‘Well, I don’t know,’ Hector began.
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Angus said. ‘That’s more money in one piece than you’ve seen at any time during the past six months.’ He turned to Cussane. ‘I’ll drive you to Carlisle myself.’
‘That’s settled then.’ Cussane got up. ‘You’ve got a room we can use, I suppose.’
‘No problem.’ Hector was all eagerness. ‘One to spare for the young lady, too.’
‘One will do just fine,’ Cussane said as they followed him out into the stone-flagged corridor and up the rickety stairs.
He opened the first door on the landing and led the way into a large bedroom. There was a murky, unpleasant smell and the flowered wallpaper was stained with damp. There was an old brass double bed with a mattress that had seen better days, army surplus blankets stacked on top of it.
‘There’s a lavatory next door,’ Hector said. ‘I’ll leave you to it then.’
He went out, closing the door. They heard him go back down stairs. There was an old rusting bolt on the door. Cussane rammed it home. There was another door on the opposite side of the room with a key in the lock. He opened
it and looked out on a stone staircase against the side of the house going down to the yard. He closed the door and locked it again.
He turned to the girl. ‘All right?’
The one with the bad eye.’ She shuddered, ‘He’s worse than Murray.’ She hesitated. ‘Can I call you Harry?’
‘Why not?’
He quickly unfolded the blankets and spread them on the mattress. ‘What are we going to do?’ she asked.
‘Rest,’ he said. ‘Get a little sleep. No one can get in. Not at the moment.’
‘Do you think they’ll take us to Carlisle?’
‘No, but I don’t think they’ll try anything until it’s dark and we’re ready to leave.’
‘How can you be sure they will try?’
‘Because that’s the kind of men they are. Now lie down and try and get some sleep.’
He got on the bed without taking off his coat, the Stechkin in his right hand. She lay down on the other side of the bed. For a while, she stayed there and then she rolled over and cuddled against him.
‘I’m frightened.’
‘Hush.’ His arm went around her. ‘Be still now. I am here. Nothing will touch you in this place.’
Her breathing became slow and heavy. He lay there holding her, thinking about things. She was already a liability and how long he could sustain that, he wasn’t sure. On the other hand, he owed her. There was a moral debt in that, surely. He looked down at the purity of the young face, still untouched by life. Something good in a bad world. He closed his eyes, thinking of that, and finally slept.
‘Did you see all that cash?’ Hector asked.
‘Yes,’ Angus said. ‘I saw it.’
‘He’s locked the door. I heard him.’
‘Of course he has. He’s no fool. Not that it matters. He’s got to come out sooner or later. We’ll take him then.’
‘Good,’ Hector said.
His brother poured another whisky. ‘And don’t forget. I get the girl.’
Devlin, Fox, Trent and Brodie drove up to Larwick from Dunhill in an old blue Ford van which the police sergeant had borrowed from a local garage. He parked it outside the general store in the village and went in while the others waited. He returned five minutes later and got behind the wheel of the Ford.
‘Hector Mungo was in earlier for groceries. The old girl in there runs the saloon bar at the pub in the evenings. She says both of them are around, but no strangers, and they’d stick out like a sore thumb in a place like this.’
Devlin looked out of one of the rear windows in the van doors. There was really only one street, a row of granite cottages, a pub, the store and the hills lifting steeply above. ‘I see what you mean.’
Brodie started the engine and drove away, following a narrow road between grey stone walls. ‘The only road and the farm at the end of it.’ A few minutes later he said, ‘Right, this is about as far as we can go without being seen.’