Bitter End Part 44

'Now, why doesn't that surprise me?' He stood up and walked around his desk and, cupping her elbow, escorted her to the door. 'My dear, you must excuse me now. Will you let me think this matter over and get back to you?'

'Of course,' Fizz said and shook the hand he held out to her. OK, she should have said something real tough about not taking too long about it, but if ever there was a time to quit when she was winning, this was it.

It was still raining outside as she headed down the Mound towards the office, but she scarcely noticed it as the mental tape of her interview with Gra.s.sick replayed itself in her head. She'd been moderately optimistic when she left Gra.s.sick's chambers but already her mind was 272. filled with doubt. Had he been stringing her along? Keeping her sweet and playing for time so that he could pull some legal manoeuvre and have her silenced? That would, of course, be the smart thing to do and she had no idea whether he could get away with it or not. Sod it! She should have demanded immediate action on the bargain while she held the high ground.

All afternoon, as she worked her way through her In-tray, it preyed on her mind and by five o'clock she knew, beyond any doubt, that Gra.s.sick was such a snake in the gra.s.s he'd see both herself and Buchanan obliterated before he knuckled down to blackmail.

She took the long way home, marching briskly through the rain in the hope of working some endorphins into her system, but she was still in need of some TLC when she got there. She had plenty of studying to do to keep her mind occupied but, tonight, she couldn't settle to it and when six-thirty came she gave up the pretence and went to visit Buchanan. The Royal Infirmary was only a ten-minute walk away,

which was fortunate because, when she got there, she was

informed that Buchanan had been released an hour ago, so

she had to backtrack down the Mound to the New Town.

She'd have been soaked to the skin by the time she got

there without the protection of the plastic coat. It wasn't

what the in-crowd were wearing but it had won a place in

her wardrobe and in her heart and, on top of that, it kept

her extremely dry. Buchanan tried to look unwelcoming, but she could see he was only kidding.

'I was about to have an early night,' he said, kicking the door shut behind her with delight.

'Not at seven o'clock, surely?'

He followed her into the living room, cradling the arm closest to the wound at the side of his ribs, and sank gingerly into an armchair. 'In case you've forgotten, I have 273. a hole in my chest. That red stuff all over me on Sat.u.r.day was blood.'

'Oh come on,' Fizz said bracingly. 'I've seen worse at a circ.u.mcision. I can't see why they had to keep you in so long.'

She got rid of her mac and boots and then became aware of something different. Selina had missed out on her Kamikaze welcome tonight. She was sitting on top of the TV, still as a sphinx, her eyes fixed on something beyond the tip of Fizz's right elbow. Fizz followed her stare and saw a s.h.i.+ny black shadow lying across the row of books at the back of Buchanan's desk. One elegant leg dangled down limply across the spines and a steady, low-pitched purring identified the alien.

'Buchanan! You didn't!' Fizz tried not to laugh but couldn't repress a grin.

'What did you expect?' He glowered at her, clutching his phony peevishness to him tenaciously. That I'd send him back to the cattery?'

Fizz didn't really want to go into what she'd expected so she said, 'What about Selina? How's she taking it?'

'The jury's still out.' Buchanan nodded towards the still life atop the TV. 'She's been like that since Dougie dropped Pooky off about an hour ago. She hasn't so much as blinked. '

'Dougie? The WAS guy? That was nice of him.'

Buchanan's glower lightened a shade. 'He and his mates are apparently pretty chuffed to have Jerry and Bragg under lock and key -which makes us the good guys for a change. I'm trying not to think about what Ian Fleming's going to say when he discovers we sent him on a wild goose chase. He was quite looking forward to proving that Virgo was on the take.'

'That was the royal "we" you used just there, I take it? I don't think I actually spoke to Ian at all, this time, did I?'

