Jane put her head into her hands and started sobbing.
‘Did you believe him?’ asked Vince.
‘Course not. I told him he was lying and that we were coming after him and we were going to press charges and—’ She slumped back in the seat like a deflated balloon.
‘So you read him the riot act and left him to it.’
She nodded.
‘How long were you there?’
‘Fifteen minutes all up. I was back in Port Fairy by ten-thirty.’
They sat in silence for a few minutes, then Vince fired up Benny’s engine, dropped Jane at the station and headed back to Brunswick. He got there to find the birthday lunch had broken up. Lydia and the girls were on the front porch making their farewells, Trisha and Paddy at the door and the boys rushing around their cousins madly.
‘Nice of you to drop by,’ Lydia said with a fr
