Upsetting

It was probably the tone of voice, rather than what she'd said, that did it.

Suddenly, the reality of what had happened in the last fifteen minutes hit Adam all at once. Who did these two they think they were, pushing him around and giving him orders?

"Hold on a minute," he said. "I'm sorry, but if you think I'm just going to do exactly what you say, you've got another thing coming. I mean, I don't even know who you are, or what those men wanted. For all I know, they're the police or something, and you two are..." he looked from one to the other, trying to find a word that didn't sound entirely ridiculous "...kidnappers. How do I know you're not taking me ransom? You come sweeping in..."

At this point, the extravagant sweeping gesture he made knocked over his mug of tea. This rather took the wind out of his sails for a moment.

Margaret looked at the spill, tutted loudly and went off in search of something to wipe it up. Her expression was both amused and dismissive.

When Adam dared to catch Alice's eye, she said "hmmmm." And was quiet for a moment. "I suppose it's not unreasonable that you have questions, and you've clearly got a bit more spirit than I gave you credit for. We will give you more of an explanation, Mr Cotter, but I'd strongly suggest that this isn't the time for it.

"We need to get you somewhere a little safer first - you'll appreciate why later. But first, as I said, you need to get the key."

Margaret bustled back in and began wiping the table. "No need," she said. "I've already picked it up. Save a bit of time and trouble, eh? Just picked it up while I was looking for your cloth."

Adam suspected otherwise - after all, the hall wasn't exactly on the way to the kitchen - but all his argumentativeness seemed to have left him.



Story starts here.