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One More Chapter
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2020
Copyright © Caz Finlay 2020
Cover design by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020
Cover photographs © plainpicture/TOBSN (woman); John Davidson Photos / Alamy Stock Photo (background)
Caz Finlay asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008405113
Ebook Edition © December 2020 ISBN: 9780008405106
Version: 2020-10-22
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Thank you for reading…
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About the Author
Also by Caz Finlay
One more chapter...
About the Publisher
For my husband, Eric. You truly are my other half.
And as always, for Finlay, Jude and James.
Chapter One
Grace Carter switched off the engine of her Range Rover and waited in the side street opposite St Anne’s Street police station. She’d spent the best part of her day on the phone to various people, including her solicitor Faye Donovan, who had cut short her holiday to Monaco and caught the first flight home, heading straight to the police station when she’d landed at John Lennon Airport. Faye Donovan was the best solicitor that money could buy, and Grace paid her well to receive a priority service. Right now, her son Jake and stepson Connor were being interviewed by Merseyside’s boys in blue, and Faye and her team were doing their best to stop any charges being brought against them.
Faye had assured Grace that she’d do her best to make sure the boys walked out of St Anne’s that same day, and Grace believed her. If anyone could deliver on that promise, it was Faye. She was ruthless, and well known amongst her peers as being one of the most ferocious and relentless opponents any of them had even encountered. It was rumoured that whenever her name came up on a trial docket, there was a collective groan from the CPS and the defence team. She’d worked her way up from a small criminal law firm based in Birkenhead to being the managing partner in Donovan, Haigh and Macaulay in Liverpool city centre. Faye only took on the most prestigious and highest paying clients, and Grace was her top priority. Over the years, Grace had practically bankrolled the setting up of the firm’s new offices in Dale Street, but she considered Faye worth every penny she’d paid her. She’d kept Grace’s, and later her husband Michael’s, employees out of hot water on numerous occasions and in doing so had ensured that their operations continued to run smoothly.
Grace had left Michael with their two youngest children, Oscar and Belle, who were safely tucked up in bed, while she had driven into town so she could pick up Jake and Connor as soon as they were released. She’d had a text message from Faye a short while earlier to tell her that things were moving along, and she was hopeful that the boys would be released soon. Grace sat in her car, watching the rain running down the windscreen and hoped that Faye was right. The thought of Jake and Connor going to prison for murder made her feel like throwing up. From the limited information she’d been able to glean from DI Tony Webster, who was on Grace’s payroll and had been the one to alert her to Jake and Connor’s situation, the boys had been arrested for the murder of Billy Johnson, which had happened just over three months earlier.
Billy Johnson and his brothers had been a pain in the arse for Jake and Connor, but they’d never posed a credible threat to their business. At least, Grace had never figured them as one. There had been some rumours that the brothers had been involved in Grace’s stepson Paul’s murder, but there had been no credibility to them. Paul had been gunned down in broad daylight in the street outside the gym he frequented. It had been a professional hit, and both the hitman and the man responsible for ordering the job, Sol Shepherd, were now dead themselves. Shortly after Paul’s death, the oldest Johnson brother, Bradley, had disappeared and Billy had been murdered. Grace suspected that Jake and Connor had been involved in Billy’s death, but she’d never spoken to them about it. The aftermath of Paul’s murder had been a difficult time for the whole family, and Jake and Connor had dealt with it in their own way. Grace had given little thought to the departed Johnson brothers since – she’d had much more pressing matters on her mind. No one else had seemed overly interested in them either – until now.
Grace was deep in thought when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. Looking up, she saw the unmistakeable figures of Jake and Connor approaching her Range Rover, with Faye Donovan following closely behind. Faye walked confidently, with a smile on her face as she flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder with a toss of her head. Grace felt a huge sense of relief. Not only were the boys out of the station, but the look on Faye’s face meant that it was good news.
Grace waited while Jake and Connor climbed into the back seat and Faye slid into the passenger seat beside her.
‘So?’ Grace asked.
‘They’ve both been questioned in relation to Billy Johnson’s murder, but the police don’t have much to go on,’ Faye answered in her usual calm and assured manner. ‘No DNA at the scene. It’s all circumstantial, which is why they’ve let the boys go pending further investigation. They don’t have enough to charge, and in my opinion they’ve played their hand too soon. But that’s to our advantage. Their whole case seems to rest on an eyewitness at the moment.’
