Had she just heard him say .?.?. ‘pretty good’?
‘Well, thank you. So, Pete, I noticed that you just changed the subject on me .?.?.’
He looked down and said nothing for a moment, till she wondered whether she had caused him offence.
‘I still haven’t worked through it,’ he said at last, meeting her gaze.
Ally thought back to what Rosemarie had discovered. There was no point in her playing dumb.
‘Pete, I hope you don’t mind, but I know you didn’t always do .?.?. what you’re doing now. I don’t want to pry but .?.?.’
She totally did, and she wondered if he didn’t look slightly relieved – maybe he wanted to be known after all.
‘Look, can this be just between us?’
‘Of course.’
‘Where do I start? I .?.?. used to .?.?. have a business. Building trade. With a very old friend of mine. We started off when we were young. I started as a bricklayer up at home in Monaghan, at seventeen, then ended up foreman. I was the youngest foreman in the business for a while.’
He said that with pride. No wonder he seemed competent! God, what must it feel like for him to be toiling away in Dave’s storeroom.
‘Then myself and my partner started out on our own. And .?.?. it took off. He’s a smart guy – an accountant, incredible instinct for the market, I’ll give him that. He had a knack for sensing the next big opportunity. I was the hands-on one. So, over our twenties, we built our portfolio, spread between here and London, thank God, which mostly saved us in the crash.’
‘More than most people did,’ she remarked.
It sounded like Pete was trying to unravel a tangled ball of twine as he spoke.
‘I’m just trying to get my head around the scale of your business,’ said Ally. ‘You’re talking about it like it’s no big deal, but .?.?. this is huge.’
He huffed. ‘Yeah. But huge goes in both directions .?.?.’
The words hung in the air.
‘So, your partner .?.?.’
He looked at her uncertainly. ‘Tony. I was so tied up in running the business stuff .?.?. It’s a lot to organise. But Jesus .?.?. looking back, I could kill myself for not being more .?.?.’ He clicked his fingers impatiently at his head. ‘On the fucking ball. Excuse my language. Then one day, I get the brown envelope and it’s the inland revenue. Apparently, there’s a lot of money outstanding. And I meana lot.’
‘Oh no. Why?’
‘Money that was owed to the revenue – and I assumed had been paid – vanished .?.?. along with Tony.’
He shrugged and looked down at his glass. She remembered her manners and refilled them both.
‘It was my own fault. I forgot you can’t trust people. Anyhow, the Gardaí are in touch with the Spanish police looking for him but, surprise, surprise, no sign of him. But you know, nearly the worst thing about it is that I still miss him as a friend. Stupid, isn’t it?’
‘No. Pete, it’s not. And none of this is your fault.’
‘Doesn’t matter – once your signature’s all over it, you’re liable. Look, sorry if I’m boring you, Ally, I didn’t mean to come here and dump—’
‘Are you kidding, you’re not dumping. I mean .?.?. this is huge. God, Pete, I’m shocked – you’ve really been shafted.’
They were down to the last slice of pizza.
‘Have it.’ She smiled. ‘Save me.’
From behind her wine glass, she gazed at his broad chiselled face and five o’clock shadow, and judged his age at around forty-five. It was a striking face, nothing unformed or passive about it – the face of someone who made decisions and saw them through. He glanced up suddenly and caught her.
‘What?’
