Maura sat in the back of a taxi, watching the street lights turn to mush as the rain battered the window. The odd face emerged from the dark: a drunken girl slipping from the pavement, a woman waiting to cross the road, a hooded man holding a knife.
They better show up tonight.
She sank back into the seat, closed her eyes and saw books scattered across her sister's floor. The window was left open, sunlight shone through and a breeze was softly brushing the papers on her desk. One paper was blown onto the floor, nestling on her shoe. She picked it up, ran a finger along the edge.
Becky's CVs. Never given a chance.
She studied the photos on the wardrobe and found a small one of herself and her sister, taken in a photo booth while their mother was shopping. Becky was wearing glasses – thought they'd make her look smarter – while Maura, no older than ten, was pulling her tongue at her sister, her face red from laughing. She peeled it off and slipped it into her skirt pocket.
The taxi pulled up outside the steps to Powerscourt Townhouse. Maura opened her purse, searched for a twenty, but paused to look at the photo of herself and Becky inside. She smiled, took the note and told the driver to keep the change.
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Under Her Black Umbrella
Mystery / ThrillerMaura was thirteen when they took her father. Now she wants revenge. Written partly in the stream-of-consciousness, 'Under Her Black Umbrella' is a gripping and mystifying thriller.