‘An eyewitness?’ Grace replied.
Faye nodded.
Grace turned in her seat to face the boys. ‘Is that possible?’
‘Of course not,’ Jake said.
‘We’re not that stupid,’ Connor replied.
‘Well, no. But there’s still someone claiming that they saw you, isn’t there?’ she said with a sigh as she stared at her son and stepson in the back seat, looking to the outside world like the ruthless hard men they were, but to her like a pair of little boys who had just been sent to the Headmaster’s office.
Faye cleared her throat and Grace was reminded she was still in the car.
‘Sorry, Faye. You must be exhausted,’ Grace said as she rested her hand on the other woman’s arm. ‘Thank you so much for rushing back for this. I can’t thank you enough.’
‘It’s not a problem. Anything for you, Grace. You know that,’ Faye replied with a smile.
Grace nodded. Faye had never once let her down in a crisis. ‘Well, I appreciate it all the same.’
‘The boys have told me everything I need to know. I’ll let them fill you in, Grace. So, unless there’s anything else you need me for, I’ll be getting home for a shower and a large G and T,’ Faye said as she rubbed the back of her neck.
‘Of course. You get off home. I think you’ve earned that G and T,’ Grace replied.
‘Thanks. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can discuss things further,’ Faye said before turning to Jake and Connor. ‘You two stay out of trouble, and call me if anything happens that you think I need to know about.’
Jake and Connor nodded. ‘We will. Thanks, Faye,’ they said in unison.
Grace watched Faye step gracefully out of the car before turning to give a final wave as she walked away. As Faye disappeared out of sight, Grace turned to the boys in the back seat. ‘Ready to get out of here?’
They nodded.
‘Too fucking right,’ Connor said with a sigh. ‘Is Jazz at home or is she at your place?’
‘She’s still at ours with your dad. She didn’t want to be on her own, so we made up one of spare rooms for you both.’
‘Sound. I’ll come to yours then,’ Connor replied.
‘Jake?’ Grace asked. ‘Are you coming too? I’ve made up a room for you as well. Both have fresh bedding and I can promise a slap-up cooked breakfast in the morning.’
Jake shook his head. ‘No. Take me to the club, please, Mum. I need a drink.’
‘We’ve got all the drink you need at our house,’ she reminded him. ‘And it would give us all a chance to talk things through. Consider our next steps?’
‘I just want a drink with the lads,’ he snapped. ‘We can talk tomorrow. I’ve been stuck in a sweaty interview room all day being talked at. The last thing I want to do now is talk some more.’
Grace frowned at him in the rear-view mirror and she saw Connor nudging him in the ribs.
Obviously remembering who he was talking to, Jake quickly added, ‘Not tonight, eh, Mum? We can talk tomorrow.’
Grace sensed she wasn’t going to change her son’s mind, and as much as she wanted to have a good talk with him about everything that had happened that day, she let it go. ‘Okay. I’ll drop you at the club on our way home. You can still call in for a fry-up in the morning if you fancy.’
‘I’ll see,’ he replied.
‘We’ll wait for you,’ Connor added. ‘We need to talk about today, and what we’re going to do next, whether you feel like it or not.’
Jake sat back in the seat with a sigh. ‘Fine. I’ll be round for breakfast. Now can we go?’
Grace started the engine and resisted the urge to remind him that if it wasn’t for her he’d still be sitting in that sweaty little interview room. She reasoned that he’d had a tough day, and he was entitled to go out and see his mates and let off some steam. It must be hard for him to see Connor and his girlfriend Jasmine all loved up, especially when losing Paul was still so raw for him. It had been a shock for Grace to learn that Jake and her stepson, Paul had become much more than stepbrothers. They had been in an on/off relationship for years and had kept it a secret from almost everyone – for numerous reasons including the fact that Jake had been married at the time and also firmly in the closet. Grace had learned about their relationship shortly beforehand, but it was only after Paul was shot and killed that she discovered just how much her son had loved the other man. His death had hit them all hard, but Jake seemed to be unable to pull himself out of the pit of despair he’d been wallowing in. She knew that despite having his family around, all of whom adored him, he still felt alone. He and Connor were like brothers, and, being Paul’s twin, Connor had been hit harder by Paul’s death than anyone. But Connor had Jasmine and their unborn baby to focus on and give him a reason to go on living. Michael had, understandably, been floored by the murder of his son. But he had Grace to keep him warm at night and his other children to think of. Jake had his daughter Isla, of course, but he didn’t see her as much now that Siobhan had moved to Lytham. His contact had been reduced to one weekend a fortnight, but that was at Jake’s own request. Grace wondered what on earth she could do to try and make him see how much he still had to be grateful for.
