Part 75 (1/2)

'Hi yourself.'

'I've got the day off from school.'

'Great.'

Harry said, 'How are you feeling?' and Fiona put her arms carefully round me and let her scent drift in my senses.

Harry said his Aunt Erica sent good wishes, his eyes ironic.

I asked Harry how his leg was. All on the surface and polite.

Mackie brought cups of tea for everyone; a very English balm in troubles. I remembered the way Harry had laced the coffee after the ditch, and would have preferred that, on the whole.

It was a month yesterday, I thought, that I came here.

A month in the country-

Harry said, 'Has anyone found out who shot at you?'

He was asking a simple unloaded question, not like

Tremayne. I gave him a simple answer, the one that eventually became officially accepted.

'Doone is considering it was a child playing out a fantasy,' I said. 'Robin Hood, cowboys and Indians. That sort of thing. No hope of ever really knowing.'