6 The Queen of Scots Mystery Read Online Free PDF Page B

prize-giving. Although of course, they didn’t have these any more, did they? Everybody had to be equal nowadays. Maybe that was the trouble with young people, Neil mused. He remembered the village idiot jibe, and stopped musing. He had to stay alert – otherwise they would catch him out. If they found out about Penelope, they would definitely lock him up and throw away the key.
    ‘And was there anybody else around while this beer delivery was going on?’ The officer he thought was an inspector didn’t sound as if he even believed in the beer delivery. He had almost put these fake quotes round it with his fingers, the way Neil had seen some pretentious yuppies do when they were forced to mingle with the common people on occasion. Were they still called yuppies? Pay attention, he told himself sternly.
    ‘I don’t think so…’ He pictured the scene. ‘Someone walked past. Oh, no, it was only Christopher Wilson,’ he added dismissively. ‘I wouldn’t bother about him if I were you.’
    ‘We’ll decide who to bother about, if you don’t mind, Mr Macrae.’
    He made another note. The younger police officer had an uneasy look on his face. ‘Mr Wilson’s already known to us, sir. He’s helped us with our enquiries several times. Mr Smith knows him really well.’
    ‘Known to you , Constable Burnet? That’s even better.’
    ‘I didn’t mean… He really has helped us with our enquiries . I mean literally helped us… He and his friend Ms Peebles. Sorry, sir.’
    As the officer with the eyebrows glanced down at his notes again, the younger one made a face at Neil. It was almost as if he were apologising to him too.
    ‘Anybody else around?’
    ‘I don’t think so… Most people would have been at work. Unless they had the day off. Mr Wilson must have done. But.’ Because he was concentrating so hard on not mentioning Penelope – and after all, they hadn’t actually asked about Friday night yet – Neil almost forgot he had seen her son, Zak, walking past as the delivery was in progress. But he couldn’t very well cast suspicion on the boy either. Penelope would never forgive him. He stopped speaking abruptly.
    ‘But what? Was there anybody else or wasn’t there?’
    ‘I don’t think so,’ said Neil again.
    Both policemen gave him suspicious glances.
    ‘One minute, sir,’ said the more senior one. ‘I’m suspending the interview.’
    He spoke into the voice recorder with some standard police words. He nodded to the constable again and they both left the room, swinging the door closed behind them. It swung open again in time for Neil to hear the senior one say, ‘This Mr Wilson. Is he likely to put up a fight?’
    ‘A fight, sir?’ said the constable in an incredulous tone.
    ‘Will we need guns? Riot shields?’
    One of them closed the door more firmly and he could hear no more.
     

Chapter 5 Christopher puts up a fight
    They came for him first thing on Sunday morning. They didn’t break the door down, but they hammered on it until even the dog, who always seemed to sleep very soundly, woke up and started growling in the spare room. Christopher had no doubt that his annoying neighbour Mr Browning was also awake and quite possibly growling too and that the neighbour would make his feelings known later.
    Thinking at first that there might be news of Amaryllis, he didn’t even fling on his dressing-gown before rushing downstairs. He tripped on the last couple of steps and almost fell into the hall, grabbed the key from the table and took several attempts to get it into the lock.
    He was surprised to see two uniformed police officers on the doorstep. He had fondly imagined these days were behind him. A third man, not in uniform, was getting off a bicycle on the garden path. He was casually dressed in cycling shorts and a T-shirt. It seemed to Christopher he was slightly under-dressed both for the weather and for interviewing people.
    ‘Hello, Keith,’ he said to Constable Burnet. ‘Have you