Chapter Two
DI Leigh Moss stormed through the open-plan office of St Anne’s Street police station with a face like thunder. Walking into her office, she sat down on her chair and threw the manila folder she was carrying onto her desk.
DS Nick Bryce followed her inside, closing the door behind him.
‘Damn Faye bloody Donovan,’ Leigh snapped. ‘She is a pain in my sodding arse.’
‘She’s stopped more people going down than herpes,’ Nick said with a laugh.
‘How the hell does she sleep at night?’ Leigh asked in exasperation.
‘On a gold plated four-poster bed, probably. But to be fair to her, I’m not sure we’d have got a word out of Conlon or Carter even if she wasn’t their brief.’
‘You’re probably right, but nobody can put the shits up an interviewing officer like she can. I should have interviewed them both myself.’
‘With respect, Ma’am, you can’t be in two places at once, and you were needed in court last minute.’
‘Yes, I was, wasn’t I? And don’t tell me there wasn’t something fishy about that. I finally lift two of the biggest villains in Liverpool and all of a sudden my witness testimony in the O’Keefe trial is needed a day earlier than expected. You think that’s just a coincidence?’
‘You know how trials are. Besides, do you really think Conlon and Carter have that much clout that they can influence trials?’
‘No. But Grace Carter does. All it would take is a word in the right judge’s ear, and I’ll bet my life on the fact that she’s got at least a couple of them in her pockets.’
Nick sucked the air through his teeth and shook his head. ‘I think you’re being paranoid, Leigh,’ he said, breaking rank and using her first name in the safe confines of her office.
‘Then you obviously don’t know Grace Carter very well.’ Leigh glared at him.
‘And you do?’ he asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
‘Of course,’ she snapped. ‘It’s my job to know. Now, how about you make yourself useful and use your considerable charm to get Forensics to put a rush on those fingerprints. If Conlon or Carter touched anything at that crime scene, I want to know.’
‘Of course, Ma’am,’ he replied before walking out of her office.
Leigh sat back in her leather chair with a sigh. She’d snapped at Nick unnecessarily, and now he was pissed off with her. He was so bloody sensitive sometimes. She wondered at times like these whether it was sensible to have him in her team, given their relationship. They had been good mates for years, and friends with benefits for most of that time. But lately it had been turning into something more. They’d agreed to keep their relationship secret until they figured out whether they had any real future together. No point in screwing up their working relationship unnecessarily. The truth was that he’d hit a nerve with his quip about Grace Carter. What Nick, or any of her colleagues, didn’t know was that in another life Leigh had known Grace well. They were what some people might consider friends. But that had all been before Leigh had joined the police force and Grace had become the queen of the Liverpool underworld. It was amazing to Leigh that they had taken such different paths in life. Once allies, they were now on opposite sides of the fence.
Leigh shuddered when she thought about how her life could have turned out so differently. What would have become of her if she hadn’t aborted Nathan Conlon’s child? If he’d divorced Grace and married her instead, as she had once begged him to do? Would it be her sitting in a mansion in South Liverpool? She had to believe that she would have never have sunk so low, but who knew? She had been an entirely different person back then. She smiled at the irony of it all. If it wasn’t for Grace Carter, she’d have been left for dead in an alleyway. Grace had saved her life, and given her the chance to become who she was today. And it would be Grace who’d try to stand in her way when she finally brought the Conlon–Carter empire down. Leigh would do it though. Even if that meant bringing Grace down too.
Chapter Three
Michael was waiting at the open front door by the time Grace and Connor arrived home at a quarter past midnight. Connor walked up the path first and Michael pulled his son into a hug before ushering him inside.
‘I told you I’d bring them home,’ Grace said with a smile as she reached him.
He put an arm around her. ‘I never doubted you for a second,’ he replied. ‘Where’s Jake?’
‘Gone to his club. Said he needed a drink and didn’t want to talk about anything. Not yet anyway.’
Michael didn’t respond as they walked into the house together and Grace suspected he was resisting the urge to say something she might not appreciate. She was well aware that she had overlooked too much of Jake’s selfish behaviour recently, but what choice did she have? He was her son and he was in pain. So even if, on this occasion, she might agree with whatever Michael had to say, she was still grateful that he chose not to say it.
