CHAPTER 55
In the end, it was Charlie who made the bridge that brought Tiff to us. The latest girl had done her best, holding her hand out to Gemma, but it was Charlie she clicked with. I suspected it was mostly to do with their shared experience of the man that the latter, with an increasing prickliness, started calling ‘That wonky-eyed cunt’.

Whatever the reason, they seemed to work well together, and the only time that I really saw the damage that had been done was in the simple fact that neither of them would ever leave the House. Not for any form of schooling, not to go shopping, not for a night out at the Smugglers. Just not, ever.

Tea with True North

I was planning my next crime when I got a call, from a superhero, of all people.

True North was almost a stereotype of a Canadian - unfailingly polite, but a stickler for law and order.

I was so shocked by what he asked me - to meet him for tea and conversation - that I forgot to be shocked about how he knew my number.

So I said yes, we arranged a time, and he took me to his arctic base.

based on the song "The One" by Brandon Heath