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Chapters (86)
  1. Title Page
  2. CONTENTS
  3. Love
  4. Before
  5. One
  6. ONE
  7. Two
  8. TWO
  9. Three
  10. THREE
  11. Four
  12. FOUR
  13. Five
  14. FIVE
  15. Six
  16. SIX
  17. Seven
  18. SEVEN
  19. Eight
  20. EIGHT
  21. Nine
  22. NINE
  23. Ten
  24. TEN
  25. Eleven
  26. ELEVEN
  27. After
  28. One
  29. ONE
  30. Two
  31. TWO
  32. Three
  33. THREE
  34. Four
  35. FOUR
  36. Five
  37. FIVE
  38. Six
  39. SIX
  40. Seven
  41. SEVEN
  42. Eight
  43. EIGHT
  44. Nine
  45. NINE
  46. Ten
  47. TEN
  48. Eleven
  49. ELEVEN
  50. Twelve
  51. TWELVE
  52. Thirteen
  53. THIRTEEN
  54. Fourteen
  55. FOURTEEN
  56. Fifteen
  57. FIFTEEN
  58. Sixteen
  59. SIXTEEN
  60. Seventeen
  61. SEVENTEEN
  62. Eighteen
  63. EIGHTEEN
  64. Nineteen
  65. NINETEEN
  66. Twenty
  67. TWENTY
  68. Twenty-One
  69. TWENTY-ONE
  70. Twenty-Two
  71. TWENTY-TWO
  72. Twenty-Three
  73. TWENTY-THREE
  74. Twenty-Four
  75. TWENTY-FOUR
  76. Twenty-Five
  77. TWENTY-FIVE
  78. Twenty-Six
  79. TWENTY-SIX
  80. Twenty-Seven
  81. TWENTY-SEVEN
  82. Twenty-Eight
  83. TWENTY-EIGHT
  84. Eleven Months Later
  85. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  86. Copyright

Poppy doesn’t even look at her house, just keeps heading up Lewes Crescent. As we pass the Kemptown Enclosures, my instinct is to ask Poppy if she has her key so we can go in and see if my father’s in there. We’re near the hospital as well, aren’t we? A couple of days ago, I would have engineered it so we walked that way back to the bookshop and I could linger outside in the hopes of catching a glimpse of my mother. But after seeing Poppy, I don’t dare, terrified of what will happen if I do. Poppy must know what I’m thinking, because she reaches for my hand and squeezes it and when I look at her, she nudges me with her hip.

‘There it is,’ she says when we get to the top of Sussex Square, pointing at a café. It’s exactly where Esen said it would be – on the corner, opposite St Mary’s Hall – and as busy, the queue snaking out the door on to the pavement. We’re joining the end of it when I hear my phone and take it out of the back pocket of my jeans to find it’s Deborah.

‘Shit,’ I mutter as I answer it. ‘Hello?’

She doesn’t say it back. ‘Ash, you’re with Esen, aren’t you?’

‘Yeah.’ I frown, unsure how she knows that.

Maybe Esen told her that she was coming to meet me.

‘You’re near St Mary’s Hall?’

OK. Deborah can’t know that.

I look around, suspiciously. ‘Yeah.’

‘Good. We’ve got a stabbing near there and I’d rather there were two of you.’

‘A stabbing?’

I try not to say it too loudly as I look at Poppy, but she’s not listening, too distracted by two pugs that waddle past. Esen is, though, her brow furrowing, and I wonder if she’s thinking the same thing.

Don’t say Poppy Morgan.

Don’t say Poppy Morgan.

Don’t say Poppy Morgan.

‘Yes.’ Deborah stops and it feels like an eternity before she finally says, ‘Alfie Fuller.’

I shake my head at Esen. Not that I need to – I’m so relieved it must be obvious.

‘Where?’ I ask.

‘The Manor. Do you know it?’

‘Yeah.’ My cousin used to play football there on Saturday mornings. ‘When?’

‘Soon. 12:13.’

‘OK. We’re heading there now.’

‘Who was that?’ Poppy asks when I hang up.

‘Deborah,’ I tell her, then look at Esen. ‘How did she know that I was here, with you?’

She just rolls her eyes. ‘It’s Deborah. She’s a witch.’

‘Or she’s tracking you on your phones,’ Poppy says, adjusting her bobble hat.

I look down at the phone in my hand then up at Esen, who looks equally horrified.

‘What?’ I hold it up. ‘On this piece of shit? It doesn’t even have the internet.’