Terry knew that another lie wasn’t going to wash with her this time. He needed to tell her the truth. Tell her the truth and then beg for forgiveness, so that they could start again.
‘Pull up a chair, Kel? Please, just give me a few minutes, yeah? Here, kids, do you want to go down the corridor to the vending machine and get yourself some sweets?’
Screeching excitedly, Billy and Miley jumped off the bed and waited for some money.
‘You haven’t got a couple of quid, have you, Kel? I’m skint . . .’
Fumbling through her handbag, Kelly found some money and handed it to the children.
‘Stay together, and I want you both straight back here,’ Kelly warned as the kids ran from the room.
Sitting down next to her husband, Kelly had had so much to say before, but suddenly everything that she had felt about Terry up until now just diminished into nothing. All the feelings of anger, hurt, betrayal; she didn’t feel anything.
‘I’m sorry for what I did, Kel. That girl meant nothing to me. None of them ever have. It’s you I love. I’ve been a fool. Please, Kel, let’s start again. I can get through a term in prison if I know that you and the kids will be waiting for me. Please, Kel, just say that we can give it one more go.’
Kelly shook her head. Looking down at the floor, she realised that she couldn’t even look Terry in the eye. Laid out in the hospital bed, pleading for her forgiveness with that pathetic look on his face, Kelly, for the first time ever, felt nothing towards him.
Her father had died. Christopher was sick. Really sick. All those murders he’d committed. She couldn’t get her brain around it. How could her own brother be capable of such heinous acts? How could none of them have realised? The whole family were in shock and Kelly didn’t have the energy to deal with Terry now too.
‘You and the kids are my everything, Kel. Things will change from now on, I promise you, babe.’
‘Of course things will change, Terry. You can’t go off getting your leg over with a load of young tarts in prison, not unless you start batting for the other team.’ Keeping her tone nonchalant as she spoke, Kelly no longer cared about her marriage. It had been nothing but a joke from day one. Normally she would have revelled in his apologies, thoroughly enjoying every moment of making him squirm after he’d done wrong by her.
But now, his empty words meant nothing. She’d been living as a single mother for the past few weeks, since Terry had gone on the run, and she’d surprised even herself at how easily she’d coped. She didn’t need Terry.
And she certainly didn’t love him anymore.
‘When I get out we can run the bar together, Kel. Go on a big fancy holiday. Your dad’s bound to have left you some money, ain’t he? It’s got to be a small fortune at least. We’ll be laughing, babe.’
Incredulous, Kelly stared at Terry now. Her dad’s body was barely cold and already Terry’s brain was tallying up how much Kelly was set to inherit.
‘Money? Is that all you’re thinking about?’ Kelly glared at Terry now, and she could see by the solemn expression on his face that he knew he’d said the wrong thing. ‘Do you seriously think I’m going to put my life on hold for the next five years while you’re doing time, so that when you do finally get out I can fund your gambling and whoring addiction? You must think I’m a right mug, Terry!’
All this time she had put Terry before everyone else, even herself. Her dad had been right all along. Kelly could see Terry with full clarity now.
‘I want a divorce.’ The words tumbled out of her mouth unplanned, but the second that she said them she knew that was exactly what she wanted.
Terry was a user. He only wanted her now because he had nothing else. No-one else.
‘My dad was right about you from the start, Terry.’ Kelly stood up. ‘And do you know what? I would rather be alone for the rest of my life, than spend five more minutes married to you. You’re nothing more than a lying, cheating scumbag. Life is too short.’
Turning on her heel, Kelly walked out of the room. She held her head high as she caught the prison guard’s admiring glance. After overhearing the whole conversation, he smiled at her; a small appreciative look at an attractive woman who had finally come to her senses and ditched her lowlife husband.
Terry caught the man’s gaze too. ‘Oi, that’s my fucking wife,’ he shouted with venom.
Then, turning her head, Kelly stared Terry right in the eyes. ‘Not anymore, darling. Not anymore.’
