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Back Before You Were Gone Save as PDF
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

‘I’ll pay you back,’ Emer said. ‘Whatever money you spend, I’ll give you back every penny as soon as I can.’

‘You’ll do no such thing. I want to do this for you, Emer. So let me. Please?’

For the second time this evening, Emer’s eyes filled with tears.

‘That’s so kind, Robert. Thank you.’

‘My pleasure,’ he said. ‘And maybe we’ll say nothing to Ursula for now. No point upsetting her until we know the truth, is there?’

He said good night and left her alone to drink her cocoa. She was suddenly exhausted. She climbed into bed, hugging the mug of cocoa to her chest. Letting the warmth seep into her body, soothing her. A few minutes later, she put the mug down and switched her light off. The last thing she saw before she drifted into sleep was her sister, running away from her down a long corridor.

Eight

‘Canada.’ Dee repeated the word, as if doing so might help her make more sense of it. But it was just as incomprehensible the second time round.

‘Toronto,’ Ella said. ‘It’s such a wonderful opportunity, Dee. There’s no way Tom could turn it down. I always thought we’d never leave here, but this job is too good for him to pass up.’

‘It’s so far away.’

‘But you can visit,’ Ella said. ‘Think about that. You could come and have the most amazing holidays. We’ll have a huge house. The company’s paying for all our travel and accommodation. Besides, it’s not as if it’s forever. Two years, that’s all.’

But it wouldn’t be just two years. They would never come back. How could they? Tom’s career would go from strength to strength out there. Jake would start school there. He’d have friends and a new life. The first years of his life here in Eastbourne would soon fade. He would forget about Dee and what she’d meant to him, what they’d meant to each other.

From the little bits of information Dee had been able to retain through the fog of shock, the Toronto film industry was booming. Tom was good at his job as a set designer, and Dee knew he’d already outgrown the industry here in the UK and Ireland. Moving somewhere bigger was the logical next step. As Tom had said time and again. He hadn’t been looking for work in Canada. Hadn’t even considered it, apparently. Then this job offer had come up and the opportunity was too good to turn down. He’d accepted it and, in less than four weeks from now, they would be moving.