“Evelyn Ross didn’t want to be left alone. If all she’d wanted was to get away with the murder and live her life, then nothing I could have said in that room would have made her confess. But she’s the kind of person who always wants to be at the center of something, for all eyes to be on her. I gave her a way to make that happen.”
“And she thought she was about to be caught, of course.”
Carrie nodded. “There’s that, too.” She gave her sister a sideways look. “Sorry I lost your case.”
Aifric nudged her, hard. “Please.”
They fell silent for a minute, kept walking until they passed the Mater Hospital on the left-hand side.
“What are you going to do now?” Aifric asked.
“What do you mean?”
“About work. About policing.”
“I’m not giving it up, if that’s what you’re asking. I think I’m good at it.”
Aifric paused. “I think you are, too.”
They reached the prison.
“Do you want to go in?” Aifric asked.
Carrie shook her head. They waited on the other side of the street. “Will his family know, do you think? That he’s being released?”
“I don’t know,” Aifric said. “Maybe, if someone called them. Maybe not.”
At five minutes to three, a bus pulled in down the street. Two people got off. A woman in her fifties, a young man in his twenties. The woman was heavyset, limping, leaning on the young man but still driving the pace, hurrying toward the prison. Carrie and Aifric watched as the side door opened and Robert Collins stepped out, blinking, into the sunshine.
“Rob. Rob!” The woman freed herself from her helper, stumbled the last few steps forward, and embraced Robert, clinging to him. Soon all three of them were hugging, weeping, holding on to each other as if their love were the only thing keeping them standing.
Carrie and Aifric stayed where they were, watching. Carrie blinked back tears of her own. After a moment, Aifric took her hand and squeezed it gently.
“Let’s go home,” she said.
And they did.
About the Author
International no.1 bestseller Dervla McTiernan’s first two novels, The Rúin and The Scholar, were critically acclaimed around the world. Dervla has won multiple prizes, including a Ned Kelly Award, Davitt Awards, a Barry Award, and an International Thriller Writers Award, and has been shortlisted for numerous others. Dervla’s third book, The Good Turn, went straight to no.1 in the bestseller charts, confirming her place as one of Australia’s best and most popular crime writers.
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