Read Online Little Criminals by Gene Kerrigan - Free Book Online

always.’
    Joan said, ‘Time for homework, love, while I get your tea ready. Say goodbye to your dad, then get changed, OK?’
    A minute later, Sinead was skipping up the stairs. She was humming a tune from a TV advert for a DIY superstore.
    ‘Jesus, she’s great,’ Frankie said. ‘There’s real talent in that drawing.’
    ‘She’s been working on it, off and on, for the past week. She’d take no help at all. All her own work.’
    There’s something there still, Frankie thought. There had to be. Joan reminding Sinead about his birthday. Despite it all, there had to be some feeling left.
    ‘Listen, Joan, thanks for – you’ve been really great, the way you help keep things going between Sinead and me.’
    Joan stared at him. Then she looked out the window as she spoke. ‘Just because I can’t stand having you near me is no reason why she shouldn’t be on good terms with her father.’
    ‘Ah, Joan—’
    ‘I’ve got to get her tea.’
    ‘OK, fuck it, no need to make it so obvious. I’m going.’
    Now that Sinead was out of earshot, there was no trace of the gloss of normality Joan had adopted when he’d arrived at the house. She was always good at that. Putting on a face she could hide behind, then coming on like a fucking martyr. Doing that, it was like Frankie was the total shit, like none of it was her fault. Most of it, when you got right down to it, was her fault. If she hadn’t been such a cold-hearted bitch.
    He started for the door, then turned. ‘About Sinead. I’m not sure about the next couple of Wednesdays. Two, three, I don’t know. Something’s come up, I’ve got to do something. I’ll be away.’
    He paused, but she didn’t display any curiosity. Fuck her .
    ‘Not sure how long it’ll take. I’ll give you a buzz when I know. OK?’
    ‘Have you told her?’
    ‘Yeah, she knows. I think I’ll be OK to pick her up from school the Wednesday after that, but I’ll let you know. That’s not going to mess things up for you?’
    ‘I’m here, one way or the other. I’m always here.’
    ‘Well, I’ll do my best.’
    ‘I’ve got to get her tea.’
    Frankie nodded. Going out the door, with the birthday card and the present held against his chest, he called up the stairs to Sinead and she returned the goodbye and added one last ‘Happy birthday’. That thing with the culchie bollocks, it was like it never happened.
    Before he was halfway down the path to the front gate he heard Joan close the front door behind him.
    In the car park at Flynn O’Meara Tully, Justin Kennedy and Helen Snoddy kissed.
    ‘Tomorrow night?’ he asked.
    ‘I’m off on my travels. Remember?’
    ‘Of course. Give me a buzz when you know how you’re fixed.’
    Madrid, of course. She’d told him a while back. Home for a couple of days, then she had to accompany some client to meetings with bankers in two jurisdictions, she was speaking at a weekend seminar in Galway, then she was taking a few days in London. She didn’t say, but the London thing was probably business, though he supposed there might be a bit of personal stuff. He never asked about her personal life. He knew there was a boyfriend of sorts, and her family was important. She never asked about his family, or his relationship with Angela. It wasn’t the first bit of offside fun that Kennedy had enjoyed. Fifteen months into his marriage he had realised that being happy at home didn’t mean he had to deny himself the pleasures of bachelorhood.
    The thing with Helen Snoddy began two years back, an off-and-on thing. When it was on, Kennedy didn’t look around for any other diversions. He wasn’t sure that was true of Helen. He never asked and he didn’t much mind. This kind of thing was as much a part of Kennedy’s life as his occasional lunchtime indulgences in the small, expensive restaurants that catered to the business trade in this area. It was pleasant, it added something to his life, it made him feel good about himself. It was going