September turned into a rainy and windy October. We saw less of the boys because their homework loads had been increased with the step up to A-levels.
I was surprised one evening to get a phone call from Fiona Tranter. She sounded a little upset, and asked if Mark and I could come to see them.
“Yes, of course. When do you want us?” I asked, intrigued. We didn’t hear from Billy’s parents all that often and this was the first time we’d been invited to their house.
“Do you have time now?” she asked.
I consulted Mark, and then told her we did.
The short drive over to Billy’s house was taken up with me worrying that something was wrong with Billy, maybe he’d been hurt or perhaps his Uncle Bill had said something that had upset him.
“Stop it,” Mark said, resting a hand on my knee. “What
