“Yeah?  How?” 

“There are two cars out there.  If I make a fuss of driving out with John with me, they could both follow us, but only if we look and act suspicious enough.  To get them both to follow us, we’d need a ploy.  Something to make them think we have a plan.   John could go to the public call box along at the end of the road and hang about for a few minutes.  I could phone him using my mobile.  I’ve phoned him there before, haven’t I John?”  He nodded.  Since he wasn’t working, he hadn’t got a phone and they did occasionally arrange to talk there.

“They’d think he was waiting on a call from you.  Then he could come back here and I could drive him somewhere.  If I drive off in the opposite way to home, they’d figure I had to be up to something.  I could drive around and leave John somewhere near waste ground, near derelict houses or somewhere where they might think you’d be hiding out.  The first car would stay there.  That team would follow John.  They’d then send the second car to tail me.  You could wait until we were well clear and come out.  Go upstairs and put on one of the old overcoats in the hall.  You’d need to change your appearance a bit.  Wear a flat cap or something.”

The plan sounded good to Moondog.

“If you sneak out, along the hedge when I drive out…..keep a lookout through the branches to see if the two cars follow us, then you’ll know the coast is clear.  Give him the front door key John.”  He complied with Ruth’s request, telling Moondog to hide it up on the door frame when he had finished with it, so that he could get in again.

“Take this.  It’s all the money I have on me.  They’ll release an E-fit, a computer generated picture of you, if your Gran had no recent ones of you.  Every newspaper will have it on its front page in the morning.  People will recognise you.  You’ll have to get as far away from here as quickly as possible.  Try to be well out of Belfast, if not Northern Ireland, by tomorrow.  Okay?”