A shriek of pain escaped from her lips as she thought it. First, last and always for her, it had been Josh. He had been the centre of her world. Oh, she had formed ‘friendships’ – not friendships at all really, but ways to advance herself in the circles she wanted to be moving in. Her old neighbour Chloe, who still lived at the house y the river, was a ‘friend’, she supposed. Actually, Shauna couldn’t stand the snobby, alcoholic cow. But she was useful for down the tennis club and on the golf course and at the charitable events Shauna relished; Chloe had been Shauna’s stepping-stone into that world.

But had Shauna really been accepted there? She didn’t think so. She thought they still laughed at her behind her back. Well, fuck them. She laughed at them, too, with their ‘mwah, mwah’ kisses and their ‘dahlings’; false as fuck, they were.

Ah, she didn’t have much of a knack for friendship anyway. Never had, really. Her family, Josh and the kids – they were her world. Anything outside didn’t count.

But Josh was dead.

And the kids? The one time she needed their help, begged for it, they’d disappointed her.

Feeling fidgety, Shauna slipped the Magnum into a drawer and wondered what to do. She was going mad here, alone in this house. She snatched up her car keys. She might go out for a drive, she decided. Fuck the rain. Her life was over, the way she saw it, but she was still breathing. She might pop over to Chloe’s, pass some time, get out of here because the walls seemed to be closing in on her and things were coming to light that should have stayed buried forever. And it had all started when that bitch Claire had come back with that fucking daughter of hers.

That was all her life was coming down to, now: passing time, trying not to lose her grip on sanity. She felt shaky, like everything was falling apart.

Somehow, she would press on with her life. There were accounts that needed settling, and since no one else was going to help, she’d have to sort it all out herself. For a start, Claire Milo and her fucking offspring were going to have to go, she thought, taking the gun out of the drawer and tucking it into her handbag. And then there was Jeb Cleaver. He was going to have to pay for threatening Connor, trying to hurt him.