Chapter 111

There was a jolt as Tip’s bag was dumped down, none too gently, then the unmistakable slamming of a car door. Tip breathed a silent prayer that the wretched woman wouldn’t head straight for the ferry. If he ended up off the island with no clothes, no money, and no phone…He began to regret eating so much, his stomach churning with nerves. Although it’d serve the old biddy right if he chucked up in her handbag.

Nevertheless, he was relieved to make it to the end of the journey without incident—and more importantly, without hearing any tannoy announcements about lifejackets and car decks. As he felt the handbag lifted out of the car, Tip wondered where he was. The journey had seemed to take forever, but on the other hand, he wouldn’t mind betting that Mrs. Helpful was exactlythe sort of old lady who always drove everywhere at fifteen miles an hour, oblivious to the traffic jam forming behind her and the drivers about to go into meltdown.