Take Two

CHAPTER 58

Richards stayed in the club all night, mainly in the corner of the VIP room, drinking champagne and staring into the middle distance. His staff could see he was upset about something so they kept their distance. At just before midnight, his mobile rang. It was Halpin. ‘We’re heading back now,’ he said.

‘Thanks,’ said Richards. He ended the call and waved over one of the waitresses.

She came over, smiling nervously. ‘Is everything okay, Mr Richards?’ she asked.

‘Get me a drink,’ he said.

‘More champagne?’

Richards shook his head. ‘Brandy,’ he said. ‘Courvoisier. With ice. And bring me the bottle.’ He stared at the table as she went off to get his drink. He wanted to get drunk and he wanted to get drunk quickly because that was the only way he could deaden the sick feeling of guilt that kept threatening to overwhelm him. He’d had no choice. He couldn’t have allowed Carolyn to live, not if that meant spending the rest of his life behind bars. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t killed before. He’d smashed Nicholas Cohen’s skull without a second’s thought and hadn’t felt one sliver of guilt at the time or since. He’d shot two men and in his teens, had knifed an Asian guy and sat and watched as he’d died, again without a moment’s regret. But Carolyn was different. He’d liked her, he’d liked her a lot. Under other circumstances he was sure he’d have taken the relationship further. But, instead, she was lying at the bottom of the North Sea in a steel chest. And he knew that was an image that was going to stay with him for a long, long time.