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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

Dee imagined a piece of thread, connecting the two events, and connecting her too. Because she was involved now, bound to both those girls and what had happened to them, whether she liked it or not.

Fourteen

One month earlier

Emer was sitting in the conservatory with Ursula and Robert. Emer had done her best to stay out of their way since coming back from Galway this morning, but her mother had insisted she join them for a pre-dinner glass of sherry.

‘How was Galway?’ Ursula asked, once Robert had handed out the drinks.

Emer took a sip of her sherry, then wished she hadn’t. She’d drunk too much yesterday with Maeve. The last thing her body needed now was more alcohol.

‘It was fine,’ she said.

‘Who did you say you went in to meet?’ Ursula said.

‘I didn’t,’ Emer replied, ‘but if you must know, I went to see Maeve Ryan.’

‘Of course.’ Robert smiled. ‘She mentioned something about getting in touch with you. I’d completely forgotten.’

‘You also forgot to tell me you were thinking of going into business with her.’

‘I didn’t forget,’ Robert said. ‘I simply didn’t think it was worth mentioning. You’ve never shown the slightest bit of interest in the work I do, Emer. Why would I think you’d be interested now?’

‘Because it’s Maeve,’ Emer said. ‘She used to be my best friend.’

‘Ah, I see.’ The way Robert said it, he clearly didn’t see at all. ‘Well I’ll bear that in mind. I’m glad you two girls met up. She’s a very smart young woman. You know, it might be worth having a chat with her about your career options. Someone like that, she’d have all sorts of ideas.’

There were many things she could say to that, and Emer was trying to choose the best one when Ursula decided to make her own contribution to the conversation.

‘It’s so refreshing to see someone like Maeve making such a success of her life. Most of your generation are lazy, Emer, plain and simple. I know people say Ireland’s changed for the better, and I suppose that’s true in many ways, but young people today are too soft. You haven’t had to work the way we had to. We didn’t grow up expecting things to be handed to us on a plate.’

‘Is that really what you think?’ Emer said. ‘Have you seen the state of the economy recently? The Celtic Tiger, the country’s big economic success story, is a thing of the past. Look at all the people who’ve lost their businesses or their incomes over the last ten years. And all the people living in houses they’ll never be able to sell because they’re in negative equity. How can you think that’s easy?’