G03 - Resolution Read Free

chuck him out. She wouldn’t tell him. She’d wait and see what happened. Everything was coming to an end.
    Sunshine lingered in the living room, puddled in a corner of the bay window. It was ten o’clock and the sun would be going down soon. Taking a glass from the kitchen, she stood by the living-room window and poured herself a large whiskey, rolling it in her mouth before swallowing. The sunshine gilded the city below. Shards of glass in the yellow and burgundy sandstone glinted against a blue sky backdrop. In the street below, excited midges caught the sun, shimmering like animated flecks of gold.
    She watched the high summer sun set quickly, like an orange rolling off a table, and suddenly found herself sitting in a blue gloom, holding an empty glass, looking out over the street at closing time. Dispensing with formalities, she drank straight from the whiskey bottle, the tiny vacuum in the neck kissing the tip of her tongue. At the foot of the dark hill a string of orange streetlights flickered awake. It was a beautiful city and Maureen was glad she had lived here.

Chapter 3
ELLA MCGEE
    No,” said Cindy, watching her lift the upright Hoover out of the cupboard.
    Ella McGee ignored her, unwound the flex and carried the plug to the wall socket.
    “I said no.”
    Ella crouched down and punched the plug into the wall.
    “She’s right, Mrs. G.,” said Kevin. “He said not tae.”
    “Well,” Ella smiled up at the bouncer, “I think I know a wee bit more about cleaning than he does.”
    “Look, you.” Cindy came around the desk and stomped towards her, moving gracelessly in her high heels and miniskirt. “Don’t fucking …” She tried to bend down to take out the plug but her tight skirt stopped her so she shouted instead, “Not when there’s punters here, ya daft old cow. He’s fuckin’ telt ye.”
    And it was then that Ella made the worst mistake of her life. She elbowed Cindy in the leg, hitting her hard on the shin. Cindy reached for the desk on her way down, pulling the cheap table over, knocking the phone on the floor. Ella stood up and looked at her. Her skirt had ripped at the side, showing her baggy off-white knickers. Ella had never liked her — she thought she was something.
    Cindy looked up at the old woman in the tracksuit, grinning down at her. “You fucking cunt,” she screamed.
    Kevin stepped towards them. “Girls, enough.”
    They heard steps on the stairs and Si appeared from the basement, hurrying up to the hallway when he saw Cindy on the floor. He helped her to her feet, saw the ripped skirt and sent her off to get another one.
    “I want paid for it,” said Cindy, looking at Ella.
    “You’ll get paid for it,” he said. “Go to the back office and see if Cath’s got one.”
    Cindy tottered down the hallway, huffing as if she’d hurt herself. Si righted the desk and picked up the phone, sitting the receiver in the cradle. He wouldn’t look her in the eye and Ella knew it was bad. “Put that Hoover away,” he said.
    “That carpet needs going over — it’s a right state.”
    Margaret’s head appeared at the mouth of the stairs to the basement. She looked at her brother and Si turned to Ella. “Look, we need to talk to you.”
    It was his own office, not the place’s office, and no one was allowed in but Margaret and Si. It annoyed Ella. She’d tried to get in to clean it a couple of times, once when he was there and once when he was out. He wouldn’t let her in and Cindy swore she didn’t have a key. It wasn’t anything special, just a dark room at the back of the basement, bars on the window, a fire escape leading to the alley, a desk with an open newspaper on it and a locked safe he must keep the money in. He could have trusted her, she would hardly have robbed him.
    Margaret sat on the desk and Si took the chair. They seemed quite tense, the two of them, glancing at each other and looking away quickly, as if they’d been discussing her. Sometimes she felt she