‘Yes. I’m looking at it now.’
‘And what about our mutual friend?’
‘He’s no longer a problem.’
Shit, Ronan thought. He’s talking like someone out of a fucking spy movie. Suddenly he’s a professional.
‘And you’re in one piece?’
‘I’ll survive. I just need to get this off my hands.’
‘So let’s meet. Usual place?’
‘I’m leaving now.’
The line went dead. Ronan looked at his screen again, his eyebrows still raised in surprise. Scott Timpson was all business now. No time for idle chit-chat.
‘What?’ his mother asked.
‘He did it. He got the money.’
‘What? He’s having you on.’
‘Mam, this isn’t something he’d joke about. I think we underestimated him.’
She didn’t look convinced, but then her phone pinged. She opened its cover and squinted at its screen.
‘Well, fuck me,’ she said.
‘What is it?’
‘Pick-up never happened. Barrington Daley isn’t coming to his door or answering his phone.’ She looked up again. ‘Seems like your boy was telling the truth.’
Ronan allowed his smile to surface. ‘You get your money plus interest. Timpson and his family get their lives back. We’re in the clear. Happy days.’
He raised his glass, but his mother didn’t join in the celebration.
‘What’s happening about the money?’ she asked.
‘He’s on his way to our meeting point. I’ll need to leave in a minute. Want me to take you home first or come back for you?’
She licked her lips. ‘You do know what this means, don’t you?’
He didn’t like the sound of this. ‘What? What does it mean?’
‘Timpson is the only thing connecting us to the money and to whatever’s happened to Barrington.’
‘Mam . . .’
‘I don’t have to spell it out for you, do I?’
‘Mam . . .’
‘Sometimes I wonder how you get through life, Ronan. You’re not very quick off the mark, are you?’
But he knew exactly what she was getting at, and it poked at something deep in his chest.
‘He’s done everything we asked him to do, Mam. There aren’t many people who could take on the likes of Barrington Daley and come out a winner.’
‘You sound like you want to give him a medal.’
‘Not a medal, no. But I made a deal with him.’
‘Well, now you can unmake it.’
‘He’s got a family.’
His mother slapped her bicep, where her black armband was hiding beneath her cardigan. ‘I had a fucking family until he came along.’
You’ve still got a family, Ronan thought. Or don’t I count?
He lapsed into a morose silence. Words failed him.
‘You know there’s no alternative,’ she said. ‘If the police get to Timpson, they get to us. With him out of the picture, we’re safe.’
Ronan suspected that she’d had this in her head all along. It was all part of her Plan B. Grand strategist that she was, she left nothing to chance.
‘I don’t like this, Mam.’
