Cold Revenge (Willis/Carter #6)(102)
Carter was waiting in the car for Willis after she finished talking to Yvonne. ‘Is she going to be all right, Eb? She’s having to go through a lot, and the rehousing programme in Oz means she has to be clean: no drugs.’
‘She knows. She’s finding it all tough, but I know she can do it.’
‘What about you? I’ve hardly seen you out since Tucker died.’
‘It’s the case. It’s just a long one, it’s all-consuming.’
He looked across at Willis and she nodded, but at the same time as she smiled she started crying. He hugged her.
‘You’ll be okay, Eb. You’ll be okay. You need a little bit of TLC and you need a break from all this sadness. Tina says you sit in your room and won’t talk about Tucker.’
‘I don’t know what to say. I miss him. I wish things were different, I regret things, and what good is that now he’s dead?’
‘There’s nothing you could have done about it. You couldn’t have stopped him dying.’
‘I know that.’ Willis stared out at the blue early-morning sky and sighed.
‘Things move on, you have to be grateful for the one life we get, Eb. Don’t ever regret. You give everything you have to give and more, I know that. We’re having a celebration in the pub tonight and you’re coming. Tina’s bringing you.’
‘What’s it in aid of?’
‘Cabrina and I have set a date. You’re going to be my best man.’
She knew what he was doing, he was trying to show her that life moves on. They’d both been through hell with this case and she’d realised too late what Tucker had meant to her. But Carter was right, she couldn’t change things and she had to move forward. And what better way than being there for Carter on what was meant to be the happiest day of his life.
She took a deep breath and smiled.
‘Count me in.’
Acknowledgements
This book took a lot of putting together and I need to thank Dave Willis for giving up his time to work through the plot with me, as well as Aengus Little, for all things Crime Scene related.
I need to thank John Jacobs and Chris Maxwell for their invaluable help with the technical stuff and all my family and friends who deserve a big thank-you for listening to my murderous ideas time-and-time again. I can still hear my mum saying: ‘when are you going to write something light and funny?!’ No time soon, Mum, I’m afraid; I’m having far too much fun.
Special thanks go to Becky Long at ‘Visage’; and Norma, Noreen, Della at ‘True Colours’ – all invaluable sounding posts for me.
Many thanks go to my editor Jo Dickinson and to the team at Simon & Schuster who helped me make this the best book possible. Your hard work is much appreciated. And thanks to the agent who saw me through to this stage in my career and who I will be eternally grateful to – Darley Anderson.