Part 4 (2/2)

Taking his arm she pointed to the pictures she'd crowded on the walls of

the flat. ”I cut out everything I could find about you and saved it.”

He looked at himself reproduced a dozen times. His stomach turned.

”Jesus.”

”I called your record company, and I even went there, but they treated

me like I was n.o.body. I told them I was the mother of Brian McAvoy's

baby daughter, and they had me tossed out.” She didn't add that she'd

been drunk and had attacked the receptionist. ”I started reading about

you and Beverly Wilson, and I got desperate. I knew she couldn't mean

anything to you, not after what we had. But I had to talk to you

somehow.”

”Calling Bev's flat and raving like a maniac wasn't the best way to go

about it.”

”I had to talk to you, to make you listen. You don't know what it's

like, Bri, worrying about how to pay the rent, whether you've got enough

for food. I can't buy pretty dresses anymore or go out at night.”

”Is money what you want?”

She hesitated just an instant too long. ”I want you, Bri, I always

have.”

Johnno tapped out his cigarette in the base of a plastic plant. ”You

know, Bri, there's been a lot of talk about this kid, but I don't see

any sign of her.” He rose, and in a habitual gesture, shook back his

gleaming mop of dark hair. ”Ready to split?”

Jane sent him a vicious look. ”Emma's in the bedroom. And I'm not

<script>