‘Nothing,’ she said, moving to the other eye. ‘I have to go. Can you let yourself out?’

Tony nodded, hurt by her coldness to him. His stomach ached from the day before, his leg and back causing him to wince whenever he moved. He did not want to face the reality of the new day, the reality of what they had done. In Karen’s arms, in Karen’s bed, he’d been able to escape that, pretend that what had happened in the woods was just a bad dream. Her indifference now brought reality, that they had watched someone be killed, crushing back to him. ‘Are you annoyed at me?’ he asked.

She shook her head, finishing her make-up and squeezing past him to retrieve her skirt. She pulled it on, balancing herself by placed one hand against the wall, despite his outstretched offer of his hand, then moved past him again and out into the bedroom.

‘There’s tea and stuff in the kitchen,’ she said. ‘If you need breakfast.’

Tony followed her out to the room.

‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing!’ she snapped. ‘Just leave it, OK?’

Tony sat heavily at the edge of the bed. Had he said something he shouldn’t? Done something? Or was he unnecessarily personalizing it? Surely it must be her reaction to what had happened the previous night. Perhaps reality had crashed down on her? She was pragmatic, business-like. Maybe this was how she was dealing with what had happened.

She went into the living area of her flat and appeared a moment later, her coat across her arm.

‘I’m away,’ she said.

Tony moved over towards the door and leaned down to kiss her. She turned her head a little, her lips pursed, and pecked the side of his mouth.

‘Goodbye, Tony,’ she said.

He watched her as she left, pulling the door behind her, not looking back at him, watched through the window showing nothing but empty streets until the echoing of her footfalls along the pavement had died away.

Rubbing at the bruises on his stomach, breathing in the faint scent of her perfume, which misted the room where he stood, he could not dispel the feeling that he would never see her again.

Chapter Fifty-Eight

Chapter Fifty-Eight

‘We’ll see you again,’ Mullan said, as Tony climbed out of the car.

They’d driven him back to Ayr to get the final train there that would take him onwards to the ferry. Mullan had left his car parked in Howwood, knowing that they would have to come back that way anyway and he could pick it up then. In truth, Tony suspected he was keeping an eye on them, controlling the narrative, until they all went their separate ways.