Page 74 of Death at a Scottish Halloween

“Mr. and Mrs. Henderson, this is Doctor McRoy, she thinks your son’s arm may be broken. We need permission for her to examine.”

The woman’s eyes flashed widely. “He’s hurt?” Her tone had changed.

“He was injured while fleeing police,” Ewan said in that authoritative way of his. “Which we can discuss once he’s been sorted by the doc.”

The woman sighed but stared daggers at her son.

Inside, Abigail was at her desk. “Exam One is ready,” she said. “Are you the parents?”

The couple nodded.

“I’ll need one of you to fill out these forms.” She handed them an iPad. The mother took it.

Everyone, including Ewan tried to follow us into the exam room. “You can wait out here,” I said to Ewan. “And only one parent at a time. There isn’t room for more.”

“I’ll go,” the mother said.

“I’ll fill out the forms,” the father said.

Abigail and I helped the teen onto the exam table. We slid off his hoodie, which thankfully had a zippered front, but the long-sleeve Henley had to be cut off. He stared down at the floor. I wasn’t sure if he was ashamed or trying to keep from crying out in pain.

“The right ulna,” I said. The bone wasn’t poking through the skin, but it was close. He’d probably done it by pressing his hands out to break his fall.

“I want to know what happened,” his mother said. This time there was no emotion in her voice. “Why were the policechasing you? We moved here to get away from all that,” she said. Then she sighed again.

“I don’t know,” he said. But he couldn’t look her in the eye.

“I could tell her,” I said.

His head snapped up. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It was a hundred pounds. I couldn’t say no. And it was for a laugh. She said she wanted to scare her friend, you. I thought it was just for fun.”

“What are you talking about?” his mother asked. “Who gave you money to do what?”

Interesting. He said it was a woman. Who would use a kid like this just to scare me? It certainly wasn’t any of my friends.

“The witch,” he said. “She gave me a hundred pounds to follow the doctor and scare her,” he said as if that made all the sense in the world.

“Tonight?” The mother asked. “I thought you were at the costume contest. That’s what you told me.”

“I was, mum. I’m talking about the other night,” he said.

“Before you accosted me in the maze, I guess. Tell me exactly what she said.”

“Follow the doctor and ask her where it is. Then tell her what you said. She was angry with me that you didn’t say anything. She was only going to give me half, but I told her I’d go to the police.”

“You said it was a woman; can you tell me what she looked like?” I asked. Then I held up a hand. “Hold that thought. We need some images of that arm.”

“I’ll get the chair,” Abigail said.

His eyes went wide again. “The chair?”

“Just a wheelchair to take you back to the lab. We can’t risk you falling again.”

He appeared relieved. “She was dressed as a witch. She had a fake nose and a black wig under her pointy black hat. I don’t know who she was. I was bored and thought it was—like I said. I thought it would be a laugh. But you were so scared, and then I felt bad. I’m sorry.”

As far as confessions went, this one hit home for me. He was just a kid who had been manipulated by an adult. Still, I had a feeling Ewan would scare him straight.

His mother followed Abigail back to the imaging center.