Chapter 26 #2
Ally froze for a minute. Then she carefully replaced the lid on the box of seeds, but, on second thoughts, she took a small handful and popped them into her pocket. She was beginning to feel sick.
Wendy?
Wendy, who didn’t want to bother with getting a doctor.
Wendy, who’d spooned out Patti’s muesli – and who would notice a few extra seeds in their muesli, for goodness’ sake!
Wendy, whose husband had been having an affair with Patti.
Greg could only have been killed by Wendy, couldn’t he?
Had he thought he was going to meet some blackmailer from the village perhaps?
Ally closed the door and made her way shakily downstairs, wondering what to do first. Then she decided: she’d phone Desdemona, who would probably remember the Watsons’ impromptu arrival but not necessarily what they’d got up to. Nevertheless, it was worth a try.
Desdemona, in her usual abrupt manner, said, ‘Of course I remember them. Tall, scrawny woman and her big, ungainly son. Poking around and asking daft questions. Not as if they wanted to buy anything!’
‘What I wondered was, did they show any interest in your garden?’ Ally asked.
‘No, only that the silly woman wanted a handful of seeds to see if she could get them to grow in Nova Scotia or something.’
‘I remember she said at the time that you’d let her take some seeds.’ Ally’s heart was thumping again. ‘But can you recall what sort of seeds they were?’
‘Yes, they were laburnum seeds. Why? What’s she done? Tried to poison someone?’ Desdemona laughed at the very idea.
Ally hoped she sounded more casual than she felt. ‘Thanks, Desdemona, that’s all I wanted to know.’
If her suspicions were correct, there was no time to waste. She rushed up to Patti’s room and, without knocking, went in.
‘Patti?’
Patti was lying under the covers, motionless and grey-skinned. Ally rocked her gently, but the woman was comatose. She took her phone out of her pocket and phoned 999. Then she needed to talk with the girls downstairs.
‘I’ve sent for an ambulance for your mum,’ Ally said as she opened the sitting-room door. ‘She’s not at all well.’
‘We wanted to do that earlier,’ Julie said, ‘but Auntie Wendy said we shouldn’t make a fuss.’
‘I think the time has come to make a fuss,’ Ally said firmly, at which Janey burst into tears.
‘I’m sure she’ll be fine,’ Ally added hastily.
Then she headed back into the kitchen, grabbed her phone and called Amir. Miraculously, he was actually close to Locharran for once. ‘I’ve called an ambulance for Patti, and I’ve found the other half of that note I gave you,’ she said, ‘and something else. I need to see you urgently.’
‘I’ll be up as soon as I can,’ he said.
Ally raced back to the girls, who were now in panic mode. ‘The ambulance will be here shortly,’ she assured them, ‘and she’ll be well taken care of. Try not to worry.’
Janey was in tears again, but Julie was more composed. ‘We’re going with her,’ she said firmly.
‘I’m not sure if that’s allowed,’ Ally said doubtfully, ‘but we can ask.’
‘How would we get back?’ Janey asked tremulously.
‘Don’t worry about that,’ Ally said, ‘because Ross or I can come to collect you if necessary.’
Everything happened quickly then. Within about fifteen minutes, the ambulance arrived. As she opened the door, Ally noticed a policewoman sitting in the front, while two paramedics came rushing in.
As they carried her out, Ally was appalled again at Patti’s appearance: grey skin, heavy-lidded eyes and barely able to move.
Julie and Janey were beside themselves, rushing backward and forward, shouting, ‘Hurry! Hurry! Get her to the hospital!’
Julie turned to Ally. ‘We’re going with her, Ally. We must!’
Ally turned to the policewoman as the paramedics hoisted the stretcher into the ambulance. ‘Look, her two daughters are distraught. They’re visiting from Canada, and have already lost their father and uncle in the last few days, so please, please, can they go with her?’
The policewoman nodded. ‘But we cannot be responsible for them,’ she told Ally. ‘They can come, under the circumstances, but someone will have to come to collect them from the hospital later.’
‘I will,’ Ally said firmly. ‘Where are you taking her?’
‘Inverness,’ one of the paramedics shouted over his shoulder, climbing into the ambulance.
‘Just a moment.’ Ally fumbled in her pocket. She had put a few of the seeds into an envelope because, if this did turn out to be any type of poisoning, these could be the answer. ‘Would you make sure to hand these to the medical staff?’
The paramedic studied them for a moment. ‘What are they?’
‘I believe they’re laburnum seeds,’ Ally told him. ‘I think this is what has been poisoning her.’
The ambulance sped away.
Ally went into the kitchen to find a text from Ross:
So sorry, Ally, but I’ve had an urgent call from Will and have to do a couple of hours at the surgery. Will see you later. xx
Ally, her heart racing, tried to calm down with a cup of tea, but her mind wouldn’t switch off.
What to do first? Perhaps she should clean Patti’s room before she did anything else, just in case Patti might be allowed back later?
No, of course she wouldn’t be allowed back later!
They’d keep her in for observation, wouldn’t they – if she survived?
What if she didn’t survive – who would look after Julie and Janey? Joel? Oh God!
She hoped that Amir would be there soon so she could tell him about Wendy.
Ally suddenly realised that she hadn’t seen her at all that morning.
Where was the woman? Amir would want to know when he got there.
She thought quickly and decided that the best thing to do would be to leave a message with the receptionist at the Craigmonie because she didn’t have her number.
‘I did see Mrs Watson in here earlier,’ the receptionist said when she phoned, ‘but I haven’t seen her for hours.’
As Ally came off the phone, she hoped she’d done everything she should have done.
She felt quite exhausted with the events of the morning, but now the house was empty, the bedrooms were all cleaned and she had the afternoon to herself.
She knew what she’d do – she’d make a steak pie for supper.
Ross loved her steak pies, and Ally found cooking relaxing when she was stressed.
She got out all her ingredients and her rolling pin for the pastry when Flora started barking at something she’d heard outside, so Ally went to let her out into the garden.
It was a lovely, still late September afternoon, the sky clear, and the air just a little crisp.
As she came back in through the rear porch, Ally had a strange feeling that someone was in the kitchen.
Then she saw who it was.
Wendy.
Wendy was smiling in a strange way, and she also had the rolling pin in her hand.