Frozen in Crime

Chapter 35 Hogmanay Party

Not for the first time, Christopher was glad he hadn't known what Amaryllis was doing until afterwards. Charlie phoned Jemima to let them know they were on their way, and it was already dark when they arrived. Charlie Smith seemed grim and exhausted when they were dropped off by a police driver, but he didn't look quite as fearsome as Amaryllis did, with her mud-encrusted hair, dirty face, and boots that had to be put outside the back door in case they messed up the new fake laminate tiles Dave had just finished fitting in the kitchen.

Fortunately there was some pease brose left for Amaryllis after she had cleaned herself up and put on an old brown dressing-gown of Jemima's, which was the most unflattering garment Christopher had ever seen her in.

They all spent the night there, with Charlie and the dog occupying the settee in the front room, Amaryllis sleeping on a spare mattress on Dave and Jemima's bedroom floor, and Christopher and Lord Murray on the extremely uncomfortable twin beds in the spare room. It would probably be the only time Christopher slept so close to a peer of the realm and listened to him snoring, although after Lord Murray's confessions in the ambulance he wasn't exactly over-awed by the experience. It seemed that noble families were just as likely as anyone else's to contain thieves and murderers. More so if anything, he reflected drowsily, casting his mind back to school history lessons just before he dropped off to sleep.

It was difficult to get any information out of Amaryllis and Charlie about what had happened at Pitkirtly Island.

'Tell you at the Hogmanay party,' Amaryllis said to Christopher as they drank tea and ate toast together at the kitchen table in time-honoured fashion.

'But you know what it's like at the Hogmanay party, don't you?' he said. 'It's impossible to talk about anything sensible. It's far too noisy – and rowdy. You haven't forgotten Dave dancing on the table last year, have you? The landlord made him pay for the damage too. Those bar tables aren't cheap. Not to mention the bottles of whisky he crashed into.'

'I haven't forgotten Jemima sitting there knitting right through it all, either,' said Amaryllis. 'We'll find a quiet corner and I'll tell you everything that happened.'

Christopher wasn't convinced. And he wasn't happy that Charlie Smith knew more than he did, either. It was one thing for Amaryllis to go off to Turkmenistan or Virginia wreaking havoc and escaping the jaws of death by a whisker, but the idea that it had happened in Pitkirtly brought it all too close to home.

'It's all right,' she said quietly. 'I survived, didn't I?'

He sighed, but resigned himself to waiting. In fact he was so good about not pestering her for information that she began to get impatient before he did, and for the next day or two she kept dropping hints about what had happened, until by Hogmanay he was rather exasperated and even felt tempted to get his own back by not even going to the party. If the thaw continued the way it was going, he might even get himself invited up to the cattery to see if Rosie's friends were any use at arm-wrestling. Only of course he would have to see in the New Year with Jock McLean if he did that. Hmm. There was always a down-side.

But when it came to the point he just had to go along to the Queen of Scots. Apart from anything else, Amaryllis called round to fetch him, and he didn't want to fall out with her permanently. Just letting her know he was a bit miffed with her was enough, and he knew he had done that already.

She took his arm on the way to the pub.

'It wasn't nearly as good having Charlie with me as it would have been if you were there,' she said, apparently in an attempt to mollify him.

'I suppose he didn't do stupid things and make you laugh at him,' said Christopher grumpily.

'No, it wasn't that – he can be just as stupid as you in his own way,' she said. 'It was because he tried to stop me doing what I knew had to be done. He nearly got the town blown up because he thought he needed to protect me.'