The painting was dark and ugly and moody... and Jack loved it. He wondered why Adam had chosen this particular painting as his gift.
Jack heard his bedroom door open and assumed that Maggie was on her way to the bathroom. Instead, she opened his office door and was about to ask when he planned on coming to bed, when she saw the painting. ‘Good God, Jack, that’s awful. Did you buy it in Ireland?’ Maggie rubbed her tired eyes. ‘Looks like you, if you’d spent twenty years living rough.’
‘What if I told you it could be worth a lot of money?’
‘I wouldn’t believe you.’ Maggie leant over Jack’s shoulder and kept looking at the painting to see if it might get a little easier on the eye. ‘You chose a lovely hotel, though.’
Jack explained that he would have liked to take her back to St Lucia but, seeing as that was beyond their budget right now, he wanted to find something nice closer to home.
‘I don’t care about fancy holidays, really,’ Maggie said. ‘Hannah’s going to need a playroom and a big girl’s bed soon, so I think we should just be careful for a while. Unless that monstrosity really is worth a lot of money. Then St Lucia would be lovely.’ Maggie gently kissed Jack on the neck. Her lips made him tingle. ‘Don’t be long.’ Maggie paused just inside the door to Jack’s office. ‘By the way, did you ever track down that man you were looking for? Adam something.’
Jack shrugged as if he had all the time in the world. ‘Not yet.’
Maggie kissed him again, yawned and headed back to bed.
He gazed down at the painting. What Jack felt now was that Adam wasn’t his nemesis, as he’d assumed for the past several weeks — he was a warning. He was the man Jack could have been if his birth mother had lived longer. And Jack was the man Adam could have been if his birth mother had died sooner.
Jack felt in his soul that the Giacometti in front of him was not a copy, but the original. Because that’s exactly the sort of thing that Adam would do. He would give a painting by a brother, for a brother — both dark and troubled men, bound by an inexplicable loyalty.
He knew that in the morning when Ridley expected a full and detailed explanation of exactly what had taken place in Ireland, the painting would remain a secret.
He also knew — though he could never admit it — that he was looking forward to the day that he and Adam would meet again.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank all the staff at my publisher, Bonnier Books, with special thanks to Kate Parkin, Bill Massey, Ben Willis, Ciara Corrigan, Nikki Mander, Blake Brooks, Nick Stearn and Ruth Logan. You all do such incredible work publishing my books, I’m so pleased to be part of the Bonnier family.
Thank you to my team at La Plante Global, Nigel Stoneman, Tory MacDonald and Cass Sutherland. Special thanks to Debbie Owen for all her help with her excellent research and advice.
In Australia and New Zealand, my thanks go to the team at Allen and Unwin, and in South Africa, to all the staff at Jonathan Ball. I do hope to be able to visit you soon.
In Ireland, many thanks to Simon Hess and Declan Heeney for all their hard work in selling and publicising my books. I’ve missed coming to Ireland, and I’m looking forward to having a drink with you all at The Shelbourne very soon.
To all the booksellers and retailers, reviewers and bloggers who stock, read, review and promote my books, thank you again for your support, time and words. You are all amazing, and I’m very grateful.
Thank you to my readers, who keep in touch via my social media and who I have met on Facebook Live in the past two years. I can’t believe technology has enabled me to reach out to you, I have enjoyed it immensely and hope you have too.