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
‘Leonard. Stop speaking for one second, could you? It doesn’t matter about the man she met in Stockwell. It’s none of our business. Don’t send me the text, and make sure you delete any photos you’ve taken. From now on, Annie Holden is nothing to do with us.’
Fifteen minutes later, Dee managed to end the call. Despite what she’d said to Leonard, there was a part of her that still wanted to find out more about Annie and her mother. She couldn’t quite forget the flicker of recognition she’d felt the first time she’d seen Fiona Holden.
Opening her laptop, Dee went onto the gallery’s website and reread Annie’s biography.
Originally from Sussex, Annie now lives in London and is a member of the Bow Artists’ Collective. Following a long tradition of artists inspired by the Sussex countryside, Holden is one of the rising stars of the thriving east London art scene.
The biography didn’t state where in Sussex Annie had grown up, but if it was close to Eastbourne, that might explain why Fiona had seemed so familiar. Mystery well and truly solved, then. Dee was tempted to do a bit more searching and see if she could find out exactly where Annie had grown up, but a knock on her back door and the patter of small feet on the outside decking put all thoughts of Annie instantly out of her mind.
Knowing there was only one person in her life who ran along her decking like that, Dee hurried to open the door.
‘Surprise!’
Ella and Jake were standing there, big smiles on their faces.
‘Thought you might want a bit of company?’ Ella held up the bottle of wine she was carrying. ‘Tom’s away and Jake’s been asking about you all day. I probably should have called first, but…’
‘Don’t be silly.’ Dee leaned down and grabbed Jake. ‘I was just thinking of making a peanut butter sandwich. What do you think?’
Holding him tight, she carried him into her house, letting the babble of his little boy voice soothe her. Not allowing herself to think of the time – too soon – when she wouldn’t be able to do this any longer.
Nineteen
For the rest of the week, Dee focused on her book. The only time she took a break was Wednesday morning, when she met Louise for an early morning walk. They’d arranged to meet at Holywell, at the western edge of the seafront, beside the white cliffs and the beginning of the South Downs Way.
Louise was already there when Dee arrived, sipping a drink from a brightly coloured reusable thermal mug.
‘You’re late,’ she grumbled, as Dee climbed out of her car.