“Hmm,” he said, ducking his head slightly and pulling a face. “Maybe.”
“If you’re bothered,” I said. “Why not give Madeleine a call with the reg number and see what she can find out?”
Sean patted the top pocket of his jacket, where I could see the slight bulge of his mobile phone.
“Already done.”
“What did you make of Tess’s reaction to the ring earlier?”
“Oh, she was definitely lying,” Sean said casually. “The interesting question is why?”
***
I took the opportunity of the stop to give Jacob another try. This time my mobile phone was playing ball and it connected right away. It seemed absurd to have such a clear line when it felt like we were in another country, regardless of official boundaries. When I’d asked after Sam and Clare I filled Jacob in on events so far, including Daz’s revelation.
“It’s an odd setup,” was all Jacob said, rather sadly, when I told him about Daz’s revelation. “But apart from these blokes following you, there hasn’t been any sign of any trouble?”
“Someone tried to run us down last night,” I said. “It was too dark to see if it was the Vauxhall crew or not.”
“And you think it was definitely deliberate?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It had that feel to it. It would help if they’d come clean with us about what they’re up to. It turns out that Tess is wearing a fortune in diamonds and we’ve no idea where the money for that came from. I’m sorry, Jacob, but if it’s drugs, Sean and I are out of here.”
“I’m sure it won’t be,” Jacob said quickly. “Jamie wouldn’t be so stupid as to get himself mixed up in something like that, I promise you.”
“Maybe,” I said, still dubious despite his reassurances. “We’re down to Portaferry next, apparently. We’ll see if we can prise any more information out of the lads then about what’s going on. Who knows? When they’ve had a few drinks they might be a bit more forthcoming.”
***
The others arrived back in dribs and drabs – Paxo first, then William. Jamie and Daz arrived together.
“You not worried about being seen coming out of a public toilet at the same time as him?” Paxo asked Jamie, his tone sour.
Daz’s face twitched like he’d finally had enough. He rounded on his mate, jaw set.
“Look, Pax, you weren’t accusing me of shagging anything that moved yesterday, were you? So, what’s changed, huh?” he snapped, almost but not quite hiding the hurt in his voice. “OK, so I’ve admitted I’m gay. That, given a choice, in the right circumstances, my preference would be for a guy rather than a girl. That doesn’t suddenly make me a slag, does it?”
Paxo’s lips twisted in disgust. “Frankly, mate,” he said, wheeling away, “I have no idea quite
“I knew he’d be like this,” Daz said, not quite hiding the bitter note in his voice. “When I was in art college down in Manchester it was practically the norm. Get further north and it’s like some people still don’t know it’s legal.”
It was a relief, once Tess had reappeared, to get back on the road. The Suzuki rider hadn’t shown up to claim his bike and it was still sitting there when we pulled out of the car park and headed south.
We ran down through Ballymoney and dropped into the top end of Belfast on the urban motorway. I noticed signposts off for the Falls area and wondered how my father had felt, working there when the Troubles were more or less at their height. Apart from that one occasion during dinner with Sean, he’d never talked about his time in Northern Ireland. Mind you, he wasn’t exactly the reminiscing type, good or bad.
Eventually, we crossed the River Lagan and started heading east, past the Stormont parliament building, for Newtownards. Daz seemed to have settled now. He let Paxo overtake him and, when the smaller guy realised that he wasn’t going to get a battle out of him, he calmed down a little, too.
At Newtownards we turned off onto the smaller A road that skirted the eastern side of Strangford Lough. The ride took us through more stunning scenery as we wended our way through Comber and Greyabbey.
I’d no idea the place was so pretty. Not exactly a side to it you ever used to hear about on the evening news, where the only images you ever saw were of six-year-olds hurling Molotovs at burning APCs against a backdrop of balaclava’d funeral salutes and paramilitary murals on the ends of terrace houses. The reality was a revelation.
Even our tail seemed to have backed off. The Vauxhall was notable by its absence and, though I looked hard at all the bikes we met, I didn’t spot the Lucky Strike Suzuki among them.
By the time we reached Portaferry it was six o’clock and I was beginning to feel the effects of my largely sleepless night. I was glad when we finally turned off the road into a small private car park by a cosy looking hotel right on the harbour side.
There was an awkward moment when we checked in, owing to the number of rooms that had originally been booked against the number of people who’d actually turned up. That and who, in the light of the day’s events, was prepared to share with who.
William’s snoring was obviously preferable, in Jamie and Paxo’s eyes, to the alternative of sharing with Daz. The clearly confused girl on the reception desk handled it all with remarkable patience, nevertheless.
Eventually she managed to allocate a family room that had two twin beds and a pullout sofa for the three lads, and two single rooms for Daz and Tess. Then she looked at Sean with a resigned expression on her face. He smiled at her. “We’ll just have a straightforward double,” he said and I realised I’d been holding my breath.
