39

The insides of her nostrils were sore. It was painful to swallow, an effort to breathe. Lizzie reached up through the darkness to remove whatever it was that was rubbing, but her hand was stopped and placed back by her side by another, bigger hand.

‘Best to leave that in for now.’

She opened her eyes. Kieran was there, sitting by her side.

He smiled. ‘Welcome back.’

She said, ‘Skye, is she all right?’

‘She’s fine.’

‘Brannon?’

‘On remand. Murder and attempted murder, false imprisonment.’

‘Collins didn’t kill him then?’

He shook his head. ‘Unfortunately not. Gave him a decent headache, though.’

She leaned back against the pillow. ‘Good. Julie wanted him alive.’ She was drifting off. Then she remembered something else: the dog panting next to her with the blue plaster on its leg. She opened her eyes.

‘What about Candy?’

‘Candy?’

‘The dog.’

He put his hand on hers. ‘Don’t worry about the dog.’

She tried to sit up. ‘No. How’s the dog, Kieran?’

He squeezed her hand. ‘The dog’s dead. But it doesn’t matter. You saved Skye.’

She closed her eyes. She wanted to cry. It did matter! She could see that poor dog panting slowly. ‘It mattered to Skye,’ she said quietly. Tears were running down her cheeks. ‘Skye loved that dog.’

Kieran leaned into her. ‘What was that?’

But she shook her head. She was sinking beneath the morphine again.