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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

‘Have you anything to drink?’ Tony asked. The bacon from his fry had left him parched, his stomach heaving a little too at being a backseat passenger with the erratic nature of Barr’s driving. ‘Could we maybe stop somewhere and get a drink of something?’

‘That’s a good idea,’ Karen said. ‘Maybe stretch our legs.’

‘OK,’ Barr nodded. ‘I did bring some stuff, but no drinks. I’ve crisps and energy bars in the back there somewhere,’ he said. ‘Provisions.’

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

‘I brought provisions,’ Tony said, pulling out a bottle of Coke and two Mars bars from a holdall. ‘I’ve never been on a stake-out before.’

He and Karen were sitting in her car in a layby around the corner from where the policeman lived. Duggan had suggested to them that they take a quick drive to where the cop lived, both to orientate themselves and to pick out the best spots from which they could keep an eye on his house. Tony had asked twice what the man was called, but to no avail. ‘Best you don’t know,’ Duggan had said.

‘Karen knows.’

‘If you know nothing, no matter what they do to you or ask you, you’ll not be able to give them anything. It’s for your protection. And ours.’

Tony nodded, a little frustrated at the sense of exclusion he felt. On the other hand, the less he knew, the easier it was to reconcile himself with what he was doing. And what was he doing, he asked himself? This guy had shot a child and got away with it. Just like the driver who’d killed Danny.

‘I don’t like caramel,’ Karen said, refusing the Mars. ‘I’m not hungry anyway.’

Tony nodded, then put them both back in the bag. ‘How have you been since?’ he asked.

‘All right,’ Karen shrugged. ‘You?’

‘Good,’ Tony said, keen to keep talking to fill the awkwardness of the silence between them. ‘School’s busy. I’d dealings with that wee girl, Alice, again today.’

Karen nodded absentmindedly, taking out the small pocket map and opening it up. ‘He’s on Hollows Avenue. The house should be up there,’ she added, nodding lightly towards an estate to their left.

She put away the map and started the ignition, then pulled out onto the main road.

‘What happened? With the wee girl? Alice?’ she asked, glancing at him.

Tony had been covering for one of his colleagues in the English department who’d phoned in sick with a migraine. The class he was covering, it transpired, was Alice’s.