Shoving the bag back, she froze, icy fingers of dread creeping along her skin, making the hairs on her arms stand up. Her heart lurched so far up in her chest that she thought she might be sick. With hands that shook, she reached up to the other shelf and pulled Tommy’s toiletry bag into the sink. As she stared down at the contents, the tears came again.

Anna sat herself down at the roulette table and picked up a pile of chips. Across the room, Tommy, Dermot and their mate Angus were standing at the slot machines. In perfect synchronisation they fed their coins into the machines, pulling the handles, their eyes low-lidded and glassy. Small-time players, she thought as she fingered the five-hundred-euro chips in her hand. She started low, putting in fifty euros, getting the feel of the atmosphere, playing small like the boys. At least until they noticed her.

And they would see her. She’d fed some highlighter into her hair last night, so that it was blonder than ever, and she’d tanned in the spa too. She was wearing skin-tight black pants, a thin, black off-the-shoulder jumper. She glanced around, at the fat, florid couples still wearing their duffle coats and wellington boots, in spite of the heat in the casino. Even the boys, all three of them normally very good-looking, appeared windswept and frozen and somehow out of place.

Anna smiled to herself as she placed a fifty on black ten. She barely watched as it spun, not caring about the loss; after all, this was just a warm-up. When the boys came over, that was when she would commence serious play.

In her peripheral vision she saw Tommy straighten up, his gaze sweeping the casino, his eyes alighting on her. He slapped Dermot on the back, gestured with his head. Moments later, she spotted their figures approaching, weaving in and out of the tables. She sat up straight, and placed her hand on her pile of chips.

‘Two thousand five hundred covering the orphans,’ she instructed the dealer, her voice loud and clear. She slid the chips along, placing them on 6, 34 and 17.

The wheel spun and she offered a smile to the newcomers to the table, her gaze lingering on Tommy. He caught her eye, and held it as the wheel came to a stop on number 6.

‘We are approaching the peak date for the Leonid meteor shower. The show can be hugely impressive in a dark night sky. However, we have just left the full moon, narrowly escaping – if you remember – the perils of the maelstrom! For this reason, we are now in the phase known as a waning gibbous moon. It is neither full nor a three-quarter, so it sheds a lot of light throughout our atmosphere.

‘The best chance you have to see the meteors is in the pre-dawn hours, so for you early risers, get out on deck and keep watching the skies!’

Chapter 16

Before