“You were in London when you told Fox you were at your parents’ house. Last week, you told us you were at the office when you were at the bank. You’ve skipped out on things we neededyou for with lame excuses. Has someone got to you? Is someone threatening—”
“It’s nothing like that.” Jenny closed her eyes. “It’s Dad. He’s sick.”
I tried not to look too relieved. Jenny had been all over the place because poor Frank had been struck down with something. Why hadn’t she just told us? She must’ve worried we’d get annoyed at her playing nurse when we needed her. But we wouldn’t think less of her for being a good daughter.
“Is it that vomiting bug? Flu? Take as long as you need to look after him. Poor Frank, he’s such a nice—”
“Cancer.”
“What?” I heard her, but I didn’t want to hear her.
“He’s got pancreatic cancer.” She couldn’t meet my eyes.
“Right.” I nodded.
We were both quiet for a few beats.
“He’ll get through it,” I finally said. “It’ll be fine.”
“No, Haze. It won’t.”
I didn’t know what to do.
What to say. We’d done all kinds of things together, hunted down bad men, scrubbed their blood off the floor, dirtied our hands burying them. But this was too dark.
“We’ll get him the best doctors. Money is no object. We can—”
“I’ve already tried! I looked into all these different private specialists in London. I went to the bank to check if I could remortgage my house. But…He had consultations with two of the specialists I found, the top in their field, and they both said there was nothing to be done.”
“Nothing?”
Jenny shook her head as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.
“That’s shit.” I really wished I had it in me to be better than this. More eloquent. “Really shit.”
“I’m sorry I lied.” Jenny pulled a tissue out of her sleeve. “Ididn’t want to tell you guys, as you’ve got enough on. And I was worried you’d make me take a step back from all this. But I need it. I have to keep busy, or I’ll go mad.”
I reached for her and held her in a tight hug. “I’m sorry.”
“How am I meant to live my life without him in it?” she cried into my shoulder.
“I don’t know, Jen. I don’t know.”
I didn’t need a father, but she did.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Fox
It had taken three hourswith the lawyers to get to grips with planning rules and appeals that I had absolutely no interest in ever hearing about again. I’d signed whatever they’d asked me to sign. And I was seriously hoping that Diana Morgan would consider this little legal stunt to be suitable revenge, and would now leave us alone.
I had a little time to spare before my train. I’d made a decision.
I was going to cut Sally loose. It wasn’t clear to me how much she was even helping, and her comments about Haze were making me feel uneasy.
I was going to stop seeing her, and I was going to stop taking the pills she’d given me. It was time to go it alone.
I might not be back to full fighting form, but I was heading in the right direction.