Epilogue
Running out to the car, Evie jumped in the passenger seat.
‘I thought you were never going to come home.’
Raymond, seeing the excitement on Evie’s face, couldn’t help but laugh. He had actually been dying for a cup of tea, but he knew that the chances of him being able to go inside and have one now were non-existent.
Putting his foot down, he tossed his phone down on the dashboard.
‘Well, I might have got here quicker, only my phone kept going off. Some real impatient young one kept sending me text messages every five minutes telling me to hurry up.’ Raymond grinned.
Today had been the end of an era for him, but he was feeling surprisingly good about it. He’d just been over at the massage parlour with Molly, and officially signed all the paperwork over to her name. The parlour and the brothel were hers now. Molly had been running those places for him for years.
Raymond was taking a leaf out of his friend’s book.
Harry had been on to something when he’d said he wanted to step back, and now, with more money than he knew what to do with, Raymond was following suit. He’d moved into Harry’s house, and for now, until the kids were ready to sell it, Raymond was happy to stay there and look after Evie.
She didn’t want to return to school. And after she’d finally told him about the bullying she had endured, Raymond had no intentions of making her go back.
Harry’s passing wasn’t what any of them would have chosen, but Raymond was determined not to have his friend die in vain. This was a new start for them all.
A clean slate.
No more crime.
‘Do you think Kelly will have left yet? She’ll be all over him like a rash if she has and I probably won’t get a look-in.’
Raymond laughed now. Evie’s excitement was infectious. He’d promised Evie that no matter where he was, or what time of day or night it was, he would get her to the hospital before Kelly got there. It had been a running joke with the girls as to who was going to be their newborn nephew’s favourite auntie, and Evie was determined to be the first person other than Nathan and Cassie to hold the little fella.
Pulling up at the hospital a few minutes later, Raymond was still laughing as he and Evie raced through the corridors of the maternity ward.
‘Auntie Evie, meet Harry Junior.’ Placing the small bundle in Evie’s arms, Nathan smiled over at Cassie. Calling him Harry after his father had been Cassie’s idea, and the second that she had suggested it, Nathan had thought it was perfect.
He could tell by the look on Evie’s face that she thought so too.
‘Hello, baby Harry,’ Evie cooed. Looking down at the tiny boy, she could see the likeness in his face. His eyes were just like her father’s, just like Nathan’s. Bending down, she kissed the baby on his plump little cheek, and then seconds later she smiled triumphantly as Kelly walked through the door with Billy and Miley.
‘Ahh, typical.’ Kelly shook her head. ‘Billy couldn’t find his trainer, and just as we were leaving Miley needed a wee.’
‘Here, have a cuddle with your Auntie Kelly.’ Evie offered the baby to Kelly.
‘Ahh, Cassie, he is gorgeous, bless him!’ Gazing down at her new nephew adoringly, Kelly cooed.
‘Guess what they’ve called him, Kelly?’ Evie looked at Cassie and Nathan for permission to tell Kelly. They both smiled back at her.
&n
bsp; ‘Harry Junior.’
‘Ahh that’s lovely. Named after your granddad.’ Kelly turned to Miley and Billy, but before she’d even finished the sentence she was off again, crying her heart out.
‘Uncle Nathan, I think you should take the baby off Mummy,’ Miley said seriously.
‘Yeah,’ Billy chipped in, ‘she’s crying all over him.’
Kelly couldn’t help but laugh then. Smiling through her tears at her children, Kelly knew that because of them, she’d get through all of this.
‘Your dad would be really proud of you, Nathan.’ Raymond walked over and hugged the boy as Harry would have done if he was here. He knew that it was going to be moments like this when the kids really felt Harry’s absence the most.
Raymond intended on doing right by Harry, just like he had promised. He owed him that much.
Smiling around the room at Kelly and the kids, and Cassie cooing over the baby, Raymond’s eyes rested on Evie. Out of all of them, Harry’s death had hit her the hardest.
