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Back Broken Hearts Save as PDF
Chapters (79)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. PART ONEEdinburgh November 2008
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. PART TWOLondon November 1988
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. PART THREEEdinburgh November 2008
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Chapter Forty-Five
  53. Chapter Forty-Six
  54. Chapter Forty-Seven
  55. Chapter Forty-Eight
  56. Chapter Forty-Nine
  57. Chapter Fifty
  58. Chapter Fifty-One
  59. Chapter Fifty-Two
  60. Chapter Fifty-Three
  61. Chapter Fifty-Four
  62. Chapter Fifty-Five
  63. Chapter Fifty-Six
  64. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  65. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  66. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  67. Chapter Sixty
  68. Chapter Sixty-One
  69. Chapter Sixty-Two
  70. Chapter Sixty-Three
  71. Chapter Sixty-Four
  72. Chapter Sixty-Five
  73. Chapter Sixty-Six
  74. Chapter Sixty-Seven
  75. Epilogue
  76. Acknowledgements
  77. About the Author
  78. By the Same Author
  79. About the Publisher

It turned out that Louisa was alone, leaning against the kitchen cabinets with her arms folded across her chest. The rare brittle-bone condition that stunted Louisa’s growth and twisted her skeleton rarely holds her back from anything. I was forced to give her a position in my firm by her father who is a judge, when she graduated summa cum laude from the Edinburgh Faculty of Law. She is a genius and sex maniac rolled into one little package.

‘Where’s the man?’ I asked. She always had men. Louisa made no bones about the fact that she had economic power over male lawyers. She had this leverage because part of her job was to see that we had enough bodies to cover our very busy court workload. This meant she had to instruct lawyers who did not work for us on a full-time basis, so if Louisa liked you and you were nice to her, which usually involved sexual favours, she gave you work. There had been numerous complaints about her, but she said men had been doing it for years. I tolerated her foibles because she was very good at her job, and was also a magnificent cook and a neat freak who kept the house habitable. I went up to the stove and opened up the tin-foil parcel. The chicken had been soaking in its own juices for at least a couple of hours and it smelled delicious. I reached my hand out to take a piece.

She slapped my fingers.

Joe pulled off a leg. She ignored him.

‘When were you going to tell me?’ she asked, arms still folded angrily across her chest. Her foot had now begun to tap and I knew she was seriously pissed off.

‘I am an integral member of the team, Brodie. I deserve to know that we are acting for Kevin Milne or Graham Marshall…I shouldn’t have to find out from somebody called Lola something-or-other.’ My heart stuttered. How did Lola get this number and why was she calling? Louisa didn’t allow me to open my mouth. She held her hand up, she hadn’t finished with me. ‘She was hysterical.’

My heart missed another beat.

‘Someone called Renee Smith–as if I don’t recognize that name–was found dead half an hour after you left.’ Louisa took a deep breath. ‘And guess what? Her heart was missing.’

Chapter Fifty-Five