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
After sending the email, Dee decided she needed a break. Closing down her laptop, she spent the next few hours tidying her house, washing clothes and doing all the mundane tasks she always put off for as long as possible. By the time she’d finished, her house was spotless, a row of clothes was blowing in the wind on the line and Dee was ready for something else.
Telling herself she was lucky to be able to do whatever she wanted without having to worry about anyone else, she decided to walk into town and treat herself to an early dinner somewhere nice. Cru, maybe. Or the new restaurant near the train station that everyone said was so lovely. She thought of calling Louise, seeing if she was free to meet up, but decided against it. Instead, Dee was going to prove to herself that she didn’t need anyone else to have a good time. She had a decent book to read, and her phone for browsing the internet.
She put on some make-up, something she rarely did these days, threw her faded sweatshirt into the laundry basket, replacing it with the blouse she’d picked up in Phase Eight the previous week, and headed into town.
She walked along the beach. The tide was out so, for most of the way, she was able to walk down on the sand by the edge of the water. The stretch of beach where Dee lived, on the eastern edge of the town, never attracted many visitors, even in the height of summer. As she approached town centre, however, the beach became busier. By the time she reached the pier, she had to slow down to accommodate all the people – tourists mingling with locals – who were out and about, making the most of the warm September sunshine.
She dropped into Bistrot Pierre and, by some miracle, got a table outside facing the beach. She ordered a glass of Chablis and sipped it slowly. This was living, she told herself. Sitting in a nice cafe, drinking decent wine and watching the world pass by. Maybe this life wasn’t so bad after all, she thought. Of course, she would miss Jake and Ella. But she would find a way of moving forward. They would keep in touch, and if things kept going the way they were at the moment, Dee would have work to keep her busy.
She thought back over everything she’d read about Lucy Ryan’s disappearance and Kitty Doran’s death. Two girls, with their whole lives in front of them. One missing, the other dead. That wasn’t a coincidence. Something bad happened the night Lucy Ryan disappeared. Because of that, Kitty Doran walked into the sea three weeks later and was never seen again.