Staring out of the window now, she looked deep in thought, like she was in another world. She was the image of her mother.
Raymond hated Evelyn.
What she’d done to Harry. How she’d tried to break him.
More than that, he hated himself.
Harry had never found out the whole truth. Evelyn might have been a heartless bitch but she had spared him that much at least.
When Harry had called him that tragic day to tell him what Christopher had done, to ask him to take the boy away so that Christopher could never be implicated, Raymond had been glad to find out that Evelyn was dead. She was a bitter, nasty drunk. After sleeping with half of London, she had been threatening to tell Harry everything. Harry had been heartbroken – his wife was leaving him and the young daughter he adored wasn’t his.
Evelyn had spared him the truth about Raymond.
Raymond hadn’t loved Evelyn, he’d only ever wanted her out of lust.
Beautiful women had always been his downfall.
And Evelyn had been beyond beautiful. She had been stunning and totally out of bounds: she was Harry’s wife.
It had only happened the once, but like they said, once was enough.
Evie was his daughter.
All this time, he’d had to stand back and watch Harry raise her as his own. Raymond could never have broken Harry by telling him any different, so he’d settled for second best – her favourite uncle. And that was all right: kids weren’t his forte.
And it quickly become apparent as Evie had grown up that Harry was Evie’s hero. They had an amazing bond, which Raymond never wanted to take away from her.
Raymond was determined to do right by his friend now, like he should have done all those years ago. He owed it to Harry, and he owed it to Evie to make this right. And he would, no matter what the cost to him.
Evie would never find out the truth, he would make sure of it.
‘Here, Raymond, you look a million miles away.’ Nathan laughed. ‘Grab us that bag from under the bed, will you?’
Pulling the bag out, Raymond smiled as he peered inside at the champagne and the plastic cups that Nathan had brought in especially.
‘Well, if Dad was here, he’d be whipping out the champagne, wouldn’t he?’ Nathan laughed. ‘Can’t argue with the Woods tradition, can we now!’
Passing the cups around, Nathan turned to Cassie who was holding the baby in her arms and looking down at their tiny son adoringly.
Raising his glass and with a tear in his eye, Nathan smiled. He could almost feel his father’s spirit standing beside him smiling down at his new grandson proudly.
‘To my beautiful wife, and our gorgeous son.’
Everyone in the room raised their glasses in union.
‘To Harry.’
Acknowledgements
Many thanks to Emilie Marneur for giving me this fantastic opportunity to publish my fourth novel with Thomas & Mercer. The journey has been a hugely exciting one, and I have loved every second of it. Huge thanks to Victoria Pepe for the main editorial work – your ideas and input really helped to pull everything together, and it was a pleasure working alongside you. Huge thanks also to Emma Clements for the great work on the copy-edit. Not an easy challenge I’m sure!
Special thanks to David Gaylor – Peter James’ real life ‘Roy Grace’ – for allowing me to bombard you with questions on police procedures. I really appreciated all your help.
Massive thanks to all of my family and friends for your constant support and encouragement, especially to Danny and my boys; my parents, and my sister. Special thanks to my brother Seán for always trawling through my first drafts and giving me his honest feedback, and also to my bestie Lucy (my #freeagent) – thank you for all of your help and advice along the way. And more importantly for introducing me to gin!
And most of all, thank you to you, the reader. For leaving your reviews, and sending me emails, and for all the encouragement and feedback that you give me on Facebook and Twitter. It means so much.
Without YOU, none of this would have been possible. X
About the Author
Photo © 2014 Steve Fisher at VisualChaos Studios
Born in Cuckfield, West Sussex, Casey Kelleher grew up as an avid reader and a huge fan of author Martina Cole.
Whilst working as a beauty therapist and bringing up her three children together with her fiancé, Casey penned her debut novel Rotten to the Core. Its success meant that she could give up her day job and concentrate on writing full time.
She has since published Rise and Fall, Heartless and her latest release, Bad Blood.
Bad Blood Page 29
