Free The Informant by Susan Wilkins Page B

card in the pack.’
    Kaz absorbed this. She’d been hoping to persuade her brother that while he had a sidekick like Ashley he didn’t really need her. ‘But he is your best mate.’
    ‘Yeah, but you’re my sister.’
    ‘Don’t give me that family first crap. ’Cause I’d run a million miles to get away from our lot.’
    Joey laughed. Kaz watched him slapping the rashers in the pan, he was a complicated boy, always had been. She remembered him as a small child, clinging to her when the old man went on the
rampage. Usually they’d hide in one of the many cupboards in the house and frequently Joey would wet himself. It always made him cry, tears of rage and shame. But Kaz would tell him it
didn’t matter, she’d clean him up and then she’d cuddle him until he fell asleep.
    As the delectable aroma of frying bacon rose up from the pan, Joey glanced at her. He raised his index finger, ticking off a mental list. ‘So . . . number one, let’s start with
Ibiza.’
    Kaz took a deep breath, it was now or never. ‘Hang on, I got some stuff I need to say first.’
    He stared at her. His expression was hard to decipher. Joey didn’t like to be thwarted, Kaz knew him well enough to read impatience behind the look. But he simply shrugged. ‘Fire
away.’
    Kaz sighed, she positioned herself on the opposite side of the kitchen counter to him. ‘Thing is Joe, I don’t ever wanna go back inside. Six years of my life, swallowed
up.’
    He opened his mouth to butt in, but she ploughed on. ‘And I ain’t blaming no one but myself. Drugs and a stupid bit of villainy, that’s what put me there; I ain’t going
back to that. Which is why I can’t be involved in the business. I appreciate what you’ve done. Truly I do. But if I get recalled, I’m fucked. I can’t take the
risk.’
    Joey beamed at her. ‘What if there is no risk?’
    Kaz shook her head in disbelief. ‘Are you being dense or what? Last three months I’ve had the old bill on my back, visiting me inside, trying every which way to get me to grass you
up.’
    Joey chuckled. ‘Plonkers! If you was gonna do that, I don’t reckon you’d’ve waited six years.’
    ‘The point is they are after you little brother.’ Kaz flung her arms wide. ‘All this, the house that charlie built? It’s a red rag to them. They are on your case and they
ain’t about to give up.’
    Joey smiled. ‘You worry too much babes. If they had even a shred of evidence to nail me, you think they’d be knocking at your door? Just proves how desperate they are.’
    ‘What if this place is bugged? They could be listening in even now.’
    Joey grinned. ‘They’ll be lucky. Not with the kit I’ve had installed.’
    Kaz folded her arms protectively; she took a turn round the open-plan living room. This was never going to be easy. ‘What I want is to go to art college. Learn to be a proper
painter.’
    Joey flipped the rashers over a couple more times. ‘I got no quarrel with that. It’s a good cover.’
    Kaz faced him, stared him down. She had plenty of her own brand of angry defiance. ‘It ain’t a cover, it’s what I wanna to do with my life.’
    He gave her an amiable grin. ‘Great. I could do with a few pictures round here. Get some plates out. I don’t want this to get cold.’
    Kaz watched him cut doorsteps of bread and carefully load each slice with bacon, mayo and a handful of salad leaves. It was all a bit messy, but he ended up with two gut-busting sandwiches. He
plated them up and carried them to the table.
    ‘Tuck in then.’
    Getting their mouths round the erupting, dripping slabs of bacon, mayo and bread put paid to any further discussion. Joey demolished his in canine gulps. He got up, tore some sheets of kitchen
paper from the roll on the counter and wiped his mouth and hands.
    ‘So am I right or am I right?’
    Kaz was only halfway through hers. ‘About what?’
    ‘Best bacon butty you’ve ever had?’
    Kaz gave a wry smile as she chomped her