Dark Waters(12)

That made Col laugh. ‘I think you might mean water lilies … or even ice floes, Dominic.’

Dominic just shrugged. He didn’t care. He was basking in the reflected glory around his hero.

Mam had a taxi waiting. When Dominic saw it he started shouting. ‘You don’t need a taxi. My dad’s got the car. We’ll take you home.’

But that would be too much for Mungo, arriving home with the Sampsons in tow.

‘No thanks, son,’ Mam said gently. ‘We’ll just get off home in a taxi, and you tell your mum and dad thanks for everything.’

Dominic waved forlornly as they drove off. It was obvious in his bleak expression how much he wished he was going with them.

‘You’ll have to watch that wee boy,’ Mam warned him. ‘You’ll never be free of him if you’re not careful.’

‘That’s what scares me,’ Col admitted.

As they sat in the taxi he asked her, ‘Do you think we should go to their house?’

Mam shook her head as if she had already decided. ‘Better not, son. The likes of them and the likes of us don’t mix. And anyway,’ she added, and Col knew this was the real reason, ‘Mungo wouldn’t like it.’


Mungo was sitting in his chair by the fire when they went in. He didn’t stand up to greet Col. He didn’t even look up from his paper. ‘How’s it goin’?’

‘Better if you and I were talkin’, Mungo,’ Col blurted out.

Mungo looked up. For a moment, his expression didn’t change. He just stared at his brother and Col braced himself for another angry tirade. It didn’t come. Instead, the ghost of a smile crept into Mungo’s eyes.

‘My fault, Col. Not yours. It was that wee toerag, Dominic, who made sure the press got the story. Cannae keep his gob shut.’

He grabbed Col by the collar and hugged him. An amazing gesture in itself. ‘It’s good to have you back in the place. If anythin’ had happened to you—’

Mungo’s eyes were heavy with tears. So were Col’s. Mungo suddenly pushed him away and sniffed. ‘Hey, you’ve got me bubbling away here like a lassie.’

Col rubbed his eyes. ‘Me too. Hey look, I’m just like our mam at a soppy film.’ He gave a melodramatic sob to cover up his own emotion.

Mungo laughed, and his mother rushed at Col, flicking his backside with a dishcloth.

‘Don’t you dare take the mickey out of me, boy.’ She was laughing.

They were all laughing. It was great to be home.

As his mother almost skipped back to the kitchen, happy her boys had made up, she called back over her shoulder, ‘Show Col what you got for him, Mungo.’

‘You got me a present?’

Mungo opened the cupboard by the fireplace, and took out a cardboard box. ‘Here.’ He handed the box to Col. ‘You’ve always wanted one of these.’

Col put the box on the coffee table and ripped it open. He gasped. It was a full CD unit, the latest state of the art, the best he had ever seen.

He gazed at Mungo in amazement.

‘I told you I’d pay you back for giving me an alibi, didn’t I?’ Mungo said.

‘You bought this for me?’

Mungo hesitated, then he grinned. ‘Maybe not exactly bought—’

His mother had come back into the living room and caught the last words. She put her hands over her ears. ‘Oh, no. I don’t want to hear this. You up to your old tricks, Mungo?’

But she was laughing, as if it was only her mischievous son at it again.

Col laughed too. He didn’t care where the unit had come from. If someone was stupid enough to get burgled, then they deserved all they got.





Chapter Eight


Thelma Blaikie was leaning against the school wall, waiting for Col when he went back to school the following Monday. Pretending she wasn’t, of course. She was chewing gum, studying her red-painted nails, her black eyes not even looking his way as he moved towards her. He tried to walk past her.

‘Ooo, it’s my hero,’ she said.

Col stopped. ‘I’m nobody’s hero. OK?’

Blaikie blew a bubble. ‘Come on, McCann. Front page of the papers and everything.’ She smiled. Her teeth looked grey against her too-white face. ‘All you need to do now is start wearing your Y-fronts over tights and you really will be Superman.’

Even Col managed a smile at that. ‘I do that anyway, Blaikie,’ he said, moving away before she could think of a smart answer.

But there was something different in the way she spoke to him. As if ever-so-cool Blaikie really was impressed.

It was the same in his classes. His first was Mathematics, and Mrs Holden surprised him more than anyone else.