and one male constable, walked in through the front door. ‘We’ve come to arrest Mrs Patricia Armstrong,’ he said formally to Ally in the hallway before they entered the sitting room.
Ally nodded. ‘Yes, the earl rang me a short time ago.’ She stood, rooted to the spot in the hallway, aware that Ross was standing right behind her and that Wendy had appeared from upstairs.
‘What’s going on?’ she asked Ally.
‘Patti is being arrested because Angus has admitted that she’d asked him to get her a gun,’ Ally replied.
Wendy put her hand to her mouth. ‘Ohno! How could Patti have done that? What about the poor girls?’
Ally thought it was interesting that everyone’s concerns seemed to centre on the girls rather than whether Patti could be innocent or not.
There was a commotion then as Patti, handcuffed, was led out to the police car, her daughters trying to hang on to her and weeping. Wendy, in the meantime, had sprung into action and was trying to restrain them both. Janey, in particular, was hysterical. ‘You can’t take our mommy away – she hasn’t doneanything!’ she shouted at the police. Julie stood back as if frozen, silent tears rolling down her cheeks. Somehow or other the media had found out about this, and there was a host of reporters and cameramen at the gate.
Patti put up no resistance, but she called out as she got into the back of the car with the police officer, ‘I’m not guilty, my darlings; I did not kill your daddy!’
The reporters were all shouting questions: ‘Did you kill your husband, Mrs Armstrong?’
‘And your brother-in-law as well?’
‘Why did you kill two men?’
The cameras were whirring.
The other officer sat in the front passenger seat, and Amir drove away with a brief wave, leaving Patti’s two distraught daughters embracing each other and sobbing uncontrollably. Wendy put her arms round them both and said gently, ‘Come inside,’ before shepherding them back into the sitting room and away from the probing eyes of the press. Most of the media had followed the police car, but a couple of reporters remained at the gate.
As Ally was trying to work out what on earth to do or to say, Ross said cheerfully, ‘The refreshment team are on duty here. Hot drinks, cold drinks, alcoholic drinks, some dog therapy perhaps?’
