Max lunged forward and yanked her to her feet. Every ache in her body started setting up a protest, and Annie let out a yell.
‘Oh, don’t give me that, I ain’t even touching you. Do you know the lucky escape you’ve just had? That was a fucking lynch mob there at the church, all out for your blood, and I had to walk you out of there with a bodyguard of three blokes who were none too sure they wanted to bother. They did it because I told them to, that’s all. And that made me look like the world’s worst fucking fool.’
Annie stared into Max’s eyes from inches away. It had taken her a while to realize it, but he hadn’t been trying to intimidate her at the church by surrounding her in that way. He’d been protecting her. And when he’d cornered her at his mum’s old house, he hadn’t been planning to hurt her; it had all been for the benefit of the three men waiting outside the door. He’d told her to scream, and she had. In actual pain, although he hadn’t known or intended that.
Annie started to smile.
Max glared at her. ‘What?’ he snapped.
‘I love you, Max Carter,’ she said, wincing as her damaged rib set up a riotous ache. ‘Every macho, hot-headed bit of you.’
‘You what?’
Annie pushed herself free of his grip. She dragged her hands through her hair and stared intently into his eyes.
‘For God’s sake listen,’ she said. ‘This is me. This is not rumour. This is not someone talking in the pub after too many sherbets. I’m telling you that I never slept with Constantine when we met up again. I saw him, yes. But sleep with him? No.’
‘You must think I came upriver on the last banana boat,’ he sneered.
‘No, I think you’re smart. I know you are. When you stop behaving like a jealous arsehole and start thinking, you’ll work it all out.’
Max stood there staring into her eyes for a long time. Then he said: ‘You know what? I don’t have to think about it, I can just beat it out of you.’
‘But you won’t do that,’ said Annie. ‘The great Max Carter, beat a woman up? Nah. That’s never going to happen.’
‘Oh, you think so.’
‘I know so.’
Max’s eyes narrowed. Then he turned away from her, walked a few paces, came back.
‘And while I’m working all this out, what are you going to be doing?’ he asked.
‘Finding Dolly’s killer,’ said Annie.
‘Yeah? On streets where everyone wants you strung up from the nearest lamp post? That’ll be a neat trick.’
‘One word from you would change that.’
‘Yeah. If I could be arsed.’
‘I need some help,’ she said.
Max raised an eyebrow. ‘I heard you had help. For what it’s worth. Jackie Tulliver. That cunt’s a drunk these days, what use is he to you – or anybody?’
Annie remembered that Max hated drunks, and would never tolerate them anywhere near him. He’d been scathingly harsh in the past about her mother, Connie, who’d been a useless alkie and so – in Max’s eyes – beneath contempt.
‘I wasn’t thinking of Jackie,’ she said.
Max’s eyes widened. ‘Oh, have a day off. Me? No bloody way. You’ve made me look enough of a fucking idiot already.’
‘No, not you.’
‘Who then?’
‘I want Tony. I want my driver back.’
78
After Max left, Jackie showed up. Annie guessed he’d been skulking about outside, just waiting for Max to go before he showed himself. Maybe the man had some pride left, after all. Didn’t want his old boss to see the state he was in.
‘So what’s next?’ he asked when she let him in and led the way back across the hall and into the drawing room.
‘For you? Hopefully a bath. And a shave, would that hurt?’
‘Hey, no need to get personal,’ he whined.
Annie sat down and looked up at him. ‘What happened with your mother?’ she asked.
Jackie flinched as if she’d struck him. ‘What you talkin’ about that for?’
‘She died, Steve told me. What was it then? Heart? Cancer?’
Jackie stood there, looking at the floor. ‘I ain’t talkin’ about this.’
‘Maybe you should.’
‘I don’t want to.’
‘Why? She died of old age, I suppose? People do die, Jackie. It’s sad, but it’s part of life. Unavoidable.’
‘I don’t want to talk about it. What’s next, that’s what I came to say. Not to talk about things I’d rather not discuss, OK?’
Annie drew a breath. After today, and seeing Max again, she felt tired out, literally wrung dry. She longed to get some more painkillers down her then fall into bed and sleep. If Jackie didn’t want to talk about what was bugging him, fair enough. She didn’t have the energy to push it. Instead, she would move things forward on what happened to Dolly.
‘Dolly’s brother and sister.’ Annie picked up her bag, pulled out a scrap of paper with Sarah’s address on it. ‘This is her sister Sarah’s address and her married name. I don’t know Nigel’s address. I want you to find out everything you can about both of them. Talk to them, if you can – although I think you’ll find they don’t say much. Tell them you were a friend of Dolly’s and you’re in bits. Work their emotions if they’ve got any, which I doubt. Don’t mention you’re doing this for me, OK?’
Jackie’s thin shoulders slumped and he glanced at Annie. ‘You know what? I did like Dolly. She was straight as a die. A nice person.’
‘Dolly was the best.’ Annie was silent for a moment, fighting down that horrible black wall of grief again. ‘That’s your first job, then. All right? There’s another brother, Sandy, he’s in a home. I’ll find out where and see if there’s any chance of getting any sense out of him. And there’s another brother, Dick – don’t know anything about him yet. Except that he’s living abroad. The father had an accident years ago on the railways, he was a shunter. So maybe the Delaneys didn’t carry out Dolly’s wishes. Anything you can find out about that would be good. What are the narks saying to the Bill?’
‘Nothin’. Precisely fuck-all.’
‘Keep pushing on that.’
‘Jesus! What am I supposed to do in my spare time then?’
‘You got anything on Redmond Delaney yet?’ she said.
‘Still lookin’.’
‘Well, hurry the fuck up, will you? I want him found. The rest of the Delaney mob are toast, but I know for a fact that he’s still walking. Don’t approach him. Just find him. And go easy. I want to talk to him in person.’
‘That whole family’s poison.’
‘They’re all dead, Jackie. All except Redmond. How hard can it be?’
‘All right, all right! I’m on it. What the hell do you want to talk to him for?’
‘Dolly wanted her old dad hit, remember? Ellie told me that Dolly approached the Delaney mob to do the job for her. So my thinking is, was that “accident” really an accident? Who knows? As Redmond’s the only one left, I’m hoping he does.’
Annie reached for her purse, thumbing out a few twenties. She handed them to him. ‘I don’t want this going on drink, you got me? I want everything about Dolly’s family you can find. They’re Catholics – check the parish records, dig up anything and everything. This should be enough to get you started.’
Jackie nodded and took the money, folded it and stuffed it into his jeans pocket. He turned away from her and went to the door. Then he paused.
‘You sure about this Delaney thing? You open a wasps’ nest, you’re gonna get stung, you know.’
‘Do it,’ she said.
Jackie nodded again, his hand on the doorknob.
‘Something else?’ asked Annie when he hesitated.
‘She was crossing the road,’ he said and when he glanced up she saw tears in his bloodshot eyes. ‘My old mum. Too slow, see? Arthritis in the hips. Far too slow. Boy racer comes through, takes her out. Bounced fifty feet, smack on to the pavement. Dead the minute she hit the ground.’