Layla listened closely to this. ‘Perhaps that’s it,’ she said.
‘Yeah, I’m sure of it,’ said Max.
‘I thought we were done for when the police showed up,’ she said.
Me too, he thought.
In fact it had all turned out better than expected. Big Don Callaghan had taken the guns and night sights, so there was no evidence that Max and Steve were involved in anything but an honest and unarmed mission to get Annie out of trouble. All in all, it had worked out well. There had been a trip to the station, and a long night of interviews and making statements while Annie was checked over. But that was it. No charges, nothing.
‘About Alberto…’ she said.
‘Yeah, what?’
‘Where would he go, do you think?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ said Max.
Annie woke again, just before four in the afternoon. Her head was still thumping, but the sick queasy sensation had passed. She crawled from the bed with an effort, bundled her hair up in a clip and took a long, hot shower. Then she cleaned her teeth again, brushed out her hair, and paused beside her pile of clothes on the chair. She bent, fumbled in her jacket pocket – and there it was: Redmond’s cross. She hadn’t dreamed it.
She took it back over to the bed with her, tucked it under her pillow. Then she fell across the bed again, and went back to sleep.
When she next woke up it was to find Max over by the window turning on a small table lamp and pulling the curtains closed against the dark night sky. She glanced at the clock. Eleven thirty. She’d slept right through the day and now she felt… mostly better.
He turned back to the bed and saw her watching him. The door between their adjoining bedrooms was still, she saw, lying on the carpet.
‘Hi,’ he said, and came and sat down on the bed.
She closed her eyes, opened them again. ‘Did all that really happen?’
‘It happened. But it’s over. You’re home.’
‘Where’s Layla?’
‘She’s here. She’s safe.’
‘Is Paul OK? And Bri?’
‘They’re fine.’
‘Alberto?’
‘Gone.’
Annie stared at him. ‘Gone? Gone where?’
‘Over the hills and far away.’
Annie was silent, watching his face. ‘He didn’t come back with us?’
‘No. He didn’t.’
She’d more or less passed out once the police arrived on the scene. Apart from a few lucid moments at the station, she’d missed most of what went on. Now she felt sadness grip her at the thought of never seeing Alberto again. But he’d got away, that was all that mattered. ‘He’s given them the slip then.’
‘Them?’
‘The Feds.’
‘Jesus, you sound just like a Mafia widow.’
‘Well, that’s what I am. Did you two plan it?’
‘What do you think?’