Too Close For Comfort

by Niamh O'Connor

  ‘Having a sister going missing kind of guarantees that,’ Dan said.

  ‘Yes, Liz lost a sister. But the alternative would have been losing a father and a sister.’

  ‘You can’t bury the past,’ Dan said.

  ‘If they hadn’t confided in you, you’d have been none the wiser about what had happened to Ellen. People run away all the time. It’s not a crime. What I still don’t understand is why Derek kept the information from Liz. She was supposed to be his girlfriend.’

  ‘Because there was no way of telling her why Ellen had gone without telling her what her father had done. He wanted to spare her that. He didn’t think she’d believe it, and thought it would become a life obsession. I risked my job, my reputation, my livelihood. I risked losing you by not telling you.’

  ‘Because you know exactly the way the system works. Anyone who likes can walk in off the street and see who the anonymous victim’s father on trial is. Every guard in the country can get the name, the address, the details. She’d have had to lead a different kind of life.’

  ‘I should have told you years ago,’ Dan said.

  Jo didn’t answer.

  ‘I didn’t want to make you culpable for my mistakes,’ he explained.

  ‘You want me to say you’re right. I can’t. It doesn’t mean I love you any less.’

  He leaned in and nibbled her ear. ‘I’m horny as hell now you know all my secrets.’

  Jo cupped his face in her hands and leaned hers towards him. ‘Ditto.’

  Dan stepped out first and reached for a bath towel, putting it around her shoulders.

  Jo followed, but stopped at the sound of him opening the door to the bedroom.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ he asked.

  ‘Help me, Dan, help me! I can’t see anything.’

  Acknowledgements

  Thanks to my husband, Brian, for the continued love and support when I most needed it.

  Thanks to my editors, Cat Cobain, Brian Langan, Lucy Pinney, and Stephanie Glencross for making this book so much better. I know how lucky I am to have each of you.

  Thanks to my agent, Jane Gregory, and the whole team at Gregory and Company for all the expert guidance.

  Thanks to my family, especially my parents, Sheila and Eamonn, for helping with the children, and brother Gavin, who was a great sounding board.

  Thanks to my pals, Siobhan Carmody, Carmel Wallace, Maria Duffy, Sarah Hamilton and Vanessa O’Loughlin.

  Thanks to Victoria Smurfit for a particular conversation that got this book kick-started.

  Thanks to Team Transworld, especially Eoin McHugh, Stephen Mulcahey, Madeline Toy, Helen Gleed O’Connor, and Declan Heeney for all the support.

  And last but not least, a heartfelt thanks to my first crime editor, Selina Walker, and first mentor, Cathy Kelly, for getting me started on this treadmill. I’ve never looked back.

  About the Author

  Niamh O’Connor is one of Ireland’s best-known crime authors. She is the true-crime editor with the Sunday World, Ireland’s biggest selling Sunday newspaper. Her job, in which she interviews both high-profile criminals and their victims, means she knows the world she is writing about. If I Never See You Again went to number one in the Nielsen Heatseekers chart when it was released in the UK in January 2011 and was nominated in the Best Newcomers category of the Irish Book Awards in November 2010. Her follow-up novel, Taken, was a number-two bestseller in Ireland in June 2011.

  Also by Niamh O’Connor

  Non-fiction

  BLOOD TIES

  Fiction

  IF I NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN

  TAKEN

  For more information on Niamh O’Connor and her books, see her website at www.niamhoconnor.co.uk

  TRANSWORLD IRELAND

  An imprint of The Random House Group Limited

  20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London SW1V 2SA

  www.transworldbooks.co.uk

  First published in 2012 by Transworld Ireland,

  a division of Transworld Publishers

  Copyright © Niamh O’Connor 2012

  Niamh O’Connor has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781448110704

  ISBN 9781848271388

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

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