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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

We stood on the pavement amid the flow from Farringdon Station, commuters with heads down, hurrying, scurrying to their burrows for the day, no time to glance up, no inclination. We contemplated one another for a moment – and for some reason my tummy rolled with apprehension.

‘And you don’t want to be on it either,’ I said eventually.

‘How do you know?’ Alex shrugged. ‘I might have very strong views on domestic violence.’

‘Have you?’

‘Maybe. They won’t be the same as my dad’s, though.’

‘No, well, I have to say that would be a relief.’

‘Yes, I expect it would.’ He zipped up his jacket and looked down at me. ‘Well, don’t say I didn’t offer.’

I tried to read the expression in those sloping eyes that crinkled at the corners.

‘Last chance, Blue Eyes.’

My computer, my office, Charlie beckoned. ‘Nowhere will be serving at this time anyway.’ What was I on about? It was nine a.m. on a Monday morning and I had a show to produce with not a single guest booked yet. ‘I can’t. Really.’

‘You can if you want to.’ Alex smiled at me again. I was sure I was just a challenge he was setting himself. I bit my lip.

‘Come on, Maggie, don’t be a spoilsport. First round’s on Digby.’ He picked the dog up.

I took a final drag of my cigarette and chucked it away. Slowly, against my better judgement, I followed them.

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Thirteen

In the early hours I woke shivering with cold, back on the sofa, my coat draped over me and a wineglass empty on the floor. Digby had been huddled at my feet, but he was gone now. He was gone – but there was someone else in the room, I sensed it.

I lay stock-still in darkness so inky I couldn’t make much out, my heart pounding so hard I thought it must be visible to the intruder. I tried desperately to gauge the distance to the stairs and the front door. How long would it take me to get down them, champion sprinter (now crippled) that I once was?

A soft footstep. Fear gripped me round the throat. Should I play dead or should I run? And where the hell was Digby? Oh God, where was he? A sob of terror escaped me as the footstep trod nearer.

‘What do you want?’ My voice sounded tiny in the darkness of the night. ‘My purse is in –’

There was a crash, followed by a laugh. ‘Don’t be stupid,’ a voice said. More than a little drunk.