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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

‘Oh God, oh dear God,’ said Angie as Sam moved towards her. Sheila Docherty watched both of them from the other side of the room. She nodded encouragingly at Sam–the WPC was doing well, even if it was obvious from her pained expression that she didn’t feel herself particularly well equipped for this aspect of the job. ‘It was all meant to be so well sorted; we had it all organized, you know?’ She looked at Sam for more reassurance as she spoke, and the officer held her hand as the words poured out.

‘Donna would do anything for Matthew. Anything. So would I, honestly I would. We went to school together, we’ve been friends since nursery–God, since we were almost Matthew’s age. We were mates since the day we met. I always idolized Donna–she hates me, she must hate me!’ Racking sobs punctuated her words, and Sam had to remind Angie Bell to breathe deeply and steadily before she could continue. ‘Boys always liked Donna, and she had plenty of boyfriends but–well, look at this place.’ She waved vaguely in the direction of the window. ‘What’s the point of having dreams here? We both wanted to be teachers, I remember that.’ She laughed a little, bitterly, but it was the first non-crying emotion Sam had heard from her. ‘We played teachers all the time…then, you know, parties, getting off your head, not Donna so much, but she still got caught. She was pregnant; she needed to get away from home. She never thought about getting rid of him for a second, you know.’ The words came out in a rush, almost like a panicky stream of consciousness that she just had to get out.

Sam waited for a minute while Angie reflected on the lives the two teenage girls had lived. She knew places like this. Hopeless. ‘Did Donna get pregnant deliberately?’ she asked Angie.

‘No, no–she didn’t. Her home life was crap–her parents barely knew what day it was they drank so much, so they couldn’t have cared less when she got knocked up. I don’t know if they even realized it. Donna did see it as a way out, but she didn’t get pregnant on purpose. Actually, she really liked the guy she was with–you know he’s dead now, yeah?’