There was a sour edge to Buchanan's smile. 'I don't believe you did, Fizz. Looks like you're smelling of violets after all.' 274. 'Not in your nostrils. I suspect,' Fizz returned, bored with ignoring his gloomy face. 'Or am I just imagining the antagonism smouldering under your teddy-bear surface?

No doubt you're still piqued because I saved your life?'

Buchanan s.h.i.+fted his position in his chair, pretending to be in great pain. 'My life was not in danger, Fizz. It was your life that was in danger -leaping into the room like a mad thing just when the bullets were about to start flying.

You were that close -that close,' he stressed, brandis.h.i.+ng his thumb and forefinger, 'to being killed. How do you expect me to feel? How would I have felt if you'd been fatally wounded, or crippled, or scarred for life?'

'What did I tell you, Buchanan? You're always worrying about things that never happen. And anyway -how do you think I'd have felt if he'd killed you?' Suddenly hearing what she was saying, Fizz backtracked in a big hurry.

'Actually, I thought he had killed you and I was about to leg it when the sweary words popped out, and then it was too late.'

'Fizz, I told you to stay in the car where you'd be safe and not cause complications.'

'Oh, pooh! I don't have to do everything you tell me.'

Fizz sure as h.e.l.l wasn't going to tell him she'd seen that two-faced rat Kincaid drive up and had decided the portents warranted a speedy gallop to the rescue. She could just imagine what nonsense he would read into that. He appeared, however, to be slightly mollified, having got his grievances off his chest, so she tried changing the subject.

'Did you tell your folks what happened?'

'Just Dad. He'd been leaving excitable messages on the answering-machine since Friday afternoon so I had to tell him where I'd been. He promised he wouldn't tell Mum I'd been in hospital but I suspect he'll be over here first thing in the morning to view the corpse.'

'What was he so excitable about?' Fizz asked, this not being an epithet one would normally apply to Big Daddy.

The last shreds of Buchanan's grouchiness disappeared 275. behind a smug grin. 'He'd had Mr Menzies senior on the telephone insisting that Lammerburn Estate was to be taken off the market as of that minute and he wanted to know who or what had got the old guy so worked up.'

'To which you said . . .?'

To which I said that it was none of our business. I said I had spoken to Mr Menzies in person and found him wholly able to conduct his own affairs without the help of either his son or his wife. So the matter is closed. Thank G.o.d.'

Thank G.o.d,' Fizz echoed. 'Shall we have a cup of coffee to celebrate?'

Buchanan blinked pathetically. 'If you're sure you have the time.'

She went through to the kitchen and made two mugs of instant and, finding a packet of chocolate chip cookies tucked away, for some reason, in the fridge, added that to the tray. When she got back neither Selina nor Pooky had moved a whisker and Buchanan was dozing peacefully on his cus.h.i.+ons.

'So,' she said, poking him to make him sit up and take his mug, 'did they allocate you an ambulance to drive you home?'

'Fat chance,' he said, yawning. 'You have to have had at least one leg amputated before they send you home by ambulance these days.'

'Who ran you home, then? Did you get a taxi?'

'No,' he said, and for all his endeavours couldn't stop his face from lighting up. 'You'll never guess who ran me home!'

'Surprise me.'

'Lawrence Gra.s.sick.'

'Oof.' Fizz didn't have to fake her surprise. Lawrence Gra.s.sick hadn't wasted any time and, judging by the exultant grin, he must have made an offer Buchanan couldn't refuse. 'You're having me on,' she said, wiping spilled coffee off her jeans and starting to hyperventilate. 276. 'I'm not. I swear to G.o.d, Fizz. He strolled in just after I'd been given the okay to get dressed -not even visiting hour -all smiles and commiserations, bunch of magazines and what have you, like he was my father.'

'I can't believe it,' Fizz gasped, amazed at the potency of her persuasive talents. Had she really been responsible for changing Gra.s.sick's mind, or had he merely found it impossible to put a legal gag on her?

'Neither can I. I've been sitting here wondering if I was delirious this afternoon or if I really heard him offer me a job.'