Tony was a little shaken by Duggan’s earnestness, could sense there was something else at play here which he could not yet grasp.

‘No,’ he said. ‘Never.’

‘Never?’

Tony shook his head. ‘You?’

‘Not for any of what happened,’ he said. ‘They got me for something else when I came back, but nothing over Kelly.’

Tony nodded vaguely.

‘Do you not think that’s a bit strange?’ Duggan asked, leaning back in his seat, as if his point should now be evident.

‘Strange?’ Tony asked, but the question remained unanswered, for Duggan’s attention had shifted.

‘Here we go. You keep it in your pants, big man,’ Duggan added, nodding indicatively towards the entrance to the lounge where a slim figure stood, surveying the room.

Despite his expectation of her arrival, seeing her still took him a little by surprise so that, instinctively, he exclaimed, ‘Karen!’

Chapter Seven

‘Karen,’ someone called. Tony watched as the girl in question twisted, raising her wine glass to indicate to her friend, who’d been standing in the doorway of the kitchenette, what drink she wanted.

The room, which might comfortably have seated eight, throbbed with the heat of over thirty bodies crammed together, those standing bouncing in rhythm with ‘Pump Up the Volume’ which blared from a pair of tinny speakers on the flat’s windowsill.

She noticed Tony and returned his gaze, once, for a second or two longer than necessary, before looking back at the girl next to her, who was in full flow of conversation. Tony felt his stomach twist a little, felt a tingling deep inside him at her glance.

‘Strange we both ended up here, eh?’

Tony’s attention was drawn away from the girl, Karen, and back to Hugh Duggan who sat opposite him at the breakfast bar.

‘In Scotland?’

‘Aye, I suppose. And at this party,’ Duggan said.

Tony had been across over two months. His father had arranged for him to live with his uncle and aunt in Paisley, just outside Glasgow. He’d headed into a bar in the Barras for a night out and met someone from Derry, who’d invited him back to a house party.

‘I guess.’

‘What brought you across?’ Duggan asked.

‘My ma and da didn’t want me staying in Derry. I think they thought either the cops would keep at me, or else that I’d do something stupid and get involved or something.’

Duggan smiled. ‘And would you have?’

Tony frowned, the conversation moving faster than he could quite follow.

‘Would I have what?’

‘Got involved.’

Tony glanced back at the girl again, hoping he might catch her eye. She was sipping from her wine glass, watching her friend intently. But she seemed to be aware of his gaze, for she straightened slightly, tossed her hair back from her face and, at the last moment, stole another glance at him, a smile playing on her lips for a second before she took another mouthful of wine.

‘Maybe,’ Tony said, absently.

‘Did they hold you long, that night?’ Duggan asked.