Free Hard Girls by Martina Cole Page B

her life left without meaning. No one would remember her as a good mother or daughter, or as a friend, all they would remember was how she died, and what she was working as.
    It was bloody tragic. Like Danielle, Janie Moore would be remembered as nothing more than a victim from this day forward. Everything else about her would count for nothing.
     
    Patrick was going through all the paperwork concerning the properties he owned. He already knew that another poor girl had been offed on what was legally his premises and he was once more trying to convince himself that he was not in any way responsible.
    He had already had what he would describe as a full and frank conversation with Peter about his stupidity in trying to clean the flat after Danielle’s death. He’d now had to call in a favour to sort it out with the Filth. Kate would add that to his crimes. Peter Bates had been shown the error of his ways, thanks in part to Danny Boy and his persuasive personality. But it had been an eye-opener for him on a personal level.
    Danny Foster was to all intents and purposes his manager, he was down on all the legal paperwork as the person who ran the businesses. After all, Pat was now retired. So any flak that might come in his direction would, in actual fact, be Danny’s problem; that was what he was paid enormous sums of money for. But it still didn’t make him feel any better. Danny was his fall guy.
    Pat had always made sure that he was one step ahead of the game, that there was someone to act as a buffer between him and the law. It was what had kept him safe for all these years. He had been good for a long while because of his relationship with Kate, but once she had officially retired, he allowed his natural aptitude for a decent earn to surface once again.
    It wasn’t even about the money, though that wasn’t to be sneezed at, it was more to do with the fact that he had felt alive once more. He felt the old excitement of the deal, had enjoyed being back in the world of skulduggery. Kate had made him happy, and he loved the bones of her. But he had missed the excitement of the life, missed the feeling of being a part of something. Danny Foster had done a good job as his number two, but it wasn’t the same. He had felt old, and he had felt bored, and that was something he could not get used to. Now his involvement in all this had backfired on him, and he had felt compelled to put it right, and he had done just that.
    This wheeling and dealing was making him feel alive once more. All he had was his businesses now, he had neither chick nor child, as his old mum used to say, he had nobody to call his own. Mandy was long gone, dead and buried. He had had no one except Kate, and she wasn’t enough for him any more. She wanted him to be like her, settled and accepting, and he had tried. He had really tried to be what she wanted him to be. But now, as much as he loved her, he had to admit part of him was relieved at her going. He wouldn’t have to pretend any more, he didn’t have to convince himself that he liked the quiet life. She had chosen to walk away from the life they had made. She had been compromised, he understood that, but her anger and complete indifference to him and his life had only gone to prove that he had been right all along.
    She had left him in a heartbeat and, in doing so, she had shown him just how much he had really meant to her.
    He had smoothed over his ownership of the flats, and he had walked away Kate knew from experiencll working from the problem without a stain on his character or hers. But it hurt the way she had reacted, and he was not about to forget that in a hurry. She had always been the same, it had always been about her and her bloody job. Now she was a consultant, working for a bloody pittance just so she could keep her hand in, as she put it. She still had to go into that poxy nick on a regular basis, it was all she really cared about.
     
    Now she had another big case to keep her