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
The temptation to get up, go downstairs and speak to him was hard to resist. Because she liked Mr Ryan. He was kind and funny and he was always nice to Kitty when she was at Lucy’s house. He deserved to know the truth. That Lucy was dead because Kitty had pushed her in front of a car. And later, after Kitty was dead, the man who’d been driving the car had carried Lucy’s body into the woods and buried it. She wanted him to know she was sorry. That she’d tried to stop the man taking Lucy’s body, but he’d forced her inside the boot of the car and locked her in there until he was finished.
The problem was, if she told all this to Mr Ryan, he would want to know who the man was, and Kitty wasn’t allowed to tell him that. Because if she told anyone – even Mr Ryan, who deserved to know the truth – she would be in worse trouble than she already was.
Outside, she heard a car pull up. Doors slamming, the clatter of her mother’s heels on the pavement. The sound triggered another memory from that night, something else she didn’t want to think about but it was there, inside her head, and she couldn’t get rid of it no matter how hard she tried.
‘Niall, you need to leave the girl alone.’
Her mother’s voice, sharp and unsympathetic like the rest of her.
‘How can I do that, Ursula? My child is missing and Kitty’s refusing to tell anyone where she is. Have you tried speaking to her?’
‘She doesn’t know anything. I’ve already told you that. I want you to leave now. If you don’t, I’ll have no choice but to call the Guards.’
He said something that Kitty didn’t catch. Then the front door opened and slammed shut and Mr Ryan was gone.
‘Kitty?’
‘I’m in my room.’
The whisper of voices followed by the creaking of the stairs as her mother came up to see her.
‘You didn’t let him in,’ Mum said, coming into the room without knocking and standing over the bed. ‘Good girl.’
‘He deserves to know the truth,’ Kitty said.
‘And what’s the truth? That you killed his daughter? You’ll go to prison, Kitty. Is that what you want?’
‘It’s not me you’re worried about.’
Mum leaned down, her face so close Kitty could smell coffee on her breath. Resisting the urge to draw back, Kitty stayed still, waiting.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘You don’t care about me,’ Kitty said. ‘All you care about is making sure no one knows what was going on in the house that night.’