We present an extract from The Reckoning, the latest thriller in the DS Lucy Golden series by Martina Murphy.
In an isolated house by Dugort pier a body is found. DS Lucy Golden is shocked to discover that the victim, Sandra Byrne, is a sister of one of her old school friends. To further complicate matters, Ben Lively, one of Lucy's colleagues, is the chief suspect. Lucy must put aside her bias in order to uncover the truth. But the deeper she digs into Sandra's life, the more the past starts to unravel and the less she seems to know. How do you solve a murder when all you have are lies?As Lucy desperately tries to sort out what is true from what is not, Rob, her ex-husband and ex-con, makes a reappearance.And when the reckoning for past mistakes finally arrives, nothing is what it seems.
Sirocco is staying overnight. She's my two-year old granddaughter and the light of my life. My mother insists she told me she was coming for a sleepover, but I don’t remember.
"That job makes you forgetful," my mother mutters as she follows me down the hallway. Then as I push open the door into Luc’s bedroom, she whispers loudly, "Don’t wake her."
I wish I could. I want to scoop her up and squish her to me and inhale her. I spend a second just standing at the door of the darkened room, listening to the rise and fall of her breath, before I cross over to the cot we’ve placed in Luc’s room for her. Luc is away in college but due back at the weekend. I love him coming home with all his washing and tales of new friends made, but by Sunday, he’s generally succeeded in annoying me so much that I’m glad to see him head off again. Sirocco though, I could have stay forever. My heart tips in my chest as I stare down on her. She’s lying flat on her back, hands curled into soft fists on either side of her head, like a little boxer celebrating a victory. Her pyjamas are pink and fluffy and have a pattern of a cartoon character. She is the most beautiful thing, with her dark curly hair and long eyelashes.
"Katherine has to get her hair done tomorrow," my mother whispers from the door. "If you ask me there’s a new man on the mat."
"No one is asking you," I whisper back. Katherine is the other grandmother. She and her husband Johnny separated about eighteen months ago. If she does have a new man, fair play to her. I haven’t ever got back on that horse since my ex, Rob. let me down so badly.
I tiptoe out of the room and follow my mother down to the kitchen where she hands me a plate of sausage and chips.
"Thanks."
As I eat, she slides into the seat opposite. "She didn’t say she had anyone now," my mother continues the non-conversation of two minutes ago as she pours herself a cup of tea, "but why else would she go to all that trouble? She’s going shopping too, she told me. A whole day out for herself."
My mind is still on Sirocco.
"Isn’t she great?" My mother stirs a large spoonful of sugar into her tea, "I could never even think of replacing John."
"Well, in fairness, Dad didn’t cheat on you or get your daughter to lie for him about where he was going." Johnny Egan, my first love and Katherine’s husband was a total arsehole where women were concerned.
"That’s true, but he was no saint. He was an awful man for the pub after a day at sea. We used to have terrible rows over it, especially after you were born." She says it in the way of someone recalling a particularly fond memory.
"You always told me he was great man."
"He was," she says. "He was fantastic."
"But you just said –
"I said he liked his drink and the pub and that we fought. So what? No man is perfect, Lucy. You should know that by now, working in that awful job of yours."
She has both a high and a low opinion of my job. And while she’s proud of the work, she is right. It is awful, you never meet people at their best. Though when you convict someone and bring justice home for a victim, there’s something deeper than happiness in that. A satisfaction in yourself and in everyone that helped convict that person. The knowledge that most people are sufficiently appalled by a criminal act, that they will turn up to do jury duty when asked. "I just never knew he was a drinker."
She flicks a glance up at me, then looks down into her cup.
"What?"
"What?" Trying to pretend she doesn’t know what I mean.
"You were going to say something."
"I wasn’t."
"You were so." I lean back and fold my arms, "Go on, say it."
"I will not. It’ll only end in a row."
"You were going to say that that was nothing compared to marrying a conman, weren’t you?"
"I was not. I would never say a thing like that."
"Hmm." I stab a few chips onto a fork and shove them into my mouth. Maybe that was a bit harsh, but I know it was something along those lines. She just can’t help herself. There is silence for a few moments.
"I was actually going to say," she sounds all defensive and self-righteous now, "that every man has faults and that if you’re waiting for one with no faults to turn up, you’ll have a long wait."
"And what’s that supposed to mean?"
I’m expecting her to say it means what it means, but instead, she says, all calm, "You’ve let Rob put you off meeting anyone and that’s sad. I mean, there’s loads of lovely men here on Achill for you."
I almost chock on a chip. There is literally no one in about thirty miles of this place. "I do not want a man."
"Rob was a terrible choice, there’s no two ways about that, but he’s not the only fish in the sea."
"He’s not even a fish. He’s the pollution that kills the fish."
Her silence at my comment speaks volumes.
"I’m happy as I am," I finally say. "I’ve got Luc and you and Sirocco and I don’t need anymore."
"The reason I never replaced your Daddy is that there was no one good enough for me afterwards. You haven’t met your good enough yet, Lucy." And with that, before I can even retaliate, she sweeps out the door with a 'goodnight.’
How long has she been waiting to say that to me, I wonder?
The Reckoning is published by Constable
