When the Devil Drives

She stared at him. 'Why—everything, I'd have thought.''What makes you say that?'She ran the tip of her tongue round her dry lips. 'Well, it was Simonwho you saw—wasn't it?''No,' he said. 'It was a vagrant called Tom O'Neill, better knownlocally as Paddy Tom. He likes comfort at night, so he prefers tobreak into buildings that are in use and doss down. He's been chasedfrom every mill and industrial estate in the West Riding, I shouldthink. He also likes a cooked supper, only last night his time-bomb ofa stove finally exploded, and nearly cooked him as well. The policepicked him up near Barnsley, still running.''Paddy Tom,' Joanna repeated. Suddenly she didn't know whether tolaugh or cry. 'But I thought...''You thought Simon had developed a sideline in arson.' Cal's browslifted in utter disbelief. 'Not very sisterly, or very flattering, especiallywhen he's down in London trying to retrieve the Chalfont fortunesfrom my sinister clutches.''You know where Simon is?' Her voice was incredulous.'Of course.' He sounded impatient. 'Although admittedly I'm notsupposed to. He's talking to a friend of mine in a merchant bank aboutventure capital for the Craft Company.''How can you possibly know that?' Joanna sank down on to the sofa,feeling that her legs would no longer support her. 'You asked mewhere he was. You implied-—''I put Jeremy in touch with him in the first place. But I wanted tocheck that Simon was following up the approach.' He paused. 'He