The Annie Carter Series Books 1–4. Jessie Keane

couldn’t face you. I hated the very thought of you. I had to leave. But now I know it was Pat Delaney who did it. Something he said before he died. It was him, the rotten, sick bastard. He did it to cause trouble for you, you’re right.’

      Max gazed out over the river. A barge passed by, slipping silently through the water like a snake through oil.

      ‘Then you left me for nothing,’ he said. ‘You lied to me and told me it was because of Ruthie.’

      Annie turned her head and glared at him. ‘It is about Ruthie. It always has been and it always will be! It was just …’ she paused, feeling hopelessly confused. ‘It was just easier to lose you if I could believe that you were the one responsible for Celia.’

      ‘You’re still in love with me.’

      Annie looked directly at him. She quickly looked away. ‘Do you still have the apartment?’ she asked. ‘Not that it matters.’

      ‘No,’ said Max. ‘I hated the fucking place without you.’

      Annie shook her head. ‘I loved it there,’ she said sadly.

      ‘We could be there again,’ said Max.

      ‘No. No going back.’ She felt as if her heart was bleeding. He was right, she was still in love with him. Totally and hopelessly in love. But it could never be.

      ‘Why?’

      Annie leapt to her feet and started to pace around in agitation.

      ‘You fucking-well know why, Max,’ she burst out. ‘Because it’s still about Ruthie. My blood. My kin. All right, I didn’t tell you the full story when I told you I was leaving you because of her. I didn’t tell you about Celia and I should have done. Maybe I should have trusted you more and doubted you less, but you made it hard for me.’

      ‘So what are you saying?’

      ‘I’m saying I did the right thing that day, for the wrong reason.’

      ‘You’re saying it’s over.’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Is there another layer to this?’

      ‘What?’ Annie frowned. Now what the hell was he talking about?

      ‘Kieron Delaney?’

      Annie sighed. There had always been trouble between the two families, trouble from way back, and she knew it wasn’t over yet.

      ‘You and the sodding Delaneys. You’re like a dog with a bone, Max.’

      ‘It’s my fucking bone.’

      ‘There’s nothing between Kieron and me.’

      ‘He’d like there to be.’

      ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake!’ Annie threw her arms wide in exasperation. She was shaking with nervous exhaustion. ‘Make this easy for me, will you? I can’t do this to Ruthie any more. It’s making me sick. Let me go, Max.’

      ‘I can’t.’

      ‘You have to.’

      ‘Telling me what to do?’

      ‘I have free will, Max. Like Kieron, I’m not afraid of you. Go back to your boys, and leave me to live my life again.’

      Max stood up and came very close to her. They locked eyes.

      ‘It’s Kieron Delaney,’ he said again.

      ‘No. It’s not.’ Annie stared straight back at him.

      ‘It fucking is.’ Sudden rage flicked on in Max’s eyes. ‘I’m going to do that rotten little fucker.’

      Now Annie was getting riled up too. ‘What, like you did his brother Tory?’

      ‘For Christ’s sake, Annie, you can’t get on your high horse, now can you? Or have you forgotten what happened to Pat?’ spat Max.

      Annie went pale. He was right, she was no better than he was.

      Max was furious now, coming in close to her and glaring into her eyes.

      ‘Listen,’ he growled. ‘I didn’t touch Tory Delaney, but right now I could wipe every Delaney there is right off the face of the earth. Why the fucking hell you feel you have to defend the bastards I just don’t know. Perhaps you could explain that to me?’

      ‘I don’t have to explain anything to you, Max,’ yelled Annie. ‘It seems to have escaped your notice, but you don’t fucking own me, okay?’

      Max leaned forward, breathing hard. He was going to kiss her. Annie braced herself for it, told herself that she would be strong, she wouldn’t weaken. But he hesitated, then drew back.

      ‘If I find out you’re lying over that ponce Kieron Delaney, I’ll kill the bastard, Annie. You hear me? I’ll kill him.’

      He turned away and started walking back towards the car.

      Annie stood there staring after him. Fuck it, she had wanted him to kiss her. He could still get to her, just like he always could.

      ‘Home’s in a different place now,’ she called after him.

      ‘I know,’ Max threw back over his shoulder. ‘It’s in Upper Brook Street. You’re running a business there.’

      ‘Is there anything you don’t know?’ asked Annie, her voice sad and low.

      Max stopped walking and turned back to face her. ‘I don’t know how to get you, Annie Bailey,’ he said. ‘But I tell you this – if I can’t have you, no one else is going to have you either. Particularly not a fucking Delaney.’

       47

      Orla Delaney bent and laid a bouquet of twelve blood-red roses on her brother Tory’s grave. Kieron stood to one side and watched her as she emptied the dead blooms, put in fresh water from one of the council cans, and carefully started to arrange the fresh flowers in the urn. Petey, her minder, watched them from the cemetery gates.

      She was good to do it, thought Kieron. Every week, she was here.

      ‘I do it for Mum and Dad,’ she said once when he questioned her about it. ‘I promised them I would.’

      Still, he thought she was good to do it. Very good, under the circumstances.

      It was cold today. An arctic breeze swept through the graveyard. It was autumn and soon winter would be here. Jaysus, he hated the winter. Africa had been heaven compared to this. He pushed his hands into his coat pockets, hunched his shoulders against the cold, and watched her.

      ‘I’ve been thinking,’ he said. ‘Maybe we should report Pat missing to the police, what do you think?’

      Pat hadn’t been seen for over two months now. All right, Kieron hated the bastard, but the bastard was his brother and it seemed like he had dropped off the edge of the world. Whether he wanted to or not, he was starting to feel concerned.

      Orla thrust the last of the blooms into the urn and straightened up. She looked him dead in the eye.

      ‘You’re having a laugh,’ she said.

      ‘No,’ said Kieron. ‘I’m not. It’s looking odd, Pat not checking in with any of us for this length of time.’

      ‘We don’t ever deal with the police, Kieron,’ said Orla. ‘Jaysus, you don’t know much about this family but you must know that.’

      There it was again. He was Kieron the outsider. Kieron the precious little artist, while his brothers did all the real work. It annoyed him.

      ‘So what do we do then?’ he demanded. ‘Just let it go?’

      ‘Yes,