BooksBarbecue
Back Before You Were Gone
Chapters (58)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. One
  4. Two
  5. Three
  6. Four
  7. Five
  8. Six
  9. Seven
  10. Eight
  11. Nine
  12. Ten
  13. Eleven
  14. Twelve
  15. Thirteen
  16. Fourteen
  17. Fifteen
  18. Sixteen
  19. Seventeen
  20. Eighteen
  21. Nineteen
  22. Twenty
  23. Twenty-one
  24. Twenty-two
  25. Twenty-three
  26. Twenty-four
  27. Twenty-five
  28. Twenty-six
  29. Twenty-seven
  30. Twenty-eight
  31. Twenty-nine
  32. Thirty
  33. Thirty-one
  34. Thirty-two
  35. Thirty-three
  36. Thirty-four
  37. Thirty-five
  38. Thirty-six
  39. Thirty-seven
  40. Thirty-eight
  41. Thirty-nine
  42. Forty
  43. Forty-one
  44. Forty-two
  45. Forty-three
  46. Forty-four
  47. Forty-five
  48. Forty-six
  49. Forty-seven
  50. Forty-eight
  51. Forty-nine
  52. Fifty
  53. Fifty-one
  54. Acknowledgements
  55. An Eastbourne Murder Mystery
  56. Canelo Crime
  57. About the Author
  58. Also by Sheila Bugler

‘Of course I had no idea. How could I? Your father and Robert orchestrated the whole thing between them. That’s what men do, isn’t it? They take all the big decisions, and the women have no choice but to go along with them. I shouldn’t be surprised by your father’s part in this. He was always a crook. But I thought Robert was different. You know the British police are saying he killed that poor man? Threw him out the window of his own flat. I’ve spent all these years married to a man I barely know.’

Kitty’s face was blank, betraying nothing, but Emer knew this wasn’t easy for her. Robert had been charged with murdering Michael Holden. Traces of his DNA had been found on Michael’s body and in his flat. In his arrogance, it had never occurred to Robert that he’d get caught.

Ursula paused to dab her eyes some more.

‘It’s your fault, Emer. You told Maeve where that man lived and she passed the information on to Robert. He told me he’d gone to London for a business meeting. That was a lie too, wasn’t it? He’d gone there to clean up the mess he’d made of everything. I thought I was married to the future leader of our country. Instead, I’ve wasted the best years of my life with a liar and a crook.’

Emer hadn’t seen Robert since he’d been arrested, but Ed Mitchell had kept her updated. Robert had eventually confessed to killing Michael Holden, although he claimed the death was an accident. His story was that Maeve had told him Emer would be at the block of flats that morning. He’d gone there to try to persuade her to come back home. When he’d seen her go into the building, his curiosity got the better of him and he followed her. Then, when he’d asked Michael where he could find Emer, Michael got aggressive and Robert had no choice but to defend himself. It was clearly a load of bullshit but, for now, that was Robert’s story and he was sticking to it.

‘I feel utterly betrayed.’ Ursula looked at Emer. ‘You remember, don’t you darling? I was a mess after we lost your sister. You were the only thing that kept me going. My reason for getting up and dragging myself through day after endless day. And all the time, my baby girl was alive.’

‘Mum,’ Kitty said. ‘Robert is saying the whole thing was your idea. He’s claiming he didn’t even know, until recently, that I was still alive.’