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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

I haven’t been around long enough to earn an iPhone like Dev and Esen.

Poppy just shrugs. ‘Tracking devices are tiny. They fit pretty much anywhere.’

I look at Esen again and wonder if she’s also considering throwing the phone into the street.

But she just tips her chin at me. ‘Where we going?’

‘Stabbing.’ I nod up the road towards the Manor. ‘It’s not far.’

‘OK.’ Poppy takes her gloves out of her coat pocket and tugs them on. ‘Toast can wait.’

‘No way,’ I tell her, holding my hand up. ‘You stay here. We’ll come get you when we’re done.’

‘How am I any safer here?’ she asks with a furious frown. ‘What if it happens and you’re not here?’

‘She’s right,’ Esen agrees. When I glare at her, she shrugs. ‘You can’t leave her on her own.’

‘Fine,’ I concede with a huff. ‘Just stay back, OK? Don’t get involved.’

Poppy nods obediently.

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We arrive at the Manor at exactly 12:13 to find a body spreadeagled in the middle of the field. It must have just happened, because two blokes are running hell for leather towards the flats on the other side. Esen watches them go, then turns to me. ‘Must have been them who stabbed him.’

‘Them?’ Poppy frowns. ‘There’s only one.’

It takes us a moment longer than it should, but when we realise that Poppy wouldn’t be able to see Alfie Fuller – only we can – Esen and I look at one another and say, ‘Shit!’ at the same time.

Why do these things only happen when I’m with Esen?

Esen starts running. ‘Stay with Poppy!’ she calls out over her shoulder, then looks back and asks, ‘Which one is he?’ when she realises that she doesn’t know which of them is Alfie Fuller.

I look down at the body at my feet. ‘The one with the fur-lined hood!’

She catches up to him, reaching out for the hood and yanking him back. He stumbles, landing on his back on the grass. She helps him up and he’s so concerned with trying to shrug her off, that he must not notice his body lying in the middle of the field because he doesn’t seem to be freaking out about it. By the time they get back to us, I can hear Esen telling him, ‘Yes, I know he stabbed you, but you need to come with me.’

‘What are you lot?’ He spits, looking at Esen then at me and Poppy. ‘The police?’

‘You wish,’ Esen says, taking him by the elbow and leading him towards the gates.

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