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"And sure, you wouldn't want one you'd grow out of, would you?"

  "That's true."

  Cormac felt good. He'd pulled their goodbye out of its nosedive. They'd part ways on a high. He gulped down the last of his coffee and stood up.

  "I think I'll hit the road, mate."

  "So soon?"

  "Can't risk missing this plane."

  "Will you visit again?"

  "Certainly. Might even check out that Facebook thingy and add you as a follower or whatever."

  "That'd be cool."

  They got off their stools and hugged again, this time less awkwardly.

  "I better say bye to your ma as well."

  "It'd be rude not to, Detective Kelly."

  Lydia stood in the kitchen doorway, the ghost of a smirk on her face. Cormac ruffled Mattie's hair until the kid slapped him away. He went to Lydia and offered her his hand. Her grip was firm and businesslike.

  "Please, call me Cormac."

  "Sorry, yes. Cormac. Cormac Kelly." She drew a card from the back pocket of her jeans. "Stephen Black asked me to give you this."

  There was a mobile phone number printed on one side. No name. On the other side somebody had written a short note in fastidiously neat cursive. Cormac squinted at the small letters.

  Thank you for the football ticket, Detective. I plan to put it to good use. If things don't work out well with the PSNI call the overleaf number and we'll explore some employment opportunities. Your work ethic and skill-set impressed me.

  Regards

  Stephen Black

  "You going to take him up on the offer?" Lydia asked.

  "I doubt it," Cormac said, but he slipped the card into his back pocket.

  Lydia nodded. "I'm not sure how legal his ‘security' business is."

  "I have my own doubts about that as well." But you weren't exactly Johnny Law last week. "Probably better off out of it." And yet the card remained in his pocket.

  Lydia and Mattie saw Cormac to the door. He walked the short distance to his rental car, parked in their roomy driveway, and turned for a final wave goodbye. They smiled at him from the porch. There was a gap between Lydia and the doorframe where Cormac imagined John would have stood.

  He revved the rental car's engine. The boxy little Toyota felt like a toy compared to Stephen Black's kitted-out Vectra. He put a lid on an emerging swashbuckling fantasy inspired by the little security consultant's note. There were other things he needed to concentrate on in the immediate future. Saving his job and getting back into Donna's good graces were his top priorities.

  But if it all went wrong, at least he had a plan B.

  ###

  Books by Gerard Brennan

  novels

  Wee Rockets

  Fireproof

  Undercover

  novellas

  Wee Danny

  The Point

  Breaking Point

  Bounce

  short story collections

  Possession, Obsession And A Decompression Engine

  Other Stories And Nothing But Time

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