by Anna Smith
‘Are you saying who did it?’
‘How would I know who did it? And does it even matter?’
‘It does, Rosie. It should.’
Rosie wanted to ask if it mattered to him. She knew it wouldn’t have mattered to Don, but she didn’t know this guy well enough to ask questions like that.
‘Yeah. It should. But that’s not really how life is.’
‘Aye. I’ll buy you that drink some time, and you can tell me how you’d put the world to rights.’
Rosie smiled.
‘I’d like that, Jim. Give me a call any time.’
‘I’ll see what your paper says tomorrow first.’
He hung up, and Rosie pulled into the car park of the Post, stood outside and looked up at the four-storey building, where so much of her life had been invested. Bad times, hard days and sad ones too. Today, she may have crossed a line. But it still felt like one of the good days.
Acknowledgements
A great deal of my life is spent writing, or thinking about writing, or agonising about writing. So much so, that I rarely get time to thank the people around me who support me and enrich my life.
So thanks to my sister Sadie, who has always been with me every step of the way. And cheers to Christopher Costello and Matthew Costello who are always throwing in ideas for stories and characters, and to Kat Campbell for thinking outside the box to take my novels further. Also thanks to my huge family including my brothers, nephews nieces, great-nieces and great-nephews, and cousins. You all know who you are and the part you play in my life. Thanks to Alice and Debbie for the hospitality and curries shared in London, and Ann Marie.
The Motherwell Smiths, for some great times together in Dingle, and also my cousins Helen and Irene.
Thanks also to my great friends, Eileen, Mag, Annie, Liz, Mary and Phil, Helen, Barbara, Donna, Jan, Louise.
And my journalist pals for the laughs when we look back on the good times – Simon and Lynn, Keith and Maureen, Mark, Thomas, Brian, Gordon and Janetta and Jimmy, Ross, Peter, Alex and Gerda, Ronnie.
In Spain, thanks to Lisa, Lillias and Nat, Mara, Wendy, Yvonne, Jean, Sarah, Fran, Davina and Billy, Sally, Jean and Dave.
In Ireland my pals Mary and Paud, Sioban and Martin, Cristin, Sean Brendain and Christiana.
All at Quercus, especially Jane Wood my mentor, Therese Keating, and the team.