Annie shook her head. ‘You know her background, don’t you?’
‘Refresh my memory,’ he said, standing up.
‘I first knew Dolly when she worked at Aunt Celia’s. They called it a massage parlour, but that’s just a fancy name for it. It was a whorehouse near the docks in Limehouse. In those days, Dolly was aggressive, rough around the edges. Then time moved on and she softened a bit…’
Annie was thinking back to those times, thinking of the friends she’d made in that most unlikely of places, thinking of Darren, and Aretha, Ellie and Dolly. Back then, she and Dolly had been at each other’s throats. They had been enemies first, friends later.
‘You’re smiling,’ said Hunter, watching her face curiously. ‘What is it?’
‘Nothing. Just thinking that those were good times.’ Now the smile was gone and she just looked sad.
‘In a Limehouse knocking shop.’ His tone was cynical.
‘Believe it or not, they were. The best.’
‘Paying protection to the Delaney mob, I believe.’ Hunter eyed her sharply. ‘What about them? Is there any connection now?’
Annie bit her lip. Not too long ago, she’d had trouble with the Delaneys – and at that point, she’d thought they were done for. And most of them were. Tory, Kieron, Orla… Once, the Delaney gang had been powerful and frightening. They were now part of the past. But… she knew that the scariest Delaney of all was still alive.
Redmond.
She felt a shudder go straight through her at that thought. A big Irish Catholic family, the Delaneys had struck terror into the streets at one time. All gone now, history – except Redmond. And the thought of him could still frighten her. She’d seen him in the flesh a few years ago. Hadn’t thought it was possible. She’d been off her head at the time, and had half-believed that she’d dreamed his being there… but afterwards she had known. Afterwards, she found proof of it. Redmond wasn’t dead. He was alive.
‘There’s no connection that I can think of,’ she said. And she hoped, prayed, that was true.
