The Annie Carter Series Books 1–4. Jessie Keane

Limehouse, but you couldn’t take Limehouse out of the girl. Dolly was terrified of dentists. Any medical procedure filled her with horror. Annie was sure this was because of the abortion she had endured in her youth.

      ‘Take a seat, Ellie,’ said Annie.

      Ellie didn’t look right, she thought. And she was far too quiet.

      Annie went and poured three brandies. She brought them back and put them on the big coffee table between the two Chesterfield sofas. Ellie grabbed hers with a shaking hand and chucked it back in one.

      ‘Ellie’s being a bit silly,’ said Dolly, watching the girl.

      ‘I’m not being silly,’ said Ellie flatly.

      ‘Yes you are,’ snapped Dolly. She looked at Annie. ‘She’s talking about going to the Bill and confessing.’

      Annie’s mouth dropped open.

      ‘Look, this has been tormenting me for months now. We killed him,’ said Ellie defensively. ‘I killed him. I can’t go on like this. I’m jumping at everything and anything. I can’t sleep. I can’t eat. Chris is suspicious.’

      ‘Chris is getting suspicious because you’re acting like a cat on hot bricks,’ said Dolly. ‘Chris knows nothing. If you cool it, he’ll settle down.’

      ‘But I’ll still know I killed him.’

      Annie took a breath. She could sympathize with Ellie’s plight. The flashbacks had gone now, but for some time after that awful night she too had been like Ellie – in a right fucking state.

      ‘Look, Ellie,’ said Annie. ‘We all know what happened that night and it wasn’t our fault. Pat was out of control. He was going to hurt us. We had to get in first, that was all.’

      ‘That’s all.’ Ellie laughed loudly. ‘We killed him. We didn’t just rap him over the knuckles and tell him not to be a bad boy any more. We slit his fucking throat.’

      Dolly gave Annie a look that said: ‘You see?’

      ‘We all know what we did,’ said Annie. ‘We did what we had to do to survive.’

      ‘The Delaneys suspect something,’ said Ellie.

      ‘What do you mean?’ asked Annie.

      ‘They keep saying when did I last see Pat, have I heard anything about Pat, where is Pat …’

      ‘They’re just fishing,’ said Dolly.

      ‘They know,’ said Ellie.

      ‘They know nothing,’ said Annie firmly.

      ‘I’m telling you, they know we did it,’ shouted Ellie, jumping to her feet. ‘What does it take to make you two see that? We have to go to the police, they’ll protect us!’

      Annie stood up, hauled her arm back and gave Ellie a hefty slap across the face. Ellie recoiled and nearly fell. Annie grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard.

      ‘Listen to me, you daft little bint,’ snarled Annie. ‘Go to the police? Are you off your head? Do that and the police will be the least of your troubles. Do you seriously think that when you’re banged up inside for murder the Delaneys won’t be able to reach you? An eye for an eye, that’s their motto. They’ve got contacts everywhere. They’ll get to you even if you are behind bars. You’ll be found hanging in your cell, so sad, just suicide, these lags commit suicide all the time – or you’ll somehow miraculously get hold of some razor blades and slit your wrists. Tragic! Do you think anyone will care whether or not it was suicide or if someone helped you on your way?’

      Ellie was crying now. The side of her face where Annie had delivered the slap was glowing red. She was staring at Annie with shocked, wounded eyes. Annie felt bad, but she had to harden her heart. Ellie was hysterical and she was going to get them all done for at this rate. She had to be told.

      ‘But what are we going to do?’ Ellie wailed.

      Annie’s grip on Ellie’s shoulders relaxed.

      ‘What we are going to do is nothing,’ she said. ‘We’re going to sit tight and let the whole thing die down. There was no great affection between Redmond and Pat, everyone knows that. Redmond might look around for his brother, but he won’t look too hard or for too long.’

      ‘I don’t know,’ moaned Ellie.

      Annie’s eyes met Dolly’s over Ellie’s head. This was worrying. They couldn’t have Ellie rattling around like this, threatening all their lives.

      ‘Sit down, Ellie,’ said Annie, and Ellie thumped back on to the Chesterfield beside Dolly. Dolly put a motherly arm around the younger girl and patted her shoulder.

      Annie sat down opposite. She’d made a decision. She knew what to say.

      ‘You don’t know that Dolly and I met Celia at my mum’s funeral, do you Ellie?’

      That got her attention. ‘Celia?’ Ellie stopped dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. ‘Is she … Jesus, did you really? Is she all right?’

      Dolly was silent, watching Annie. She had an idea where this was headed, and she was going to let Annie get on with it. It might even work.

      ‘No, Ellie. She wasn’t all right at all.’

      ‘What …?’ Ellie glanced feverishly between Annie and Dolly. ‘What do you mean? Is she okay?’

      ‘She’s fucking marvellous, Ellie,’ said Annie, sipping her brandy. She felt like she needed it. ‘Only she had a slight accident, you see.’

      ‘What sort of accident?’

      Annie felt sorry for Ellie, but she ploughed on. This had to be done.

      ‘A serious one. You see, Pat Delaney cut her hand off.’

      Ellie gave an audible gasp.

      Annie went on. ‘He blamed it on Max Carter. He as good as told me on the night we killed him that he’d done it. He did it out of spite, on a whim. That’s what your precious Delaneys are like, Ellie. They’re vicious and they’re violent. And the fact that you’ve been passing information to them won’t help you if they’ve got you in their sights. It didn’t help Celia. She’s been paying them off for years, she must have thought she was well in. Well – she wasn’t.’

      ‘I don’t pass them information,’ said Ellie lamely, her face a picture of shock and dismay.

      ‘Come off it Ellie. It was one of the first things Celia told me about you. You’re a Delaney girl. That’s okay. But be your own girl first, Ellie. Don’t throw your life away and ours with it.’

      Annie paused, letting it all sink in.

      ‘I’ve had bad dreams since it happened, Ellie,’ Annie went on. ‘Waking dreams sometimes. Seeing it all over again. That night.’

      ‘Me too,’ said Ellie in a shaking voice.

      ‘It’s going though, Ellie. It’s passing. Soon it will be gone. Yours will too. It will get better and soon it will be nothing but a memory. Until then, we’re all here to help you and talk to you, day or night. Darren and Aretha, they’ve been good friends to you. So have Dolly and I. We’re friends. We’re tight together, aren’t we? We’re the closest any of us have got to real family. You don’t betray your family, Ellie love, now do you?’

      ‘Thanks, Annie,’ said Dolly quietly when Ellie had gone off to the bathroom to sort out her ruined make-up. ‘I think you’ve done the trick. She was giving me the willies. Climbing the walls.’

      ‘Let’s hope that’s the last of it,’ said Annie.

      But she wasn’t convinced.