Walking into the living room, Grace saw Connor and his heavily pregnant girlfriend Jasmine locked in an embrace. Jasmine was holding onto him as though she might never let him go and Grace could hear her gentle sobbing.
Seeing them walk into the room, Connor gently pulled away from her. ‘I’m not going anywhere, babe. I promise,’ he assured her, before turning his attention to Grace and Michael.
Jasmine turned to look at them too and Grace noticed how tired she looked. At eight months pregnant, and after the day they’d all had, she had every reason to be.
‘I’m sorry, I must like a right mess,’ Jasmine said as she wiped the tears from her face. ‘Pregnancy hormones?’ she added with a slight shrug.
Grace walked over to her and gave her a hug. ‘Well, either that or this one and my son almost giving us all a heart attack,’ she said as she pulled away and nodded towards Connor.
Jasmine laughed and gave Connor a playful shove. ‘Oh yeah, and that.’
Connor held his hands up in mock surrender. ‘Don’t blame me. I didn’t plan to be arrested for murder when I got out of bed this morning.’
A silence fell across the room and nobody spoke for a moment, not wanting to think about the potential implications of that statement.
‘Why don’t you head off to bed, babe? You look shattered,’ Connor said to Jasmine.
‘Yes, I think I will,’ she said. ‘I’ll see you all in the morning. Goodnight.’
‘Goodnight, Jazz,’ Grace and Michael said.
‘I’ll be up soon, babe,’ Connor said as he gave her a kiss on the cheek.
‘Brandy?’ Michael asked as Jasmine left the room.
‘Yep, and make it a large one,’ Connor replied.
‘Just a small one for me,’ Grace added.
Connor knocked his drink back straightaway and Michael quickly poured him another.
When the three of them each had a drink in hand and were sitting comfortably, Grace was finally able to ask the question she was sure she knew the answer to, but had to ask anyway.
‘So, did you and Jake do it?’
Connor nodded and sat back against the sofa with a sigh. ‘We hadn’t planned to, but it just got out of hand. Neither of us were thinking straight. We just wanted … for Paul…’
Michael placed a reassuring hand on his son’s shoulder. ‘We know, son.’
Grace appreciated that it was painful talking about what happened, but now wasn’t the time to let emotions run away with them. She had to know what happened and whether the police would find any further evidence, or, more importantly, whether there was anything she could do to prevent that from happening. ‘Faye said the police didn’t seem to have much to go on. That it was all circumstantial?’
‘Yeah. Seemed to be. They have our car driving into the street around the time of the murder, but thanks to the building works at the end of the road, no CCTV of us leaving the same road. They took our fingerprints and DNA samples, but we both wore gloves, so it’s not likely we’d have left any of our DNA on the body. We weren’t cut or anything.’
‘Did you use any weapons?’
Connor shook his head.
‘Well, at least there won’t be a weapon to be found, or any fragments on the body that could have your DNA on,’ she said as she sat forward. ‘But Faye mentioned they had an eyewitness?’
‘Yes. She told us that. But there were no witnesses, I told you that.’
‘How are you so sure no one could have seen you? It could have been a neighbour who saw you go in the house.’
‘That street’s half empty. Most of the houses are boarded up. And the people who do live there don’t talk to the filth. None of them saw us, but even if they did, they wouldn’t have talked. I guarantee it.’
‘Was there anyone else in the house?’ Grace asked.
‘No. We checked.’
‘But Billy lived with his youngest brother Scott. So maybe he was there and you didn’t find him?’ she said, aware that after a day of being interviewed, the last thing Connor probably wanted to do was answer more questions, but it was important that she knew everything that there was to know. She had to think of every angle, just as the police would.
‘He may have been there before we arrived, but he definitely wasn’t there afterwards – we checked. And if he’d been there and seen his brother getting the shit kicked out of him, he’d have phoned the bizzies, wouldn’t he?’
Grace nodded and sat back in her chair, deep in thought. ‘Faye said that it was Scott and Craig who found the body. I think maybe Scott was at the house before you got in, and he went to get his brother.’
‘You’re probably right,’ Michael said.
‘So, you think Scott’s the witness then? But he must have lied and told them he saw us going into the house,’ Connor said.
‘How else would he be an eyewitness? He would have to have seen you, and if you’re sure he didn’t, then he must have lied,’ Grace replied.