Frozen in Crime

Chapter 32 Confessions of a minor peer

After what seemed like a lot of time-wasting by the paramedics, although they were probably either waiting for more casualties or trying to find out which hospital to go to, Christopher and Lord Murray were whisked away by ambulance. It was an unnerving experience because, as they soon found out, ambulances didn't handle any better than any other vehicle under these conditions. Christopher almost wished they could have gone by helicopter instead, although he knew he would only have embarrassed himself by being sick or having a panic attack.

Neither of them was ill enough to justify the sirens, and the paramedic who was with them spent most of the journey leaning into the front of the ambulance and making jokes with his colleague who was driving.

After a while Lord Murray pushed aside his oxygen mask and said, 'You don't think they'll really be stupid enough to blow anything up, do you?'

'Mmhm,' mumbled Christopher. He pushed aside his mask too, coughing as he did so. 'Amaryllis will stop them.'

'Good-looking girl,' commented Lord Murray.

'Yes,' said Christopher. Even when he wasn't actually coughing, his throat hurt so much he didn't feel like speaking very much. It turned out, however, that Lord Murray did.

'Never thought Malcolm would do something like that,' he said, struggling to sit up and eventually flopping back on the pillow. 'Wild boy – that's why we put him in the army, you know. Couldn't settle to anything... Did someone mention blowing things up?'

Christopher tried a tentative 'Mmm' to see if that would hurt too. It wasn't quite as bad as forming words. Unfortunately Lord Murray took it as a prompt to continue with Mal's life story.

'He got into a bit of trouble with that before,' continued his lordship dreamily. 'Playing with explosives in the tunnels under Pitkirtly Island. I heard a couple of the local girls drowned. We had to put him in the army after that. Save the family name. That sort of thing.'

'The family name?' said Christopher incredulously. He hadn't removed his oxygen mask so he didn't think anyone would notice his tone of voice, and perhaps they hadn't even heard the words.

'Bit of a hero in Afghanistan,' added Lord Murray, wheezing a little. 'He and his friend went in all guns blazing to rescue some local people from one of the warlords... He found out afterwards they didn't even want to be rescued – extraordinary.'

It didn't sound all that heroic to Christopher; he even caught himself feeling smug about having seen through Mal at a very early stage in their acquaintance. He had always known it wasn't natural to want to go on these major quests. Doing good by stealth or in small ways was the better option. Not that you always got any thanks for it.

He started to cough again and the paramedic was at his side in a couple of moments, adjusting the oxygen mask and then listening to his chest.

'Better keep quiet for a while,' he advised.

Christopher started to explain that he wasn't the one who had trouble keeping quiet, but the paramedic just shooshed him and turned to Lord Murray.

'We don't just give you these masks for fun, you know,' he scolded. 'Try and keep quiet – give your lungs a rest.'

'Nothing the matter with me,' said Lord Murray, trying to wriggle into an upright position while struggling against a paroxysm of coughing. The paramedic put one hand on his chest and gently pushed him back down.

'I don't want to hear another word from either of you,' he said. 'You're distracting the driver with all this coughing. It's not easy getting along at all under those conditions, you know.'