‘Probably. There are a lot of variables in the equation and we have to be sure. But so far so good, eh?’ He gripped Beth’s elbows and she realised that she was shaking. ‘We’ll go downstairs and see whether they’re there yet.’
He took her hand and called the lift, and she didn’t pull away from him. She knew that she should, and that every small intimacy now would be paid for in regret later on, but it seemed that tonight’s work wasn’t over just yet. And until it was, the truce still held firm, allowing her to lean on Matt just a little.
CHAPTER TWELVE
THE reception of the A and E department was almost deserted, and Beth took a seat next to Matt, wondering whether they had missed Kat. A loud commotion at the door told her that they had not. Two policemen were flanking Kat, who was holding Simon’s hand. His parents followed, arguing loudly. Matt took one look at them and was on his feet, making for the little group.
Simon was looking around cockily, completely ignoring his parents as they argued over his head, one of the policemen vainly trying to calm them. This was not good. The most important thing right now, for both Simon and Josh, was to get information out of the boy, and this was definitely not the way to go about it.
Matt slid in between the boy and his parents, effectively blocking his view of them and allowing Kat to guide him away. The A and E doctor who had been treating Josh hurried over and Matt spoke quickly to him, then concentrated on Simon’s mother, who was now crying loudly.
‘Dr Sutherland says you know the boy.’ The young A and E doctor was at her elbow now. ‘Can you and Kat talk to him, while we try and calm the parents down?’
She’d try. From the look on Simon’s face it appeared that his parents arguing like this was no particular novelty to him and he was obviously mentally removing himself from a situation he didn’t want to be in. Underneath that cocky exterior he was probably scared stiff and would do his best to try and lie his way out of the situation if he could. Somehow, Beth had to get him to tell the truth.
Kat was walking Simon over to one of the consultation rooms, and Beth joined her. They took Simon inside and Beth closed the door behind them, while Kat sat Simon down on one of the plastic chairs.
Beth sat down opposite Simon, summoning up a cheerful smile for the boy. ‘Hey, Simon, how are you doing?’
‘Okay.’ The one word was a start. She had to get Simon talking and then she cou
ld work her way around to asking him about the yew berries. Beth introduced Kat and as the two of them chatted cheerfully, she saw the pinched look on Simon’s face begin to relax and he began to follow their conversation.
‘You know, Josh and Simon have this great place in the woods—it’s just like the one that Robin Hood and his men had.’
Kat looked suitably impressed. ‘Wow. Wish I had something like that.’
‘Me, too. I don’t know what I’d do for food, though.’ There was silence as Beth and Kat both pondered the question.
‘You could shoot a deer and roast it on a fire,’ Simon piped up.
‘Ooh yes. Do you have bows and arrows, then? Proper ones, I mean. I heard that the best ones were made out of yew branches but I don’t expect you can find those around much these days.’
‘We made them. Proper ones out of the branches from a yew tree.’ Simon was anxious to impress.
‘That was pretty clever. How did you know it was a yew tree?’
Simon rolled his eyes. ‘We looked it up on the internet. The yew tree has dark pointy leaves and red berries.’
‘Well, that’s very clever of you both. And I bet that you and Josh had some adventures together, didn’t you.’
‘Yes, I saved Josh from being ambushed.’
‘And did you find some things to eat in the forest?’
Simon nodded. ‘Yes, we looked up all the berries and things that we could eat. Lots of them are poisonous, you know.’
‘Are they? Which ones?’
‘Lots. But the yew berries are all right, we read it on the internet. It wasn’t them that made Josh ill.’ Simon yawned, shifting in his seat. ‘It said on the internet that the leaves and the seeds are poisonous, but the berries aren’t, so we tried some.’
Beth shot a glance at Kat, whose smile had frozen on her face. Simon was quite right. Yew berries themselves were not poisonous. The seeds they had inside them were deadly, though.
‘What did they taste like?’ Simon didn’t answer, and Beth tried again. ‘I wouldn’t have wanted to eat them, they probably tasted horrible.’
‘That’s what Josh said, so I didn’t have any. So he dared me to eat something else.’
‘I’ll bet that was nasty. If I know Josh, he wouldn’t have dared you to eat anything nice. What was it?’