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Back The Secrets He Kept Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. Cover
  2. Prologue
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Chapter Forty-Four
  47. Chapter Forty-Five
  48. Chapter Forty-Six
  49. Chapter Forty-Seven
  50. Chapter Forty-Eight
  51. Chapter Forty-Nine
  52. Chapter Fifty
  53. Chapter Fifty-One
  54. Chapter Fifty-Two
  55. Two Weeks Earlier
  56. A Letter From Jackie
  57. Acknowledgements
  58. About the Author
  59. Also by Jackie Walsh

A part of me feels really sorry for Joyce and now she’s going to spend her life in prison. Well, some of it anyway, she’ll probably be charged with manslaughter. I wonder will Kenny want to visit her?

Something tells me he won’t. That he’ll stay playing happy families here until the social worker lets him off on his own. To live in Sycamore when he’s seventeen. One year away, all according to Saoirse O’Neill’s plan. Let’s hope it works out that way.

Instead of going upstairs, I tiptoe back to the sofa. I’ll wait here for the morning, wrap the throw around me and dose off. After a few minutes my eyes are heavy. I’m falling… falling… falling. What’s that noise?

Chapter Fifty-Two

Peeping through the little gap in the door, I see Kenny standing in the hallway. He doesn’t know I’m here. Quietening my urgent breathing, I watch. What is he doing? His jacket is zipped up like he’s going somewhere. Where is he going at this hour of the night?

His tall skinny frame takes a few steps up the stairs, then he stops. Listens. He’s checking to see if the coast is clear. Kenny comes back to the hallway and walks to the front door. My heart beats like a bass drum in my ear. Thud. Thud. Thud. Holding my chest, I step back into the darkness, the gap in the door still allowing me to watch Kenny. He doesn’t seem to know what he is doing. He was about to go out the door and now it looks like he’s changing his mind. He goes back into his room but doesn’t close the door behind him.

Maybe the kid is just confused, worried, unable to sleep. He’s had such a hard time. Or maybe he’s planning on running away. The bitch inside me considers letting him. Stop it, Sal. He’s been through so much… what’s that in his hand?

He’s coming back out of the room, this time holding a bag. Not a rucksack or schoolbag. It’s a small black plastic bag. The kind that will be illegal in a few years. What has he got inside it? I hope to hell we didn’t bring a drug dealer into the house.

My heart skips another beat. What is in that bag? I want to ask him. Catch him in the act. Pounce. But something is telling me to wait, watch, see what he does. If it is drugs, he’ll be meeting someone, I guess. Giving them a supply… or money.