Keira felt a punch of adrenaline in her stomach.
She’d been to Cushendun only once in her life, as an eight-year-old child with her mother and grandmother to stay at the Cushendun hotel.
The memory was seared into her brain.
It was the last time she’d seen her father alive.
‘What the fuck does it have to do with you?’ replied Keira, letting the danger creep into her voice.
‘Well, I was just sitting on that wall over there thinking to myself I know you from somewhere, and now that I see you up close I’m almost certain. The boys from Northern Ireland were called Sean and Danny McGuire, and their ma watched on just like you were doing today . . . she would be your grandmother. Now, I have a confession to make. I wasn’t just watching those boys on the beach, I was watching you too: and if you’d care to put that knife you stuck up your sleeve back on the table I’ll tell you a few other things.’
‘Like?’
The guy took his sunglasses off and folded them shut.
Sharp, black, familiar eyes stared back at her.
‘Like . . . Your name is not Keira Lynch, it’s Niamh McGuire. Like: you chose “Róisín Dubh” to play at your grandmother’s funeral, which is exactly the music I would have chosen. Like: I know who taught you to throw a knife and I don’t want you sticking me with a blade before I’ve had a chance to say everything I’ve come here to say.’
Keira let the knife slip into the palm of her hand, placed it back on top of the table and rose to her feet. ‘How d’you know about “Róisín Dubh”?’
‘I was there.’
Keira had tears streaming down her face as she asked, ‘Who was it taught me to throw a knife?’
‘Your uncle Danny . . .’
‘And how would you know such a thing?’
The words choked in the man’s throat as he answered, ‘Because he was my wee brother.’
Keira stood motionless for a moment, then reached out, took hold of her father’s hands and pulled him closer.
‘You’ll be all right, darlin’, don’t you worry now,’ said Sean McGuire as he held his daughter tight and kissed her on the forehead for the first time.
Also by J. G. Sinclair
Seventy Times Seven
What happens when the man you have to kill is the only man who has the answers you seek?
A hit man trying to find answers to his brother’s murder. An informer trying to flee his past. A family under threat.
Rural Northern Ireland and small-town Alabama: Two places connected by a deadly act – an act that draws two men, and those closest to them, into a spiral of lies, violence and murder as they try to lay their ghosts to rest.
But can you ever be forgiven for the sins of your past?
‘One of the finest debuts of the decade.’ Ken Bruen
‘A brutal, extremely addictive and vivid portrayal of the sins of men finally catching up with them. This is a very strong
debut tinged with sadness that will stay with you
long after the final page.’ Crimesquad.com
‘An impressive debut . . . Fast and bloody, though with
some moving touches, and Sinclair scores top marks
for the exceptionally vivid dialogue.’ The Times
Blood Whispers
How do you tell the truth in a world full of lies?
Keira Lynch is one of Glasgow’s top defence lawyers with a reputation for keeping her clients out of prison. If Keira’s in your corner then the opposition had better watch out.
But Keira has a past that she’s spent years trying to put behind her – new country, new name, new start – until her latest case threatens to bring her back into the world she thought she’d left behind; a world of violence, where perhaps the most dangerous person isn’t the one chasing you, but the one closest to you.
‘Fast-paced action, riveting characters and a plot driven by breathtaking violence . . . A rapid-fire story that secures him a safe berth in the pantheon of exciting, hard-hitting Tartan Noir authors.’ Lancashire Evening Post
‘Sinclair is the real thing – a full-throttle writer of energy and inventiveness.’ Barry Forshaw, Good Book Guide
About the Author
J. G. Sinclair was born in Glasgow, Scotland. He is the author of the novels Seventy Times Seven and Blood Whispers. As the actor John Gordon Sinclair, his first film won him a BAFTA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer to a Leading Film Role, and his first outing in London’s West End won him an Olivier Award for Best Actor. He lives in Surrey with his wife and their two children.
By the Same Author
Seventy Times Seven
Blood Whispers
Copyright
First published in 2017
by Faber & Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2017
All rights reserved
© J. G. Sinclair, 2017
Cover design by Faber
Cover photograph © Silas Manhood
The right of J. G. Sinclair to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–32663–1
Walk in Silence Page 27