Rook Shoot by Margaret Duffy

Author:Margaret Duffy [Duffy, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-01-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

‘The girl has come to confess all,’ Patrick said as we saw Lorna Templeton standing by our car. ‘Well, it explains quite a lot anyway.’

‘Is it bad news?’ she asked, a little breathlessly as though she had been running.

‘No. The police have got someone.’

‘What? The man who killed the children and shot Larry?’

‘Yes, but it might be a bit more complicated than that,’ Patrick answered cautiously.

‘How is Larry?’

‘He can come home in a couple of days’ time if someone’s there to look after him.’

Her face fell. ‘But Shirley works full time.’

‘Then I presume he’ll have to stay in hospital for a little longer ‒ until he’s stronger.’

‘Oh, well.’ She turned to go.

‘I thought it was half-term in a couple of days.’

‘It is.’

‘Can’t you have him at your place?’

Lorna eyed him narrowly. ‘That wouldn’t be right, would it?’ she said stiffly, and again turned to go.

‘He’s good in bed, I understand,’ Patrick said to her back.

The girl spun round to discover that he was wagging a finger at her.

‘You were waiting to talk to us,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t surprised. We were wondering who had wrought the transformation in him.’

‘Now I know,’ she gasped. ‘That’s what he meant when he said you’d always know what made the cat sick.’

Patrick laughed.

‘He’s terribly unhappy,’ Lorna said. ‘He’s only sticking it for the children’s sake.’

‘I’m not sure the children should be with a woman who hits the gin bottle a bit too often.’

It was my turn to stare at him.

‘I don’t ask about that,’ said Lorna.

‘Does Shirley know about you?’

‘No, not unless he’s told her. I say, you won’t …’

‘Tell Shirley? Heavens, no.’

‘I ‒ I thought I ought to be honest with you. And I don’t want you to think of me as one of those awful women who break up marriages. We’re just close friends.’ She blushed. ‘Well, perhaps a bit more sometimes. He doesn’t seem to have any friends. And deep down he’s a very good person ‒ someone you could trust right to the end. No one but me seems to think of him like that. They just treat him as though he’s a fool.’

‘If we can be of any help …’ Patrick said.

‘Thank you but I don’t see ‒’

‘Not just empty words on my part,’ he interrupted. ‘It might be a good idea if he went to our parents for a little while. Mother would love the chance to make a fuss of him. And you could always drive him from South Wales to just outside Bath, couldn’t you?’

‘Oh!’ Lorna said.

Patrick gave her the phone number of the hospital and also that of the Rectory at Hinton Littlemoor and we left. Lorna was still standing in the car-park, looking bemused, as we drove through the entrance gates.

I said, ‘Patrick, as you know, I always admire your methods but that was little short of genius. If there’s one person who can help Larry sort himself out, it’s your mother.’

‘The two children already spend most of the school holidays with her.’

‘I didn’t know Shirley had a drink problem.

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