BooksBarbecue
Back Bad Friends
Chapters (59)
  1. Bad Friends
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Epigraph
  5. AFTER: DECEMBER
  6. BEFORE: JUNE
  7. Chapter One
  8. Chapter Two
  9. Chapter Three
  10. Chapter Four
  11. Chapter Five
  12. Chapter Six
  13. Chapter Seven
  14. Chapter Eight
  15. Chapter Nine
  16. Chapter Ten
  17. Chapter Eleven
  18. Chapter Twelve
  19. Chapter Thirteen
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. Chapter Forty
  47. Chapter Forty-One
  48. Chapter Forty-Two
  49. Chapter Forty-Three
  50. Chapter Forty-Four
  51. Chapter Forty-Five
  52. Chapter Forty-Six
  53. Chapter Forty-Seven
  54. Chapter Forty-Eight
  55. A CONVERSATION WITH CLAIRE SEEBER
  56. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  57. About the Author
  58. By the same author:
  59. About the Publisher

A low whistle and a voice, an indistinguishable greeting as Digby barked again, his friendly kind of hello bark, the stupid mutt, and I was running now but I heard a car-door slam. I ran faster, I shouted ‘Wait for me’, but the car pulled off, and as I rounded the corner and saw the empty road, glimmering in the moonlight, I realised with a stony heart my dog had gone too.

An engine choked into life behind me. I turned to see Alex’s Land Rover pulling out of the far end of the drive, onto the village road. Hidden from his view on this side of the house, I fumbled now to switch my mobile on, sprinting to reach my own car, my bad foot really starting to throb. As I ran I felt the icy sweat of fear despite the cold night – but I could see my own car now and the phone was on, bleeping frantically with messages it had collected since it had died in the police’s keep.

I tried to phone 999 but the signal was so bad here I couldn’t get through, and then I dropped the phone. I stumbled as I bent to pick it up and nearly hit the floor, grazing my hand on the gravel, but I didn’t care. I reached the car and the door was unlocked – I always left the doors unlocked down here because I felt so safe, only now I felt the very opposite, quite terrified in fact, and my hand was shaking as I thrust the key into the ignition. I kept missing the slot because of the shake, and then finally it went in and I turned the key and –

Nothing. The engine made a half-hearted stutter and died completely. I turned the key again; my worst nightmare was coming true.

The cottage was still in darkness, but through the trees I could see the pub’s twinkling lights. I tried 999 again but there was still no reception. A single text envelope had popped up on the screen.

DID YOU GET MESSAGES? PLEASE TAKE CARE. LOVE YOUR FRIEND FAY XX

Oh Christ. Even Fay knew Alex was a nutter. I took a deep breath and slid back out of the car. My only option was to run to the pub for help.

My ears craned for sound as I walked as fast as I could towards the orchard, towards the small bridge that would lead me to the pub. All seemed quiet now: just my ragged breath and the old owl hooting all melancholy into the night, having devoured his prey. A sliver of laughter carried from the pub as the wind dropped again – the pub that seemed suddenly so very far away. Silence surrounded me here, though – so perhaps, please God –