We all of us made it the short distance down to Bushmills intact, with no sign of the Vauxhall behind us. The road was teeming with other bikers and I started to get a stiff neck from all the friendly nodding I was doing.
Bushmills village itself was small and picturesque. The only odd note was the little local police station, which was bristling with razor wire and CCTV cameras. It seemed out of place in such a peaceful rural setting. That and the sprawling distillery on the outskirts.
Paxo was still sulking during the tour of the distillery but he didn’t unleash his outright hostility until we got to the tasting at the end. Then he couldn’t resist a dig about such fine whiskey being wasted on Daz – what with him being more of a Babycham man.
For a moment I thought Daz was going to rise to it, but then his shoulders came down a little and he smiled, wryly. “Well, I seem to remember it was you who got smashed out of your skull on Snowballs when we were in the third year at school together,” he said.
Tess was watching Paxo with her fists clenched by her sides like she was hoping they’d start brawling. She came close to getting her wish, then Paxo gave a bitter smile of his own and raised his tasting glass in reluctant salute. Whether it was at the reminder of his own previous drinking habits, or just how long they’d been friends, I couldn’t be sure.
“Touché,” I murmured.
“I think you’ll find that’s sláinte,” Jamie pointed out, aiming for light relief.
“Na zdoravye,” Sean put in. Of course, he would know the Russian.
“Cheers!” William said.
But Daz just pinned Paxo with one of the brilliant smiles he occasionally produced and raised his glass in very deliberate provocation.
“Bottoms up,” he said.
***
Knowing that the next leg of the journey was a run right the way down to the south end of Strangford Lough, I sought out the loos before we left Bushmills. The way Daz was behaving I wasn’t sure he’d stop on demand and nothing disrupts your concentration on a bike like a full bladder. Besides, some of the Irish roads were so bumpy it could have been disastrous, not just uncomfortable.
Just about everybody had the same idea. When I got back to the car park, it was to find only Sean was ready and waiting, and he was frowning.
“What is it?” I asked as soon as I was close to him.
He nodded across the busy car park to where there was a line of other bikes. “That Suzuki over there,” he said, indicating an old GSXR with Lucky Strike paintwork. “I’m sure I’ve seen that one a couple of times already so far this trip.
I shrugged, scanning for the grey Vauxhall. “Hardly surprising,” I said. “There were a lot of bikes on the ferry and they all seem to have had the same idea when it came to routing.”
“Hmm,” he said, ducking his head slightly and pulling a face. “Maybe.”
“If you’re bothered,” I said. “Why not give Madeleine a call with the reg number and see what she can find out?”
Sean patted the top pocket of his jacket, where I could see the slight bulge of his mobile phone.
“Already done.”
“What did you make of Tess’s reaction to the ring earlier?”
“Oh, she was definitely lying,” Sean said casually. “The interesting question is why?”
***
I took the opportunity of the stop to give Jacob another try. This time my mobile phone was playing ball and it connected right away. It seemed absurd to have such a clear line when it felt like we were in another country, regardless of official boundaries. When I’d asked after Sam and Clare I filled Jacob in on events so far, including Daz’s revelation.
“It’s an odd setup,” was all Jacob said, rather sadly, when I told him about Daz’s revelation. “But apart from these blokes following you, there hasn’t been any sign of any trouble?”
“Someone tried to run us down last night,” I said. “It was too dark to see if it was the Vauxhall crew or not.”
“And you think it was definitely deliberate?”
“I don’t know,” I said. “It had that feel to it. It would help if they’d come clean with us about what they’re up to. It turns out that Tess is wearing a fortune in diamonds and we’ve no idea where the money for that came from. I’m sorry, Jacob, but if it’s drugs, Sean and I are out of here.”
“I’m sure it won’t be,” Jacob said quickly. “Jamie wouldn’t be so stupid as to get himself mixed up in something like that, I promise you.”
“Maybe,” I said, still dubious despite his reassurances. “We’re down to Portaferry next, apparently. We’ll see if we can prise any more information out of the lads then about what’s going on. Who knows? When they’ve had a few drinks they might be a bit more forthcoming.”
***
The others arrived back in dribs and drabs – Paxo first, then William. Jamie and Daz arrived together.
“You not worried about being seen coming out of a public toilet at the same time as him?” Paxo asked Jamie, his tone sour.
Daz’s face twitched like he’d finally had enough. He rounded on his mate, jaw set.
“Look, Pax, you weren’t accusing me of shagging anything that moved yesterday, were you? So, what’s changed, huh?” he snapped, almost but not quite hiding the hurt in his voice. “OK, so I’ve admitted I’m gay. That, given a choice, in the right circumstances, my preference would be for a guy rather than a girl. That doesn’t suddenly make me a slag, does it?”
Paxo’s lips twisted in disgust. “Frankly, mate,” he said, wheeling away, “I have no idea quite what that makes you.”
“I knew he’d be like this,” Daz said, not quite hiding the bitter note in his voice. “When I was in art college down in Manchester it was practically the norm. Get further north and it’s like some people still don’t know it’s legal.”
It was a relief, once Tess had reappeared, to get back on the road. The Suzuki rider hadn’t shown up to claim his bike and it was still sitting there when we pulled out of the car park and headed south.
We ran down through Ballymoney and dropped into the top end of Belfast on the urban motorway. I noticed signposts off for the Falls area and wondered how my father had felt, working there when the Troubles were more or less at their height. Apart from that one occasion during dinner with Sean, he’d never talked about his time in Northern Ireland. Mind you, he wasn’t exactly the reminiscing type, good or bad.
Eventually, we crossed the River Lagan and started heading east, past the Stormont parliament building, for Newtownards. Daz seemed to have settled now. He let Paxo overtake him and, when the smaller guy realised that he wasn’t going to get a battle out of him, he calmed down a little, too.
At Newtownards we turned off onto the smaller A road that skirted the eastern side of Strangford Lough. The ride took us through more stunning scenery as we wended our way through Comber and Greyabbey.