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

Tony could hear Barr muttering ‘Fuck’ repeatedly under his breath, as if he realised his first big job was going awry even as he watched, helplessly, sidelined from his own assignment.

‘We’re all in agreement. The three of us are sitting here enjoying the sun and we’re not going any further. We’ll all be back on that last crossing tonight, if you take too long, and we’ll not make it to the woods at all.’

He listened a second longer, raising his hand, indicating an unseeable wish to interrupt.

‘You need Kelly back. That’s not happened until you put yourself out the same way we have. That’s it. End of discussion.’

He ended the call and threw the phone back to Barr, then struggled to his feet. ‘I’m going for a piss,’ he said. ‘You can let me know when he calls back.’

Duggan had barely made it to the end of the pavement when the phone started buzzing again. Barr answered it and listened, his attempts to respond clearly being cut off by the caller. ‘OK,’ he said eventually and ended the call.

Duggan stood at the fence of the playground, watching up at them, waiting.

‘He’ll be there in an hour,’ Barr called.

Duggan raised his thumb in acknowledgment, then turned towards the restaurant once more. The child in the park had approached the fence now, delighted to see her new friend again.

‘Hello, love,’ Duggan said. ‘You’re a wee dote, aren’t you?’

The child laughed her approval, holding out her doll for Duggan to take. For a moment, Tony remembered again Ann comments on Sean Mullan’s loafers, on the seeming normalcy of those among us who had murdered others. Tony saw it now more clearly than ever as Duggan waggled his fingers at the child through the gaps in the fence.

‘A wee doll,’ Duggan’s voice carried to where they sat. ‘That’s what you are; a wee doll.’

Chapter Thirty-One

Chapter Thirty-One

Later, he would tell himself it was the doll that made him first doubt what they were doing, but, in reality, the conversation in Betty’s with Duggan and Kelly was the first time he’d really thought about what they were planning.

He was on surveillance on his own, Friday evening. Karen had mentioned a party they’d all been invited to and he’d arranged to meet her there later.