Quintin Jardine - As Easy as Murder

I’d heard of that complaint, and thanked my lucky stars it hadn’t come my way. Anything that could floor Ellie Blackstone January was not to be messed with.

‘I’m glad to hear it’s sorted,’ I told him, and I was, very glad. I’d assumed that Ellie had set her face against me forever, and was hugely pleased to learn that she hadn’t. ‘So, since she’s not here, can I come and watch you?’

‘I hope you will. That’s one reason why I asked Uche to try to get in touch with you. I’m sorry if he confused you, by the way. Grandpa’s out of touch, so I couldn’t get your number from him. All Uche did was look up the local Yellow Pages and call the first number he found with an address in St Martí.’

That filled in all the blanks. ‘No worries. It’s a date, then. I’ll bring Tom at the weekend too.’

‘Good. I’m looking forward to meeting him. What’s he like?’

My son had met his Aunt Ellie on a few occasions, at first with Oz, and since then once or twice when we’d been visiting my dad in Auchterarder, and Grandpa Mac had picked him up and taken him to Fife for the day. He knew his cousin Colin as well, and Harvey, his newish uncle, but Jonny had been away on each visit, so their paths had never crossed.

I took a photograph, the one that goes with me everywhere, from my bag; Tom and Charlie, taken a few months before, on the beach in winter. ‘He’s the one without the tail,’ I said. My nephew’s eyes misted for a second or two as he looked at it. ‘Yes,’ I murmured. ‘He is like his father, isn’t he?’

Then I had another thought, a very big thought. ‘Where do you live, Jonny?’ I asked.

‘This week? Brush has rented a house for Uche and me, plus Lena and her crew. It’s not far from here, in a place called Caldes de something or other. We’re all staying there.’

‘No, not just this week; I meant permanently.’

He shrugged his shoulders and gave me that awkward Blackstone grin. ‘I don’t know,’ he confessed. ‘I’ve just left college, so I don’t have a place yet, other than Mum’s house.’

‘But you’ll need one, won’t you, for the weeks you’re not involved in a tournament?’

‘I suppose, yeah.’

‘Somewhere with decent weather and near good practice facilities? Somewhere central to the European events you’re playing?’

‘Yeah, but to be honest I haven’t thought much about it, not yet. I’ve been too full of this week.’

I took the plunge. ‘Then come and live with us; make our place your European base. It ticks all those boxes, the weather’s a hell of a lot better than St Andrews, plus it’s forty minutes from an airport. We’ve got room, Tom and me.’ Then a question that I’d overlooked popped into my head. ‘Or do you have other involvements? Do you have a girlfriend?’

He shook his head. ‘I’m between, you might say.’

‘Then what’s to stop you coming to stay with your old. . scratch that, middle-aged auntie?’

He blinked. ‘Nothing, I suppose. But things tend to get busy around me; the phone’s going all the time. Uche would need to be close by as well. My caddie goes where I go, during the day at any rate.’

‘We can find him somewhere. . when I think about it, I could squeeze him in as well.’

‘No thanks, I wouldn’t want him that close.’ He grinned. ‘Neither would you, for that matter. Uche’s a night owl; he’s a playboy. Lovely guy, but he needs to get his mind more focused if he wants to make it as a golfer.’

‘There are places available around St Martí that would give him his freedom, don’t you worry.’ I smiled at him, feeling a warmth akin to the way that Tom makes me glow. ‘Are you up for it?’ I asked again.

‘Well,’ he said slowly, ‘if you’re sure.’

Strangely, I hadn’t been surer of anything for quite some time. ‘Entirely. I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you come home with me tonight, and see how it feels?’

‘All right,’ he agreed. ‘But what about Tom? It’ll be a big change for him. Doesn’t he have a vote?’

‘Yes, but I know how he’ll cast it. You’ll be a hero to him; think of the bragging rights he’ll have at school.’

He grinned. ‘The dog in the photo? Is he yours?’

‘Yes, but don’t worry about Charlie; he does not have a vote.’

‘I’ll pay my way, mind,’ he warned.

I looked him in the eye. ‘And do you with your mother? The truth now; I’ll ask Mac if I have to.’

He shook his head.

‘Right you are, then. Jonny, we’re family. If you like, you can take us for a meal whenever you make a big enough cheque; that’ll be an added incentive for you. Every time you’re over a twelve-footer on the last green that’s worth a few grand, you can think of me done up to the nines in the best restaurant in L’Escala.’

That’s how I came to be a den mother. That’s what Ellie christened me when, to my surprise, she called me that evening. Jonny hadn’t even arrived in St Martí when she phoned. He was still in mid-round with the superstars when I had to leave the course with Shirley and Patterson, to be back in time for Tom coming home, but he had his own wheels, supplied by his German car sponsor as part of his deal, and equipped, naturally, with a navigation system.

I’d given him my home and mobile numbers. When the phone rang I imagined it might be him, having second thoughts, or having been leaned on by the mysterious Brush. . whom I still hadn’t met. . to stay within camp, so when I heard his mother’s voice instead it set me back on my heels.

‘It’s a funny old world, Primavera, isn’t it?’ she began; no preamble.

‘You can say that again,’ I sighed, recovering. ‘Jonny tells me you haven’t been too well. How are you feeling now?’

‘Champing at the bit; that’s a good sign, I reckon. I’ll make it to his next event; I’ve told my surgeon as much.’ She paused. ‘This is very good of you, you know, taking my boy in like this. I’ve been worried sick about how he was going to look after himself, being dragged around Europe by that manager of his.’

‘The sweeper-up?’

‘Hah!’ Her laugh was brief, cut off short; my nursing background told me that it had tugged at her stitches. ‘Jonny thinks that’s how he got his nickname, but there’s another reason, a bit more obvious. They called him Brush when he was playing because he was as daft as one, they reckon. That was what Harvey was told, at any rate. He did some checking up on him when Jonny was choosing a management company. There were a few after him, you know,’ she added, with evident pride, ‘including the two biggest players of all, but Jonny did his own research and decided to go with Donnelly, because he liked the frankness of his approach, plus he liked him personally. On top of that he only takes twenty per cent, where some others can take up to fifty, when a lad’s starting out. I have to say that he’s done well by him so far. I didn’t expect him to be in any tournaments at all this summer, but Brush has filled up his dance card. The event down your way was the icing on the cake; he got in there at the last minute. There’s a huge prize fund, he says. Mind you, he has to make the cut on Friday to collect any of it.’

‘He will,’ I assured her, ‘don’t you worry.’

‘You’re confident.’

‘I’ve just watched him practice, and I spent some time with him on the course. There’s an air about him, a certainty, and it’s very impressive.’

‘Were you going to say that it reminds you of somebody?’ she asked, quietly.

‘Hell, no!’ I retorted. ‘When we were together Oz flew entirely by the seat of his pants. He never planned a bloody thing; everything had an uncertain outcome. Jonny seems to have his whole career mapped out.’