Page 144 of Final Betrayal

Conor opened the door to Tony and led him past the living room, where his mother was asleep, and into the kitchen. He took two cans of Foster’s from a plastic bag on the floor. They sat at the narrow table, flipped the tabs and drank. Neither man could look the other in the eye.

‘Bob Cleary and Cyril Gill are dead,’ Tony said. ‘It’s been confirmed.’

‘I heard. Good riddance.’ Conor slurped his drink and burped loudly. ‘There’s blood on your hands,’ he said, noticing Tony’s knuckles.

Tony appeared nonplussed. ‘Scraped them shifting rubble this morning. Haven’t had a chance to wash. I’m sure I smell.’

‘You do. But I’m accustomed to bad odours around here.’ Conor nodded towards the door behind which his mother snored.

They sat in silence and drank.

‘Got another one?’ Tony said.

‘You seem nervous. Anything you want to tell me?’ Conor extracted two more cans from the bag.

‘I’ll get straight to the point so.’ Tony cradled his can between his burly fingers. ‘Why did you take the blame for the Thompson assault and robbery?’

‘How do you know I didn’t do it?’

‘Because I know who did.’

‘Yeah,’ Conor said, running his hand over his freshly shaved head. He stared pointedly at Tony. ‘So do I.’

‘You needn’t look at me like that.’

‘Like what? You know what you did.’

‘And I think I know what you did too.’ Tony played with the tab on the can, pressing it so hard it cut the edge of his thumb.

‘What would that be?’

‘You know right well, Conor. Those girls, Amy and Louise. They saw you that night, and you never denied it. Never offered an alibi or a defence.’

‘So?’

‘So,’ Tony repeated. ‘I think you were running from something else. I think you’d done something much worse than assault and rob Bill Thompson.’

‘Something? Like what?’

‘Like hiding a body in the tunnel.’

‘And why would I do that?’ Conor eyed Tony and wondered just how much his friend really knew.

Tony stood suddenly. ‘Stop playing games. Come on. Tell me.’

‘Thought you knew it all.’ Conor was fed up. He’d carried his secret for ten years; he wasn’t about to spout it out now. Tony could feck off.

‘You had your eye on that housekeeper up at Gill’s. What was her name? Hannah something or other? Cute little Chinese chick. You were always asking her out but she wouldn’t date you. After that night, I never remember seeing her again. That’s odd, don’t you think?’

‘Maybe she went back to China.’

‘Maybe she did, but I don’t think so.’

Conor felt a slight relief in his chest. He sipped his beer, slowly this time, and studied Tony’s plump red face. Did he know or did he just suspect? Probably the latter.

‘Okay, the truth is, I had a thing with her. We didn’t tell the Gills because Cyril couldn’t keep his eyes or his hands off her. She threatened to leave them. And I think she did.’

Tony’s lips curled into a sneer. ‘She was dumped in a tunnel with no escape. You left her there.’

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