‘I’ll try to get hold of their son,’ Terrance said.

‘Any more siblings?’ one officer asked.

‘No, Fabian is their only child.’

Terrance went into the kitchen and closed the door, taking his phone out of his pocket. But he didn’t call Fabian first, he called George Fellows.

Chapter 14

By the time Kelly and her two companions reached the Wasdale Inn, their thighs were shaking with exertion and they couldn’t feel their feet. Their bodies had begun to shut off for the night, after the adrenalin had left them wasted and whacked. The inn owner was a burly Scot who knew Glynn, or so it would seem. He came from behind the bar and shook his hand, peering at the state of all three of them.

‘Jesus, look what the cat dragged in. You three been helping up there?’ he asked.

Glynn nodded and introduced his two new acquaintances.

The proprietor went behind the bar and reached up to the top shelf, taking down a fifty-year-old single malt.

‘Can I use your bathroom to clean up?’ asked Kelly.

‘This is what ye’ need,’ he said, beaming from ear to ear, reaching for glasses. ‘The place is full of people off the mountainside,’ he added. Kelly looked around and saw that many of the drinkers were unusually quiet, for a fireside pub in the Lakes. It was quite obvious that many of them were survivors and witnesses. She recognised couple of them from their efforts on the mountain. One man in particular stood out, she’d been told he was military, and she made a note to thank him personally.

‘I turned off the TV, all gloom and doom, the last thing we need,’ Jock added.

Kelly nodded appreciatively. She reckoned the proprietor had been handing out whiskey all afternoon. She also figured he had perhaps sunk too much of the stuff himself, given the redness of his cheeks, but she was grateful for a wee dram. He poured four.

‘Folks, these guys right here are heroes, been on the mountainside all afternoon helping those poor souls,’ he announced.

Kelly felt uncomfortable as punters came up to the threesome and congratulated them, offering them drinks and asking for news. The gossip from the mountain crash had been the only thing on people’s lips.