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Back Familiar Strangers Save as PDF
Chapters (71)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Chapter Forty-Eight
  52. Chapter Forty-Nine
  53. Chapter Fifty
  54. Chapter Fifty-One
  55. Chapter Fifty-Two
  56. Chapter Fifty-Three
  57. Chapter Fifty-Four
  58. Chapter Fifty-Five
  59. Chapter Fifty-Six
  60. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  61. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  62. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  63. Chapter Sixty
  64. Chapter Sixty-One
  65. Chapter Sixty-Two
  66. Chapter Sixty-Three
  67. Chapter Sixty-Four
  68. A Letter from Jackie
  69. Acknowledgements
  70. About the Author
  71. Also by Jackie Walsh

How could I have forgotten? Of course I have to go to New Orleans, it’s my best chance, my only hope to get an answer. Turner is not letting up. She won’t tell me anything, just question after question. Well, now it’s my turn to ask the questions. Let’s hope Thomas Collins has the answers.

I’m wondering why Jeff is so interested in all of this. Maybe he just wants a trip to New Orleans, but with me? Really, Jeff, the woman who’s ‘not your type’?

‘You don’t have to come to New Orleans, Jeff. I can go on my own.’

‘I want to go, I’ve been meaning to go for a while now, catch up with Winters.’

‘Who’s Winters?’

‘A buddy of mine… Friday suit?’

‘Fuck, I have that stupid baby shower thing for Joanna.’

‘Well, when would suit you?’

I think about this for a while then suddenly remember I haven’t got any money. I don’t even have a spare dollar to buy Danny and Joanna a gift for the baby shower, never mind a trip to New Orleans.

‘Sorry, Jeff, I don’t have any money.’

I empty my bag out on the couch – lipsticks, ticket stubs, keys, a few coins, a few dollars. ‘That’s it, that all I got,’ I say, glancing quickly at Jeff before turning back to grab the stuff from the sofa and stuffing it back into my bag.

‘Who said anything about money? I don’t have much cash lying around either, but what I do have is this.’

‘What’s that?’

Jeff is waving a plastic card at me.

‘Air miles,’ he says. ‘My sister said I could use them as I please. In fact, she said they’d go out of date if I didn’t use them.’

First thing next week I’m going to New Orleans after funerals, baby showers and whatever else God decides to throw my way. If I’m going down, I want to know why. Jeff also got us a place to stay, with some friend of his who left college the same time he did, after the first semester. Hank Winters. He went to New Orleans, sang a few songs, and wound up buying a couple of dingy hotels in the French Quarter. Jeff was going to go in with Hank but discovered that babysitting his sister’s rabbits and playing the odd gig in the venues he liked to play suited him better. ‘One or two nights should do it,’ Jeff says, before ending his call to Hank. ‘If we’re going to be lucky, we’re going to be lucky.’

Chapter Twenty-Nine