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 see Roxanne everywhere I go, you know,’ Leonard said, when she’d finished speaking. ‘It’s bloody killing me, truth be told. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve walked into a pub or a supermarket and thought I’ve seen her. Day before yesterday, I saw a woman at a bus stop. I was so sure she was Roxie, I kept going back, trying to pluck up the courage to speak to her. Only it wasn’t her. Of course it wasn’t her. It never is, because how could it be? She’s dead. But even though I know that, it doesn’t stop me seeing her all the time. It’s torture.’
‘I remember the same thing after both my parents died,’ Dee said. ‘It’s like there’s a part of our minds that refuses to accept what we already know to be true.’
‘So if you know that already, what the hell are we doing here today?’
‘I know the woman can’t be Kitty,’ Dee said. ‘Obviously. But there’s something not right about her. Yesterday, as soon as I tried to find out who she was, she disappeared. And when I asked the barman about her, he got quite aggressive.’
‘So bloody what?’ Leonard said. ‘People have all sorts of reasons for not wanting strangers sticking their noses into their private lives. Maybe this woman’s got an abusive ex-partner, or she’s got a criminal record, or she’s one of those Instagram influencers who don’t like face-to-face contact. Could be all sorts of reasons she didn’t want you asking questions about her.’
‘There’s something else,’ Dee said. ‘Emer sent me some information about another girl. Her name’s Lucy Ryan. According to Emer, Lucy and Kitty were best friends.’
‘And?’
‘Lucy is the real reason I can’t let this go,’ Dee said.
‘Go on, then.’
She’d sat up late yesterday evening, reading all the stories about Lucy Ryan. The more she read, the more she knew there was something here. She wasn’t sure, yet, what it was. But her gut instinct told her there was a story here. And if Dee had learned one thing in all her years as a journalist, it was to never ignore that instinct.
‘Lucy Ryan came from the same town in Ireland as Kitty Doran,’ Dee said. ‘Ballincarraig. She disappeared in 1997, three weeks before Kitty drowned. There was a lot of press speculation at the time that Lucy’s father had killed her and disposed of her body, but he was never charged with anything. Lucy’s body was never recovered and, even now, no one knows what happened to her.’
‘And you say this kid and Kitty were pals?’
‘Best friends, apparently.’
‘Could be a coincidence,’ Leonard said.