BooksBarbecue
Back The Last Guests
Chapters (54)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Epigraph
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART ONE
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. DEADLY SAS RAID IN AFGHANISTAN UNDER SCRUTINY
  11. FIVE
  12. SIX
  13. SEVEN
  14. EIGHT
  15. NINE
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. TWENTY
  27. PART TWO
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. TWENTY-NINE
  37. DANIEL MOORE: ‘A SINGLE BLOKE, HAPPY-GO-LUCKY, A BIT OF A DUNCE BUT WITH A GOOD HEART,’ BEST FRIEND SAYS.
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. THIRTY-TWO
  41. THIRTY-THREE
  42. THIRTY-FOUR
  43. THIRTY-FIVE
  44. BREAKING: POLICE CONFIRM DANIEL MOORE ACTED ALONE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. SECOND ARREST MADE IN WESTAY HIDDEN CAMERAS CASE
  50. EPILOGUE
  51. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  52. Discover More
  53. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  54. Also by J. P. Pomare

I feel a pang of frustration slap the back of my neck. Is that the point of this dinner? To help us make money? Cain once told me Axel was like his older brother, he’d never let Cain get into trouble. But what if Axel sees things differently? What if Cain isn’t like a brother, but a liability?

‘It’s not him that needs convincing I’m sorry to say.’

I can see Cain has already decided, and my objection is the only thing between him and a new way to make money. My husband has principles he lives by. This is one of them: always look after us first. We never should have ended up here, treading water financially, in a place we don’t love, doing work we resent. The plan was – no, the plan is to move to Tarawera, without the big city rent and expenses, to start a family, to live quiet and still as the lake. We’d be there now, if it wasn’t for me. If I’d not failed. If I’d not lost the baby. That’s how marriages begin to break, isn’t it? One tiny thing derails all the big plans and the rot creeps through a once blooming garden.

A knot of guilt in my throat. I check my phone, swallow hard. Certain now that I’m doing the right thing.

‘I should probably get going,’ I say.

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TWO

FAVOURS AREN’T FREE, I think, as I drive back through the streets, reach the motorway and set out towards the city. Gifts and favours arrive yoked with obligation – the giver will one day be the receiver – but also the expectation of gratitude. Axel has been doing Cain a favour, which means he’s doing me a favour. And this idea that he might give Cain money, enough money for Claire to raise it with me, sounds like a big debt we would have to cover one way or another.

It’s not that I don’t trust Axel, it’s just that he wheels and deals, and I don’t want Cain to end up in an awkward situation with his best friend. You know the guy that would always put you in a taxi if you were too drunk? That’s Cain. You know the guy that fed you too many shots? That’s Axel.