Quintin Jardine - Deadly Business

‘Only Janet and me. Janet shouted at Duncan, but he told her to shut up or she’d get the same.’

‘Didn’t either of you tell your mother, or Conrad?’ I asked him.

‘No, because Tom said we shouldn’t.’

‘He did?’ Poor kid , I thought, he must have felt shamed . He’d never been hit in his life before. Oh, what I would do to Duncan Culshaw if our paths ever crossed again.

‘Yes, because …’ He looked up at me and a small precious smile lit up his face. ‘After he’d hit him, Duncan asked Tom if he’d get him his beer now. Tom said, “No chance,” and Duncan tried to hit him again, but Tom made him miss and kicked him in the stomach.’

‘In the stomach,’ I repeated.

Jonathan pointed to his groin. ‘Yes, there; he kicked him like Jean Claude van Damme does. Duncan fell down, making funny noises. It was a long time before he could get up again. I was scared. I thought that when he got up he would really hurt Tom. I was going to go for Conrad, but Tom wouldn’t let me. He said he had used wing chun, and his teacher had told him he should never use it against anyone who isn’t trained in it himself.’

I smiled; that’s my boy. An adult attacked him, he decked him and he felt guilty about it. ‘What happened when Duncan did get up?’

‘Nothing. Duncan didn’t go near him again. Janet got him a beer, and he sat down and drank it.’

‘Did neither of you tell your mum what had happened?’

‘No. Tom wouldn’t let us. He said Duncan wouldn’t bother any of us again, and he didn’t. I was glad when he went away, Auntie Primavera; I didn’t want him to come back. I don’t want Mummy to see him.’ His eyes filled with tears again, and finally, they flowed. ‘I just want my daddy back,’ he cried.

I hugged him to me. ‘I know, wee man,’ I whispered, ‘I know. You’re far too young to have learned how tough the world can be.’

I thought of Susie as I spoke, Susie and her precarious future. I hoped that wee Jonathan had been wrong about what he said he’d seen in Casino Square, but he’s a very bright wee chap and not given to flights of imagination or extravagant statements.

‘Auntie Primavera,’ he murmured, as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, ‘am I really grounded till Monday?’

‘I can’t overrule Conrad,’ I told him. ‘He’s your guardian while you’re here. But I can tell him what’s worrying you, and if you tell him that you’re very sorry for using that word and promise not to use it again, you might find that he gives you a suspended sentence.’

‘What’s that?’ His eyes widened. ‘You mean he’ll hang me?’

I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. ‘No, love, I mean he might let you off. Now, go on with you, get yourself out of that beach stuff and into clean clothes before they all get back.’

As I spoke, there was a loud bang or small explosion, from somewhere not too far away. Wee Jonathan jumped. ‘What was that?’ he gasped.

‘That was the start of the San Juan celebrations. Fireworks don’t scare you, do they?’

‘No!’ He said the word as if I’d insulted him.

‘Good, in that case we can all watch them from my bedroom terrace. Go on, now, get yourself ready.’

I shooed him upstairs then went along to the sitting room. I checked the time and worked out that it would be around midday in Arizona, then picked up the landline phone and punched in Susie’s mobile number.

‘Primavera,’ she answered … number recognition is a very useful tool, ‘how are you? Is everything okay? Are the kids okay?’

‘The kids are fine, Susie; the two older ones and I are all going to a reggae concert tonight.’ As I spoke, another firework exploded.

‘What was that?’ Susie asked, sounding as anxious as had her son. She sounded tired, too, wearier than I’d ever heard her; I knew that the treatment had been tough, but I’d hoped against hope that she was on an upward curve.

‘Relax,’ I laughed, ‘it’s a fiesta tonight. Big celebration in Spain. There’s music on the beach from around midnight; I’m taking the two older ones.’

‘Sounds like fun. How’s my daughter?’ I guessed what was behind the question. Janet’s periods had started in the month before Susie went for her third treatment.

‘Timely,’ I advised her, ‘and perfectly normal. She’s coping fine.’ I smiled. ‘I had to take her for some new bras last week, and a couple of bikinis.’

‘My God, she’s growing fast. I hope she knows when to stop.’

‘Like mother like daughter, I reckon.’ Susie’s not very tall, but she’s a big girl.

‘And Tom?’

‘Next time you call, and he picks up, you will get a shock.’

‘Oh dear,’ she sighed. ‘Does he sound like …’

‘Put it this way, the vocal register’s still a little bit higher, but he’s on the way there. He said something to me the other day when I had my back to him. He sounded so like his dad it made me shiver.’

‘Primavera, they’re so young. Or is it us that’s old?’

‘Hell no! It’s life; it’s what happens to your kids. What did you think, that they were Peter Pan and Tinkerbell?’

‘Maybe,’ she giggled, ‘with wee Jonathan as one of the Lost Boys. How’s he behaving?’

‘He’s as good as gold,’ I fibbed, slightly. ‘He doesn’t fancy the reggae concert.’ I paused. I’d been wondering how to get round to the reason for my call, and she’d given me an opening. ‘He and I have just been having a chat. You know what he told me? He thinks he saw Duncan Culshaw a few weeks ago, sitting at a table in Casino Square.’

There was a silence, just a couple of seconds, but it registered with me. ‘Oh,’ Susie exclaimed, breaking it, ‘that wee scamp. What an imagination he’s got.’

‘Yes, indeed. I doubt that even Duncan would have been stupid enough to go back to Monaco after you’d ended the relationship.’

‘I didn’t end it, Primavera,’ she said. ‘He left me, remember.’

‘I meant you, plural.’

‘Of course. Sorry.’ Her tone had changed. She was definitely shifty, where before, she’d been upfront.

I changed tack. ‘Have you finished your treatments?’

‘Yes. The last one was four days ago, but they gave me a platelet infusion after that. They said my count was low.’ She sounded matter-of-fact, but I didn’t like the sound of that. It meant that her blood was thin and that its essential ability to clot had been compromised, leaving her open to potential risks. ‘They’ve finished now, though,’ she continued. ‘My supervising clinician wants me to stay here to recuperate for another couple of weeks, but I’m not so sure about that. We’d like to get home sooner.’

‘We?’ I repeated.

‘Audrey and me,’ she replied, quickly.

‘Mmm. I tell you, Susie,’ I said, ‘I’m so glad wee Jonathan was wrong. You are well shot of that Duncan character. When I heard about him hitting Tom … I go cold with anger thinking about it.’

‘He did what? Who told you that?’

‘Wee Jonathan did, just now.’

‘Why the little … He never did like Duncan, Primavera.’

‘Come on,’ I protested. ‘You’re not calling your own son a liar, are you?’

‘No, but …’ She hesitated. ‘Has Tom said anything to you about it.’

‘No, he hasn’t,’ I admitted. ‘Possibly to stop me from thrashing the bastard.’

‘When’s this supposed to have happened?’

‘Last year, at your place. Duncan tried to use Janet as a servant and Tom took exception to it.’

‘And Duncan hit him?’

‘That’s what wee Jonathan said.’

‘But Tom never complained to me. Honestly, Primavera, he didn’t. This is the first I’ve heard of it. Why didn’t he say anything?’