Chapters (58)
- Cover
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-one
- Twenty-two
- Twenty-three
- Twenty-four
- Twenty-five
- Twenty-six
- Twenty-seven
- Twenty-eight
- Twenty-nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-one
- Thirty-two
- Thirty-three
- Thirty-four
- Thirty-five
- Thirty-six
- Thirty-seven
- Thirty-eight
- Thirty-nine
- Forty
- Forty-one
- Forty-two
- Forty-three
- Forty-four
- Forty-five
- Forty-six
- Forty-seven
- Forty-eight
- Forty-nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Acknowledgements
- An Eastbourne Murder Mystery
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
‘I’m Fiona.’ The woman with the grey eyes had come over and was pulling Emer into a warm hug. ‘So lovely to meet you. I’ve heard a lot about you, Emer. Coffee?’ She let Emer go and nodded at the pot of coffee on the table between the armchairs.
Emer shook her head. She wasn’t here for coffee. She was here for answers. She looked at Kitty.
‘Why did you leave us?’
‘It was never what I wanted,’ Kitty said. ‘I swear.’
‘So why?’ The anger was becoming a full-on, burning rage – about everything she’d lost; the mess her life had become and the lies, the endless lies from people she’d trusted. Her mother, her sister, her father, Robert.
‘Does anyone else know you’re here?’ Fiona asked.
‘No. And who the hell are you? I came here to see my sister. Not anyone else.’
‘Emer, it’s okay.’ Kitty patted one of the armchairs. ‘Come and sit down. I’ll tell you everything.’
Thirty-eight
Kitty could barely believe she was sitting in a room with her sister. So many times, she’d imagined this moment. Now, finally, it had happened. She kept wanting to reach out and touch her, make sure she was really here.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said. ‘I can’t imagine how hard this is for you.’
Emer still looked as if she wasn’t sure whether to stay or go.
‘Please sit down?’ Kitty said.
‘I’ll sit down if you tell me why you ran away from me that afternoon on the Underground.’
Kitty had been in town, having lunch with Louis and Nick to celebrate Nick’s birthday. She’d left the boys in Soho and was heading back to Wapping for her shift at the pub. She’d had a tough few weeks. The summer months were always difficult. An annual reminder of the night her life had changed forever. Some years were better than others. This year had been one of the bad ones. If it hadn’t been for Fiona’s steady presence, she wasn’t sure she’d have made it through this time.
She’d been reading a book but something, some sixth sense, made her look up. And there she was. Emer. The sister she’d missed so much in those agonising early years when she’d first left Ireland. The longing to be with her again had been physical, an ache deep inside her that no amount of painkillers could ease.
‘I was scared,’ Kitty said. She looked across at Fiona, the woman who’d taken her in and raised her as if she was her own child. The woman whose life had been devastated by that single decision. Not that Fiona would ever admit that. Even now, after everything, she still insisted that taking care of Kitty had been the single best thing she’d ever done.
‘Scared of what?’ Emer said, sitting down on the empty chair.
‘Everything.’