Page 176 of The Guilty Girl

‘Perfect cover for a couple of paedophiles,’ McKeown said.

Lottie heard Albert’s voice coming from the pantry.

‘What is it, Albert?’

‘Before he left us here, Terry said something about a safe house. He said the guards wouldn’t suspect a pregnant woman.’

Lottie rejoined the others. ‘Harrison’s house it is.’

79

Brontë Harrison pressed her hand to the side of her bump. Still nothing. Her baby wasn’t moving. She walked around the garden in her bare feet, trying to jolt the little fellow awake.

Richie poked his head around the patio door. ‘Come in, Brontë. You’re making me dizzy going round in circles.’

She glared at him. ‘If anything happens to my baby, Richie Harrison, you will not live to regret it.’

Her father appeared at Richie’s shoulder. He held up a mug. ‘I’ve made you a cup of tea, Brontë.’

She marched up to the door.

‘You disgust me,’ she hissed. ‘The pair of you fuck up everything you touch.’ As she barged past them, Barney spilled the mug of tea over her shining floor. ‘See? You’re useless.’

‘You need to calm down,’ Noel said.

The creepy fucker was sitting at her table. She clenched her hands into fists. ‘As for you, what shithole did you crawl out of?’

He shrugged his shoulders uselessly. ‘Terry brought me here.’

She swore and moved into the sitting room. Banged the door behind her and flopped onto an armchair.

‘What’s your next bright idea, Terry?’

‘If you’d shut up for half a minute, I might be able to think.’

‘If the guards find any of those girls, they’ll talk and we’ll be fucked. What about my baby then?’

‘Thought you couldn’t feel it moving?’

‘You’re a shit.’

‘We’ll sort it out. We all just need to stay here for a couple of days, until the heat dies down. Then we can leave for Malaga. I’m organising a private flight.’

‘You’re a stupid cliché! Three kids are dead and you think the heat will clear?’ She scoffed. ‘Grow the fuck up. Why did you have to kill her anyway?’

‘Lucy? She was going to talk. That photo of Hannah she sent around, it was part of her big plan to expose us. The bitch wanted to bring us all down. I’m sure she said something to Jake. He was acting weird.’

‘You could’ve left him alone. He was too much into making money to be a nuisance.’

‘He saw me at Lucy’s when the party ended.’

‘Why were you even there, you moron? How did he see you?’

‘I watched Lucy all night from the trees in the field behind her house. When I thought everyone had left, the bitch accused me of raping her.’

‘Don’t tell me you had sex with her the night of the party? Why, for God’s sake?’

‘She came up to Dublin last weekend, gagging for it. I thought she’d want more.’