Serafina and the Virtual Man - By Marie Treanor Page 0,19

himself up on his elbow, scowling at her with obvious unease. “What’s it to you anyway? Don’t go raking it all up again, Jillian.”

“How’d you get past the alarm system?” she asked.

Andy grinned and touched the side of his nose.

“Oh, come on, Andy. That’s state-of-the-art stuff.”

“Think I can’t deal with that?”

“I know you can’t,” Jilly said, unimpressed.

Andy sighed. “We knew it wouldn’t be switched on.”

Jilly frowned. “Why not? How did you know that?”

“None of your bloody business! We just knew, all right?”

Jilly mulled it over in silence.

“Get us a cup of tea,” Andy suggested.

“Fuck off,” Jilly said amiably and took her own cup back to the kitchen, where her mother was yawning and flicking through the pages of a newspaper.

Jilly walked past her, and rinsed her mug under the tap. “Got to go.”

“You not going to wait and see your dad? I’ll wake him up.”

Jilly stared at her. “I can’t stay. I’ve got work.”

Her mother’s eyes fell. “Aye. Right enough. I’ll tell him you came by.”

“Don’t bother,” Jilly muttered, brushing past to the door, where she paused and glanced back at the huddled figure of her mother, pouring another cup of tea. Would she put vodka in that too? Just for an instant, pity swamped Jilly’s anger.

“You should get out of here, Mum. Go and live on your own.”

Her mother turned her head and gazed at her. “What would I do that for?”

Because it’s better than what you’re doing now, than what you’ve always done: nothing. Before the bitter words got out, Jilly walked away and left the flat. She ran down the stairs and outside, gulping in the fresh air with massive relief.

****

She was glad when Sera answered her doorbell. Often, now, Sera stayed at Blair’s place, and no way was Jilly going there. On the other hand, she did want to talk to Sera without the others around, so she was prepared to risk running into Blair in the flat above Serafina’s.

“Hello,” Sera greeted her, standing back to let her in. “How was Dave?”

“Wanker,” Jilly said briefly. “I kneed him one.”

“Good,” Sera said with unstinting approval. She closed the door, scanning Jilly’s face as she often had over the years for signs of distress. Obviously finding none, her face cleared. “I was just on my way.”

“Wanted to talk to you first,” Jilly returned, following Sera upstairs to the flat. “About the Ewans.”

“Fair enough. There’s coffee in the pot. Help yourself while I grab my stuff.”

Jilly jerked her head at the bedroom. “Is he in there?”

“No, but even if he was, he’s not likely to blab, is he?”

“Point.” Almost the only thing Jilly liked about Blair was the fact that he couldn’t talk. He communicated telepathically with Sera, which was fine. Jilly didn’t like to be reminded of his mouth at all, since it contained sharp fangs for biting humans.

So she brought Sera up to date on what had happened on her computer last night and what she’d found out from Andy this morning.

Sera swore with gratifying awe. “How does that not count as a traumatic event?” she wondered. “Break-in, gunshots… Who did the shooting? Did Ewan shoot at Andy and George?”

“They didn’t wait to find out. But it could be why the case was dropped. You can’t go around shooting at unarmed burglars without the police getting anxious, even if they’re in your house.”

“See if Ewan has a firearms license.”

“Already checked. He has a shotgun for hunting. But there was no mention of gunshots in the police report of the break-in. What’s more, there’s something funny about the whole burglary thing. Somebody told Andy and George it would be safe, that the house would be empty and the alarms switched off.”

Sera sat down and grabbed her half-finished coffee while she shoved her feet into short boots. “That’s bizarre. Were they supposed to steal something in particular?”

“To order, you mean? I don’t think so, though Andy wouldn’t tell me stuff like that anyway. I think they were set up, Sera. What if they were meant to carry the can for whoever got shot that night?”

Sera straightened, staring at her. “Genesis Adam? You mean he was shot but didn’t die? I suppose that would explain what he told you. Or what someone or something told you.”

“Maybe. Only it doesn’t seem that anyone was shot that night. Like most things Andy and George get involved in, it didn’t work. And they beetled off before anyone could frame them for anything. Only how this all fits in with the Ewans, let alone