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Lance was also crying, and it was strange because it was he who went to his mother's aid, not Patrick, and she let him hold her, let him comfort her, then she held on to him. For the first time in his life, his mother was hugging him, and he was hugging her back as if his life depended on it.

Spider and Jimmy Brick were both mulling over the news. Everyone had heard about Colleen's body being found, and no one seemed to know what to do about it. It didn't seem right somehow, ringing up, or going to visit, until the family had finally taken it all in. It seemed intrusive. It had been so long since she had disappeared, that it was almost as if she had never been there in the first place.

Lil had once said to Spider that her only solace was, if Colleen was dead, at least she knew that Pat would look after her. Care for her until she could join them.

He had been surprised that she had not thought of the girl's father, had thought that in death he might have finally been redeemed. She was, after all, a church-goer, and she was a believer, as Pat had been. Lenny Brewster was not even to be trusted in death and, he had to admit, Lil was probably right about that.

'Poor Lil, eh? How do you cope with it? A husband murdered, and a child.'

Spider poured them both more Scotch. Only whisky seemed appropriate today; it killed the pain somehow.

'You know, Spider, I always thought she had run off with someone, a boyfriend or such like.'

Spider laughed then, a tired, sad laugh. 'Not little Colleen, she was as green as the grass. She had a bit of life about her, I admit, but she and Christy were as close as two people could be. If that had been the case, he would have known.'

Jimmy thought about what was said. 'Yeah, I suppose you're right. But like Pat's death, it's never sat right with me, you know?'

Spider looked at the man he had known for so many years, and who had returned one day out of the blue. 'Why did you go off, Jim? The truth now, let's be honest with one another.'

Jimmy shrugged, his huge shoulders more noticeable in his expensive jacket. It occurred to Spider then that Jimmy had come back to them all a snappy dresser. Before Pat's death, Jimmy had been an average Joe; he had worked to live, now he lived to work. Liked good clothes, and nice cars.

'Honest, between me and you?'

Spider laughed once more. 'Who the fuck am I going to tell, eh? We are old mates, and somewhere along the line we lost trust in each other, and it grieves me, Jim. All of a sudden, you were gone. One day you were gone, and that was that. You came back, and we were like strangers. Both unsure what had happened to us. To everyone around us.'

Jimmy Brick knew the truth of Spider's words, and he was pleased that one of them had finally brought it out into the open.

'I didn't know who to trust any more, Spider. Patrick's death was so brutal, so fucking senseless, it threw me off kilter. I blamed you for a long time.'

Spider was cross, as Jimmy knew he would be, but he had asked for the truth and finally got it. That child's death had made them all rethink their lives.

'Hey, you asked for the truth and you got it, don't fucking hold it against me now. You were protecting Cain, but you know you should have made sure the situation with the Williams brothers was taken care of. Patrick trusted you to do that; he would have sorted it immediately if it was one of his children. Let alone a brother.'

'Do you still blame me?'

'It's been so long now, what does it matter? Nothing can bring him back, can it? I heard through the grapevine that young Pat ironed out Jasper, so he must have known the score. He is a shrewd man, like his father before him, but Patrick has something his father never had.'

'And what's that then?'

Jimmy could hear the coldness that had crept into Spider's voice. 'A taste for revenge.'

Patrick had rung and told them all there was more news about Colleen, so they were all waiting now with bated breath, and in Lil's case, a terror in her heart at what she was going to hear.

'Where's Lance?'

Patrick shrugged. 'He said he was caught up in traffic, he won't be long.'

Annie nodded. She was making tea while watching out for Kathleen as she chain-smoked her cigarettes and stared into space. She was capable of going on one of her wanders if not watched closely, and that's the last thing they needed on this day of all days.

Lil looked around her at everyone in the room. 'You know, it's funny, but people have actually asked me what was worse, to have a husband murdered, or a child? And I couldn't answer that question. I still don't know the answer to that question… I always said that we didn't know if Colleen had been murdered, you know…'

She was panicking suddenly, and her voice was faltering; she felt the air rising up inside her body, hot and clammy. Stopping her from breathing.

When she opened her eyes, Scanlon was there, and everyone was looking down at her; she understood then that she had passed out. Never before in her life had she fainted.

'Come on, Mum, sit up, drink this.'

She sat up with difficulty, and drank the brandy Eileen had poured for her. When she was feeling brighter, she looked at the policeman who had gone from enemy to friend in a few short days, and said, 'Come on then, what have you got to tell us?'

Her voice was full of false determination. He knew she didn't really want to know; she needed to know. There was a big difference.

'Shouldn't we wait for Lance?'

'I don't think so. I need to talk now, get this over with.'

Scanlon was so nervous, he had to tell them something so heinous, so fucking hateful, and he knew he had to do it. He knew he had to get this thing out, had to explain why that child had died. He was glad that Lance wasn't there, somehow it made this all easier.

'We traced the owners of the house back to a couple, now living in Spain. By the condition of the remains, and from the date she was reported missing, we sorted out who was living there on or around that time.'

He sighed, and sipped the drink Patrick had poured for him, before continuing. 'This is the strange thing, when the Spanish police went to their house to question them, the man broke down immediately and admitted everything.'

No one spoke for a while.

'What was his name?'

This from Christy, who was already suspicious.

'Gardener. Sammy Gardener.'

Lil sat up in her seat then, as did most of the people in the room. 'Sammy Gardener, Ugly Sammy?'

Scanlon nodded again, hating himself for what he had to do, and knowing he had to do it.

'But why? He was friends with us, with Patrick, my husband Patrick. I knew his first wife. Sammy wasn't a killer…'

She was distressed, she didn't want Colleen to have been killed by someone they knew and trusted, it was worse somehow, worse than a stranger doing it. A stranger wouldn't have known how lovely she was, a stranger wouldn't have known how much they loved her. A stranger was just a nutter, and they were not someone you could focus on, could see as a real person.

'He said he had a reason for it…'

Patrick was watching him now, as were Shamus and Christopher. The three of them all looked at one another, and they all seemed to know what Scanlon was going to say.

Eileen was crying now. The guilt that had been eating at her for so long was now once more to the forefront of her mind. 'What reason could anyone have to hurt Colleen. She was a little girl, for Christ's sakes, a bloody little girl… Ain't it enough me dad was murdered. Why was she murdered and all? What is fucking wrong with this family? What is this all about?'

Paulie pulled her into his arms then, and she buried her face in his chest, the tears were already falling. Eileen had thought about Colleen every day of her life, and it never got easier. Her guilt at Colleen's disappearance had eaten away at her for so long. Her mum had been so ill in hospital, she had taken over as the woman of the house and she was supposed to have been looking after the kids. Watching out for them, caring for them, and she had lost her, had not even missed, her until it was too late. Colleen had been taken and murdered, and Eileen was responsible for it, had been so busy with herself and pretending to be everyone's mother.