Colin had been working all night, chasing events, supplying more information to the security forces and talking to Larry and Kevin.
When I called early next morning Anna said she wanted to speak to him.
“I couldn’t have done it without her,” I said to Colin. “She was brilliant. One minute, three police officers were shaking in their boots, the next minute, they were almost in tears.”
“Good, wasn’t I?” Anna said, taking the phone. “We’d make a good team. Can I speak to Colin now?”
I nodded and waited to hear what she wanted to say, but all she said was “Goodbye, Colin” before handing back the phone. Then she whispered in my ear something about needing to return to her apartment for her clothes.
“OK,” I said. “I’ll join you as soon as I can.”
I waited a moment until the door closed, then returned to Colin.
“I thought I’d get more than a hello and goodbye,” Colin said.
“She can be very unpredictable,” I said before moving on. “I needed that rollicking you handed out. It did me good, I think.”
“You only think?” he said.
“We’ll both need to wait for similar circumstances arrive to see how I behave next time.”
“Jinx,” he said. “You’re like it all the time. Circumstances might change, but you won’t.”
“Did the rollicking do you any good, Colin?”
“I enjoyed every minute,” he said.
“Good,” I said. “Now then, give me the latest.”
And Colin then went on one of his long-winded explanations about what else had happened overnight.
***
An hour later, I took a taxi to Anna’s apartment because I’d planned something special - a long weekend somewhere quiet, maybe down south or up north. But when I arrived, there was a note pinned to the door.“Mark, my father just died. I need to go home to take care of my ma.”