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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

‘Maybe he’s the exception,’ Dee said. ‘I read an interview with him where he spoke about growing up in a family who had no money and the importance of giving back to the community. He sounded completely sincere.’

‘Of course he sounded sincere,’ Louise said. ‘He’s a politician. They’re trained to sound sincere even when they’re lying through their teeth.’

‘It’s not like you to be so cynical,’ Dee said.

‘And it’s not like you to believe everything you read about someone. Listen to me, Dee. Isn’t it possible that you want to believe all these things about him because it makes it easier for you?’

‘How does it do that?’ Dee said, not sure she liked where this conversation was going.

‘You’re such a kind person,’ Louise said. ‘You want the best for everyone. You know Emer’s had a tough time so you’re hoping some of that can be helped by having a stepfather who’s a good man and who will take care of her. In other words, a stepfather who’s nothing like her own father.’

‘I don’t think that’s true,’ Dee said. Pointlessly, because Louise was spot on. She had been naïve, believing the one-dimensional profiles she’d read about Robert O’Brien. The simple truth was that, on the whole, people were people – which meant they were neither all good or all bad. Even her uncle, Eamon, had no doubt had his good points as well as his weaknesses. Robert O’Brien was no different. Perhaps his good points outweighed his bad ones, but of course there had to be a dark side to his personality as well. It was there in all of us, no matter how hard we tried to pretend otherwise.

Twenty

Dee spent the rest of the week focusing on her book. By Friday, she had written another 20,000 words. Pleased with the progress she was making, she had emailed her agent and agreed a deadline for when the book would be finished. She was enjoying the process more than she’d expected. At first, the prospect of writing a 70,000-word book had been daunting. She hadn’t been sure she’d be able to do it. Now, she was already thinking about other books she might like to write, and could see a future where she divided her time between writing features for newspapers alongside a series of non-fiction books. During the week, she’d come up with an idea for a book exploring the experiences of single women in their fifties and sixties. She’d done a shout-out on social media, asking women to contact her if they were interested in being interviewed. So far, she’d been overwhelmed by the number of women who’d got in touch.