. Blondes had never done it for Max. No, it would be a brunette. Like her, only a lot younger. The pain of it clamped at her guts, made her feel sick.
‘You know what?’ Ellie was saying, hands clasped around the teacup as if trying to get them warm. ‘I spoke to Doll last Monday on the phone. We were going to meet up next Thursday at the Ritz, our usual thing.’
Annie nodded: she knew. Tea at the Ritz. Once, she had regularly joined them there.
‘Now she’ll never make it,’ said Ellie, her face dissolving into tears again. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered, going to the worktop and tearing off a hank of kitchen roll. She dabbed at her eyes and blew her nose, chucked the tissue into the bin. She came back to the table and sat down with a shuddering sigh, then stared at Annie with reddened eyes. Ellie’s mascara was all down her cheeks, she looked a mess.
‘Who the fuck would do a thing like that?’ asked Ellie. It was a howl of protest.
‘She was shot, Tone said when he called me,’ said Annie, swallowing past a painful lump in her throat.
‘That’s right. She was shot. God, poor Dolly.’ Ellie’s eyes were bright with tears. She gulped and stared at Annie’s face. ‘I thought Tone would’ve collected you from the airport. You came in a cab.’
Annie shook her head, trying to think past this huge obstacle in her brain. Dolly was dead. Truth was, she’d been so devastated by what Tony had told her on the phone that she hadn’t thought to mention transport to him, and he hadn’t offered. Which, now she thought about it, was odd. Usually, Tone was on the ball with such things. But then, he’d had a shock too.
‘You got a spare bed, Ellie?’ she asked. She felt weary, right through to the bone.
There was a flicker of hesitation before Ellie recovered herself and said, ‘Course. There’s always a place for you here.’
Of course there was. Annie was the boss’s wife, after all. Right now, she was wondering how much longer that was going to be the case. It made her feel sad, hurt, angry. She and Max had been through so much, and she didn’t want it to end this way, with him having a hole-in-the-corner affair and her having to cope all alone again.
She loved him. Worshipped the bones of him.
She drank the tea and let out a heartfelt sigh. ‘I need a kip. After that, maybe this is going to make some kind of sense.’
But I doubt it, she thought.
‘Come on, I’ll show you to your room,’ said Ellie, standing up. She paused there, clutching at the kitchen chair. Her tear-reddened hazel eyes met Annie’s. ‘They’ll find out who did it, though, won’t they? The Bill, I mean,’ said Ellie. ‘They’ve
