2 2 9
Minty was not the person they should have been investigating; it was Johnny. By coincidence they had gone right to the person who was behind whatever it was that Mark had uncovered.
It was a realisation that was sudden and complete. She did not have to reconsider it, as she stood there in her hall, confronted by Johnny Sanderson. Good was bad; light was dark; it was as simple as that. A road followed in faith was the road that led nowhere, because it stopped, suddenly and without warning, at a sign which said, unambiguously,
She looked at Johnny. “Why did you come to see me?”
“There was something I wanted to talk about.”
“And what was that?”
Johnny smiled. “I really don’t think that we should talk much now. After this . . . after this disturbance.”
Isabel stared at him, struck by the sheer effrontery of the response.
“A disturbance which you created,” she said.
Johnny sighed, as if confronted with a pedantic objection. “I merely intended to discuss the matter we were discussing the other day. That’s all.”
Isabel said nothing, and after a few moments Johnny continued: “But we’ll do that some other time. I’m sorry that I gave you that fright.” He turned and looked back up the stairs. “Would you 2 3 0
A l e x a n d e r M c C a l l S m i t h mind if I recovered my phone? You say that it’s up in your bedroom? Would you mind?”
A F T E R J O H N N Y H A D G O N E , Isabel went into the kitchen and fetched a dustpan and broom. She carefully picked up the larger pieces of broken glass and wrapped them in newspaper, and then she swept up the smaller fragments and carried them back into the kitchen in the dustpan. Then she sat down at the kitchen telephone and dialled Jamie’s number.
It took Jamie some time to answer and Isabel knew that she had woken him up.
“I’m very sorry,” she said. “I had to speak to you.”
Jamie’s voice was thick with sleep. “I don’t mind.”
“Could you come round to the house? Right now.”
“Right now?”
“Yes. I’ll explain when you come. Please. And would you mind staying here overnight? Just tonight.”
He sounded as if he was fully woken up now. “It’ll take me half an hour. Will that be all right?”
I S A B E L H E A R D H I S TA X I arrive and went to the front door to greet him. He was wearing a green windcheater and was carrying a small black overnight bag.
“You’re an angel. You really are.”
He shook his head, as if in disbelief. “I can’t imagine what you want to talk about. But still, that’s what friends are for.”
Isabel led him into the kitchen, where she had prepared tea.
She motioned to a chair and poured him a cup.
T H E S U N D A Y P H I L O S O P H Y C L U B
2 3 1
“You’re not going to believe this,” she began. “I’ve had an eventful evening.”
She told him of what had happened and his eyes widened as she spoke. But it was clear to her that he did not doubt her for a moment.
“But you can’t believe him. Nobody would wander into somebody else’s house like that just because the door was open . . . if it was open in the first place.”
“Which I doubt,” said Isabel.
“Then what on earth was he doing? What did he have in mind? Doing you in?”
Isabel shrugged her shoulders. “I suspect that he might wonder about my intentions. If he’s the one we should have been suspecting all along, then he might be worried that I had some proof. Some documents linking him with insider deals.”
“This is what this is?”
“I assume so. Unless he was planning something else, which is rather unlikely, at this stage.”
“So what do we do now?”
Isabel looked at the floor. “I have no idea. Or not now. I think I should just go to bed and we can talk about it tomorrow.” She paused. “Are you sure that you don’t mind staying? It’s just that I can’t face being in the house by myself tonight.”
“Of course I don’t mind,” said Jamie. “I wouldn’t leave you by yourself. Not after all that.”
