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

‘Don’t worry, love.’ He patted my arm, and I noticed how speckled with white his remaining hair was these days. ‘The police will deal with Sebastian, I’m sure. You just concentrate on getting well, all right?’

Chapter Forty-Five

Chapter Forty-Five

As it turned out, though, what I had to concentrate on immediately were all the finer details from the previous night – again. A bedraggled-looking DI Fox was most apologetic about making me go through it all so soon; he even brought me a tepid hot chocolate from the vending machine in the corridor as a sign of goodwill.

When it came to talking about Alex hitting Seb with the poker, Fox wouldn’t quite meet my eyes, and I understood it was because he hadn’t believed my instinct about Alex. ‘Told you so’s’ seemed pointless, though.

‘He’s not saying much, your mate Seb.’

I scowled at the policeman. ‘He’s hardly my mate, is he?’ I replied tersely. My head was pounding now.

‘Granted.’ Fox adjusted his shiny blue tie nervously. Like most of his clothes, it had seen better days. ‘You know what I mean. He’s not very forthcoming, anyway. He’s a very accomplished liar, I’ll give him that.’

‘He would be, I suppose,’ I said slowly, ‘he’s an actor, after all.’

‘He’s certainly got a few identities going on, and Seb Rae ain’t the real one, that much we do know. But we need to get clearer on his motive, and he’s not playing ball, the bastard.’ Fox looked at me, his nose twitching rather like his namesake’s would. ‘That’s where I really need your help, Maggie.’

‘I’m not clear myself.’ I shook my head morosely. ‘I keep thinking of how Seb ranted about the TV show I work on. He always seemed to hate it, actually, the show – even when he was being nice to me. Before he tried to – you know.’ I found I was plucking the bedclothes anxiously with my good hand; I forced myself to stop. ‘It doesn’t make any sense to me.’

I looked away from Fox, stared out the window for a moment to contain my misery. The hills rolled gently away from the hospital and there was a glimpse of blue between the December clouds. I remembered something my mother used to say about enough blue for a sailor’s trousers, and for a moment I imagined her there, patting my shoulder comfortingly as the night in the Portobello Hotel came back to me – thrashing in the bath, terrified.

‘I don’t think it was the first time, you know,’ I said quietly.

‘The first time what?’

‘The first time he’d wanted to –’ I found it very hard to say the words. ‘To – um, you know. To kill me.’