Ruthless (33 page)

Rachel tensed as the taxi swung left, not wanting to jar her arm.

Janet had waited outside the pub with her for the car. Godzilla had gone.

‘She’s a bit hot and cold,’ Rachel said.

Janet looked then said, ‘She’s got a lot on.’

‘Such as?’

Janet had given half a laugh but not said anything else. Just looked at Rachel, her big eyes smiling, then pulled a soppy face. ‘If you’d—’

‘Don’t,’ Rachel said.

‘It’s just—’

‘Don’t. I know.’

‘It’s going to be all right,’ Janet said after a moment.

And Rachel didn’t really know what she meant. Stuff at work or what had happened with Elise or whatever mystery trauma was going on with Her Majesty or if she was on about Dom and Rachel’s mother.

Rachel said yes anyway. ‘Yes, course it is.’ Even though inside she didn’t know. She really didn’t know. Because anything might happen. Anything did happen. Day after day. Year after year. A lot of it messy and shitty and wasteful and sad. But that was life. You got on with it.

What the fuck else could you do?

Acknowledgements

Thanks again to Sarah Adams, Bill Scott-Kerr and Rachel Rayner at Transworld for inviting me to write the Scott & Bailey novels. Thanks to Sally Wainwright and Diane Taylor whose wonderful characters continue to be a joy to work with, and to Suranne Jones, Lesley Sharp and Amelia Bullmore who bring them to life in such memorable ways. Thanks also to Keith Dillon for generous help and advice about police work – any mistakes are mine. Some are deliberate! And many thanks to my agent Sara Menguc for her unstinting hard work and encouragement.

About the Author

Cath Staincliffe
is an established novelist, radio playwright and creator of ITV’s hit series,
Blue Murder
, starring Caroline Quentin as DCI Janine Lewis. Cath was shortlisted for the CWA John Creasey Best First Novel award for her acclaimed Sal Kilkenny series, and for the Dagger in the Library award in 2006. Her latest stand-alone novels all focus on topical moral dilemmas. She was joint winner of the CWA Short Story Dagger award in 2012 for
Laptop
. She is a founding member of Murder Squad, a group who promote crime fiction.

www.cathstaincliffe.co.uk

Also by Cath Staincliffe

DEAD TO ME

BLEED LIKE ME

and published by Corgi Books

TRANSWORLD PUBLISHERS
61–63 Uxbridge Road, London W5 5SA
A Random House Group Company
www.transworldbooks.co.uk

RUTHLESS
A CORGI BOOK: 9780552168878
Version 1.0 Epub ISBN: 9781448154258

First publication in Great Britain
Published in 2014 by Corgi Books
an imprint of Transworld Publishers

Cath Staincliffe has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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