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
She closed the album, took her glass into the kitchen and poured the wine down the sink. Pleased with herself, she went upstairs to brush her teeth and get ready for bed. She had just switched off her bedroom light when the landline started to ring. Whoever was calling, they wouldn’t be looking for her, so she decided not to bother answering it. After ten rings, the phone stopped and Emer snuggled down under her duvet. Her eyes closed. Like it always did, her mind started drifting back to that night in the hotel. Tonight, she withdrew from the memory and forced herself to think about something else. Like getting Nikki back.
Her body relaxed, her breathing grew deeper. And then the phone started ringing again. Grumbling and cursing, Emer threw back the duvet and ran to answer it.
‘Hello?’
‘Ursula?’ A woman’s voice. English accent.
‘I’m afraid she’s not here right now,’ Emer said. ‘Can I take a message?’
‘It’s actually her daughter, Emer, I’m looking for.’
Something was wrong. She could feel it, a tingling sensation down her arms, an icy shiver down her spine. She should hang up. End the call and go back to bed, safe in the illusion that all was well in her world. She thought back to earlier, her decision to let the past go and move forward with her life. Somehow, she knew if she continued with this call, none of that would happen. But even as she thought this, she knew she didn’t have a choice.
‘This is Emer,’ she said. ‘Who are you?’
Twenty-three
Every Friday night, Dee and her neighbours got together to share pizza and catch up with each other. Tonight, it was just Dee and Ella. Tom had gone to Ireland a few days earlier to visit his parents and he’d taken Jake with him. The two women sat out on Dee’s deck, sharing a bottle of wine and watching the night creep in across the sky after the sun had disappeared beneath the horizon.
‘Tom and Jake are back tomorrow evening,’ Ella said. ‘We were wondering if you’d like to come over for dinner on Sunday.’
‘That would be lovely,’ Dee said. ‘You sure you want to, though? Won’t you be busy packing up?’
They were leaving on Wednesday. Five days from now. Impossible to imagine.
‘I’ve done most of it,’ Ella said. ‘We really want to cook dinner for you, Dee. You’re like family to us. Please? It would mean a lot. To Jake, especially.’
‘In that case,’ Dee said, ‘how can I say no?’
She would have if she’d been able to. The thought of sitting around a table, chatting and having to pretend everything was fine, was unbearable. But Ella was right. It was important they did this for Jake, which meant Dee would have to go through with it.