BooksBarbecue
Back The Last Crossing Save as PDF
Chapters (69)
  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. The First Crossing
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Cross Country
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. The Woods
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Chapter Forty-Five
  53. Chapter Forty-Six
  54. Chapter Forty-Seven
  55. Chapter Forty-Eight
  56. Chapter Forty-Nine
  57. Chapter Fifty
  58. Chapter Fifty-One
  59. Chapter Fifty-Two
  60. Chapter Fifty-Three
  61. Chapter Fifty-Four
  62. Chapter Fifty-Five
  63. Chapter Fifty-Six
  64. The Last Crossing
  65. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  66. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  67. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  68. Acknowledgements
  69. Copyright

Mullan nodded, though seemed a little distracted, always keeping Duggan in his peripheral vision.

‘Those days are long past,’ he said. ‘The new future demands that we make up for some of the cruelty of previous generations.’

It was an absurd soundbite, clearly prepared for the conference he was speaking at and cribbed to use now. They were the generation who had carried out this act and for all his attempts to dissociate himself, Mullan’s hands were as bloody as anyone’s. Bloodier, in fact.

‘I don’t think Hugh’s too happy about it,’ Tony said, nodding towards the man who had moved around to the boot of the car and was recovering a bag from the boot.

‘Hugh?’ Mullan said, sceptically. ‘Sure, it was him suggested doing this in the first place. We’d never have asked you if he hadn’t already agreed.’

‘Hugh suggested it?’

Mullan nodded. ‘He suggested it and he suggested this date for coming across.’

‘What’s that I did?’ Duggan asked, having approached them, his small bag in one hand.

‘I’m saying you suggested this trip, to find Kelly.’

Duggan nodded in agreement. ‘That’s right.’

Tony frowned. ‘I thought you said you thought he should stay in the ground where he was.’

‘This isn’t about finding Martin,’ Duggan said. ‘Not for me. I told you that on the boat.’

‘What is it about then, Hugh?’ Mullan said, making no effort to disguise the exasperation in his voice.

‘We put the wrong person in the ground thirty years ago. I want to know the truth.’

‘Not this again, Hugh,’ Mullan began, moving towards him, making for his car. ‘I’ve no time for your bullshit.’ He stopped suddenly, half raising his hands. ‘What the fuck, Hugh?’

The woodland seemed to quieten, the bird song silenced as they all turned to where Hugh stood.

In his hand, he held a pistol.

The image took Tony back thirty years in an instant, to this same place, with Hugh again standing with a gun, moving into the woods to kill someone. It appeared to him to be the same gun that had been used that night.

‘We’re all going back into the woods,’ Duggan said. ‘And we’re going to finish what we started thirty years ago.’

Karen moved a step closer to Tony and, instinctively, he found himself stepping forward a little, partially blocking her from Duggan’s line of sight.

‘Anyone who tries to leave will be joining Martin in the ground. Let’s get started.’

The Woods

The Woods

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Chapter Thirty-Nine

‘Let’s get started,’ Mullan said.

They were sitting in the backroom of Betty’s. Tony had got the call to school, telling him to present himself in the bar at 10.30 that morning to discuss what had happened at the weekend. No further elucidation had been provided