After Max left, Jackie showed up. Annie guessed he’d been skulking about outside, just waiting for Max to go before he showed himself. Maybe the man had some pride left, after all. Didn’t want his old boss to see the state he was in.
‘So what’s next?’ he asked when she let him in and led the way back across the hall and into the drawing room.
‘For you? Hopefully a bath. And a shave, would that hurt?’
‘Hey, no need to get personal,’ he whined.
Annie sat down and looked up at him. ‘What happened with your mother?’ she asked.
Jackie flinched as if she’d struck him. ‘What you talkin’ about that for?’
‘She died, Steve told me. What was it then? Heart? Cancer?’
Jackie stood there, looking at the floor. ‘I ain’t talkin’ about this.’
‘Maybe you should.’
‘I don’t want to.’
‘Why? She died of old age, I suppose? People do die, Jackie. It’s sad, but it’s part of life. Unavoidable.’
‘I don’t want to talk about it. What’s next, that’s what I came to say. Not to talk about things I’d rather not discuss, OK?’
Annie drew a breath. After today, and seeing Max again, she felt tired out, literally wrung dry. She longed to get some more painkillers down her then fall into bed and sleep. If Jackie didn’t want to talk about what was bugging him, fair enough. She didn’t have the energy to push it. Instead, she would move things forward on what happened to Dolly.
‘Dolly’s brother and sister.’ Annie picked up her bag, pulled out a scrap of paper with Sarah’s address on it. ‘This is her sister Sarah’s address and her married name. I don’t know Nigel’s address. I want you to find out everything you can about both of them. Talk to them, if you can – although I think you’ll find they don’t say much. Tell them you were a friend of Dolly’s and you’re in bits. Work their emotions if they’ve got any, which I doubt. Don’t mention you’re doing this for me, OK?’
Jackie’s thin shoulders slumped and he glanced at Annie. ‘You know what? I did like Dolly. She was straight as a die. A nice person.’
‘Dolly was the best.’ Annie was silent for a moment, fighting down that horrible black wall of grief again. ‘That’s your first job, then. All right? There’s another brother, Sandy, he’s in a home. I’ll find out where and see if there’s any chance of getting any sense out of him. And there’s another brother, Dick – don’t know anything about him yet. Except that he’s living abroad. The father had an accident years ago on the railways, he was a shunter. So maybe the Delaneys didn’t carry out Dolly’s wishes. Anything you can find out about that would be good. What are the narks saying to the Bill?’
‘Nothin’. Precisely fuck-all.’
‘Keep pushing on that.’
‘Jesus! What am I supposed to do in my spare time then?’
‘You got anything on Redmond Delaney yet?’ she said.
‘Still lookin’.’
‘Well, hurry the fuck up, will you? I want him found. The rest of the Delaney mob are toast, but I know for a fact that he’s still walking. Don’t approach him. Just find him. And go easy. I want to talk to him in person.’
‘That whole family’s poison.’
‘They’re all dead, Jackie. All except Redmond. How hard can it be?’
‘All right, all right! I’m on it. What the hell do you want to talk to him for?’
‘Dolly wanted her old dad hit, remember? Ellie told me that Dolly approached the Delaney mob to do the job for her. So my thinking is, was that “accident” really an accident? Who knows? As Redmond’s the only one left, I’m hoping he does.’
Annie reached for her purse, thumbing out a few twenties. She handed them to him. ‘I don’t want this going on drink, you got me? I want everything about Dolly’s family you can find. They’re Catholics – check the parish records, dig up anything and everything. This should be enough to get you started.’
Jackie nodded and took the money, folded it and stuffed it into his jeans pocket. He turned away from her and went to the door. Then he paused.
‘You sure about this Delaney thing? You open a wasps’ nest, you’re gonna get stung, you know.’
‘Do it,’ she said.
Jackie nodded again, his hand on the doorknob.
‘Something else?’ asked Annie when he hesitated.
‘She was crossing the road,’ he said and when he glanced up she saw tears in his bloodshot eyes. ‘My old mum. Too slow, see? Arthritis in the hips. Far too slow. Boy racer comes through, takes her out. Bounced fifty feet, smack on to the pavement. Dead the minute she hit the ground.’
While Annie sat there with her mouth open, wondering what to say, Jackie slipped out through the door, and was gone.