Shauna tried to sleep too, but she was too excited. Everything was starting to happen for her. Her life was beginning at last – her real life, with Josh Flynn.

15

15

Claire supposed she must have slept at some point. Or just passed out with the terror of what was being done to her. When she came back to herself she was lying, shivering, on hard stone and as she lifted her head a shaft of pain lanced straight down her neck. She let out a groan, pushed herself up so that she was sitting. Her wrist hurt. Her knees were scraped. She was . . . oh Christ in heaven, she was naked.

And then it came back.

It all came back.

Claire let out a choked cry as she looked around her, at the cool echoing interior of the church, at the relentless morning sun creeping through the stained-glass windows, throwing puddles of colour on to the stone slabs of the aisle. She caught her breath on a panicky sob. Oh God!

There was the grave, right in front of the altar, filled in now – but last night it had been open. Her hand touched a piece of cloth on the floor. It was her skirt. Discarded like a rag. The horror of the memories poured into her brain then, like iced water. The two of them clawing at her, bruising her, invading her. The pain. The humiliation.

Oh God oh God oh God . . .

Panic-stricken, shuddering, Claire stumbled to her feet, her mind whirling with remembered images so vile that she felt her guts start to clench and bile rising into her throat. Jesus, and they’d . . .

They killed Blue.

She started to cry, great wracking sobs, and her bleary eyes looked toward the grave in front of the altar.

Blue was in there.

She remembered Shauna Everett shoving a bundle of notes at her, and then . . . ah shit, then . . .

She couldn’t even think of it. She hurt everywhere and the shaking was bone-deep now as her brain skipped away from all that had happened here last night. Shuddering, she snatched up her clothes and started to pull them on, her fingers frozen, her movements jerky with shock and pain.

She’d always known Shauna was a cruel cow. She knew that. But she had never for one minute imagined the lengths she would go to just to get rid of her. She had underestimated Shauna. And oh God, it had cost her. It had cost her so dear.

Somehow her feeble hands managed to fasten her skirt. She felt filthy, ashamed. Soiled to her soul. She didn’t want anyone to see her, her life was over. Josh was gone from her and she had to clear out, she had to do this now. She couldn’t ever go home again. A stark image surged into her mind again, of those two animals laughing as they attacked her last night, thrusting into her like she was a piece of meat.