Honour Among Thieves

front, pressed a button and the window that divided the passenger from the driver slid silently up. Sally heard the safety lock click into place. She allowed her mind to drift as she glanced out of the misty windows, imagining for a moment that this was the sort of lifestyle she might expect once she left Columbus. It was some time before the seventeen-year-old girl realised the car wasn't actually heading in the direction of her home. Had the problem been posed in textbook form, T. Hamilton McKenzie would have known the exact course of action to be taken. After all, he lived 'by the book', as he so often told his students. But when it happened in real life, he behaved completely out of character. Had he consulted one of the senior psychiatrists at the university, they would have explained that many of the anxieties he'd kept suppressed over a long period of time had, in his new circumstances, been forced to the surface. The fact that he adored his only child, Sally, was clear for all to see. So was the fact that for many years he had become bored with, almost completely uninterested in, his wife Joni. But the discovery that he was not good under pressure once he was outside the operating theatre - his own little empire - was something he could never have accepted. T. Hamilton McKenzie became at first irritated, then exasperated, and finally downright angry when his daughter failed to return home that Tuesday evening. Sally was never late, or at least not for him. The journey by car from Columbus should have taken no more than thirty minutes, even in the rush-hour traffic. Joni would have picked Sally up if she hadn't fixed her hair appointment so late. 'It's the only time Julian could fit me in,' she explained. She always left everything to the last minute. At 4.50 T. Hamilton McKenzie phoned Columbus School for Girls to check there had been no late change of plan. Columbus doesn't change its plans, the headmistress would have liked to tell the Nobel Laureate, but satisfied herself with assuring him that Sally had left school at four o'clock, and that the limousine company had phoned an hour before to confirm that they would be waiting for her at the end of the drive by the main school gates. Joni kept repeating in that Southern accent he had once found so attractive, 'She'll be here at any minute, jus' you wait. You can always rely on our Sally.' Another man, who was sitting in a hotel room on the other side of town and listening to every word they exchanged, poured himself a beer. By five o'clock, T. Hamilton McKenzie had taken to looking out of the bedroom window every few moments, but the path to their front door lay obstinately unbeaten. He had hoped to leave at 5.20 p.m., allowing himself enough time to arrive at the school with ten or fifteen minutes to spare. If his daughter did not appear soon, he would have to go without her. He warned his wife that nothing would stop him leaving at 5.20 p.m. At 5.20 p.m. T. Hamilton McKenzie placed the notes for his speech on the hall table and began pacing up and down the front path as he waited for his wife and daughter to come from opposite directions. By 5.25 p.m., neither of them was at his side and his famous 'cool' was beginning to show distinct signs of steaming. Joni had taken some considerable time te select an appropriate outfit for the occasion, and was disappointed when she appeared in the hall that her husband didn't even seem to notice. 'We'll have to go without her,' was all he said. 'If Sally hopes to be a doctor one day, she'll have to learn that people have a tendency to die when you keep them waiting.' 'Shouldn't we give her just a li'l longer, honey?' asked Joni. 'No,' he barked, and without even looking back set off for the garage. Joni spotted her husband's notes on the hall table and stuffed them into her handbag before she pulled the front door closed and double-locked it. By the time she reached the road, her husband was already waiting behind the wheel of his car, drumming his fingers on the gear lever. They drove in silence towards Columbus School for Girls. T. Hamilton McKenzie checked every car heading towards Upper Arlington to see if his daughter was in the back seat. A small reception party, led by the headmistress, was waiting for them at the foot of the stone steps at the school's main entrance. The headmistress walked forward to shake hands with the distinguished surgeon as he stepped out of the car, followed by Joni McKenzie. Her eyes