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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

Finally, tea was finished and the girls were banished upstairs to their bedroom. Emer had wanted to play a game, and sulked like a baby when Kitty told her she was too tired for anything except bed. Emer had cried for a bit after that and Kitty felt bad then. Normally, she would have climbed into Emer’s bed and cuddled her and chatted to her until she stopped crying, but tonight she was too scared to do that in case she fell asleep. Sometimes, it was easier falling asleep in Emer’s bed, because it was so warm and cosy when they cuddled up to each other like that.

It felt like she’d been waiting here for ages, and she was starting to wonder if she’d got it wrong. But then she heard the creaking sound the front door made when you opened it, and the click-clack of her mother’s heels on the street outside. Kitty threw back her quilt and got up. She’d kept her clothes on when she went to bed, sneaking under the quilt while Emer was brushing her teeth, so her sister wouldn’t ask any stupid questions about why Kitty was going to bed with her clothes on.

When she’d eventually stopped crying, Emer had fallen asleep. Now, she was lying on her back, snoring. Kitty wasn’t worried about going out and leaving her by herself. Emer never woke up once she was asleep. Kitty thought she could probably have a party in the room when Emer was sleeping and it wouldn’t wake her.

Outside, Kitty took in deep breaths of cool evening air, waiting for the bad feelings inside her to quieten down. She was so tired of feeling like this. All the anger that she couldn’t shake off, no matter how hard she tried. It burned inside her, eating a big hole in her stomach until there was nothing left of her except this rage. Everything in her life felt so wrong. She wanted things to be different after tonight, but what if nothing changed? No, she couldn’t let herself think like that. She had to believe that when her father knew the truth, he would change. He’d stop going to the pub every night and he’d start being the father he was meant to be.

He would leave their mother, and he’d take Kitty and Emer with him. They’d start a new life, just the three of them. And once he was away from their mother, he’d stop drinking because he’d realise he only ever drank to cover up his own unhappiness.

That’s why she was doing this, she reminded herself as she ran along the street and turned into the fancy estate at the top of the hill where Lucy lived.