Page 43 of Any Kind of Life
“You only have the guy sitting outside when it suits you, though.”
“While I’m here, I’m safe. The place is locked up, so nobody can get to me. I have to grant access to anyone trying to get in. When I know I’m not leaving for a while, I tell Henry to have a few hours off. The same goes for when I’m at my place. If you’re worried about your safety, don’t be. Henry is one of the best, and he’ll know if anything untoward is going on.”
“Do you remember Ronnie Delehedy?”
Juliet froze at the mention of that name, her hand gripping her wine glass a little tighter. Ronnie and his friends were the very people who had put the threat out against Juliet. “I do. A well-known drug dealer who used to hire children to do his street dealing.”
“Supposedly,” Cara said, her tone level.
“Well, no. The evidence was there. CCTV footage of him handing over packages to teenagers. Some as young as thirteen. Proof of the burner phones he’d purchased and handed out to them, too. Along with a lot of other evidence.”
“His wife died, you know.”
Juliet knocked back her wine and got to her feet. Cara knowing who Ronnie was made Juliet feel uneasy. Her stomach…didn’t feel right. “Yes, I know. I was sorry to hear about it.”
“Were you, though?” Cara turned in her seat, her legs crossed as she tapped her nails against the table. “You knew she was terminal when he went down.”
“The CPS had a very good case against him. I could only work with what I had, and that was very little to prove that he wasn’t guilty. I didn’t make it a habit to lose cases, Cara. That’s just the way it fell sometimes.” Juliet moved behind the bar, inconspicuously taking her phone. She managed to unlock it and bring up Paige’s messages. “Another drink?”
“No. Need to stay coherent for the rest of the day. But thanks.”
Juliet’s hand trembled as she looked down at her phone.
Hey. Are you almost back in Liverpool? I’m at the bar with Cara and I could do with you here as soon as possible.
Juliet poured another glass of wine, but she had no intentions of drinking it. She just wanted to keep a space between her and Cara. Though, if she was being honest, Cara didn’t strike her as the silent but deadly type. “So, you know Ronnie then?”
“Mmhmm. My mum’s brother.”
“And you’ve been working with me for over a year but decided not to bring it up until now?”
Cara smiled a sarcastic smile. “Biding my time. You would have fired me if you knew who I was. But I feel like we’re in a much better place now. We have a friendship, right?”
Okay, just play along with this. “I’d like to think we do. You’re invaluable to my team.”
“What time is Paige due back?”
Juliet eyed the clock on the wall, but her vision seemed a little bit off. She only wore her glasses when she was working in the office, did she need them now, too? “I’ll just call her and find out.”
Cara got to her feet, the chair legs scraping against the stone floor. “Don’t. She’ll get here when she gets here.” Cara approached the bar, blocking Juliet from leaving the tiny space. “No rush.”
“No rush for what?”
Come on. Keep it together. Juliet may have known that something terrible was going to happen here, but she didn’t want Cara to know that she feared for her life.
“You’ll see.”
“Cara, if you have people heading over here to do whatever the hell they plan to do, then you should think about it before you consider letting them into this building.” Juliet gripped her phone in one hand, her wine glass in the other. How the hell was she supposed to fight a group of men off with nothing available to her? Fuck!
“Oh, you think I’m just trying to keep you here? No. Nobody is coming.”
Juliet settled at that a little.
“Feeling okay?”
Resting back against the nearest surface, Juliet swallowed. No, she wasn’t feeling okay. She didn’t feel right at all. Her stomach churned, she felt a little shaky, and every time Cara moved, she had double vision. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Give it a minute. Maybe…have a seat.”