‘Poor Mr Old! He was such a nice man, too.'
Alex shook her head sadly. 'I've known him for years. Long ago, when I was a kid, Dad would take me into the office sometimes, when Roy Old was his boss. He always made a fuss of me, and he always gave me things to do. Tidying up the paper clips, making tea and coffee, clearing up the dirty cups; things like that. He used to call me his wee policewoman.' She smiled at the memory. Ahh; she sighed. 'It's such a shame.'
`Lightning strikes, love,' said Andy Martin, and knew, even before the shadow of a recent horror crossed her face, that he had said the wrong thing. 'Oh dammit,' he moaned. 'I'm sorry!'
She took him in her arms, touched by the anxiety in his vivid green eyes. 'It's all right, I'm used to your subtlety and tact by now.' She gathered a handful of his curly blond hair and tugged it, gently.
Oh!' she said, as a sudden recollection stirred. `Pops wants you in his office at eighty-thirty tomorrow morning. He said something about bacon rolls.'
`Hah! Last time Bob and I discussed bacon rolls, he told me what to do with them… pretty graphically, too!'
‘Take him black pudding instead, then.'
He smiled, but only for a moment. `How is Bob? You said that Sarah's in a state, but how about him? I'd have hated to be at that placee today. Is he okay?'
A candid look of concern crossed Alex's face as she looked at her fiance. 'You know my Dad. He's such a rugged old sod, and well, we both know first-hand just how tough he can be. But tonight… I was worried for him. He was doing his best to shore up Sarah, and yet…
‘I've always thought of him as carved out of rock, but this evening for the first time in my life, I thought I could see the cracks.'