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Chapters (62)
  1. Title
  2. Copyright
  3. Contents
  4. About the Author
  5. About the Book
  6. Dedication
  7. Your Worst Nightmare
  8. ONE
  9. TWO
  10. THREE
  11. FOUR
  12. FIVE
  13. SIX
  14. SEVEN
  15. EIGHT
  16. NINE
  17. The Answer to All Your Prayers
  18. TEN
  19. ELEVEN
  20. TWELVE
  21. THIRTEEN
  22. FOURTEEN
  23. FIFTEEN
  24. SIXTEEN
  25. SEVENTEEN
  26. EIGHTEEN
  27. NINETEEN
  28. TWENTY
  29. TWENTY-ONE
  30. TWENTY-TWO
  31. TWENTY-THREE
  32. TWENTY-FOUR
  33. TWENTY-FIVE
  34. TWENTY-SIX
  35. TWENTY-SEVEN
  36. TWENTY-EIGHT
  37. TWENTY-NINE
  38. THIRTY
  39. THIRTY-ONE
  40. Somebody Else’s Child
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. THIRTY-FIVE
  45. THIRTY-SIX
  46. THIRTY-SEVEN
  47. THIRTY-EIGHT
  48. THIRTY-NINE
  49. FORTY
  50. FORTY-ONE
  51. FORTY-TWO
  52. FORTY-THREE
  53. FORTY-FOUR
  54. FORTY-FIVE
  55. FORTY-SIX
  56. FORTY-SEVEN
  57. FORTY-EIGHT
  58. FORTY-NINE
  59. Sunlight on Water
  60. July
  61. September
  62. Acknowledgements

Evan’s got a new interest. After meeting Jack’s distant neighbour, Helen Trewitt, he’s been with Claire to visit her hives, and now spends a good part of his evenings reading books on keeping bees. Come spring, Jack’s promised to think about getting a hive to see how Evan gets on.

But spring’s many weeks away. In the long evenings, while Evan reads, Jack sits, sipping whisky until he slips into a doze. When Evan’s bored of reading, he turns on the TV, watching cheerful vintage sitcoms and wildlife documentaries, marvelling at the wonders of the animal kingdom in places he’s no wish ever to go.

THIRTY-FIVE

THIRTY-FIVE

8 December

‘’Ere, Rachel!’ Dallabrida’s left his side of the office where he’s been holding court with a handful of his mates, and he’s heading for the exit via Naylor’s desk. ‘I bet you look good in sequins! What you wearing for this do?’

Naylor doesn’t look away from her monitor, where she’s perusing a list of assaults, trying to make a connection in a trio of rapes. There’s a small tinsel Christmas tree on the counter near the coffee machine and glittery foil decorations have been draped round the walls, but with the kind of crimes the team are investigating, the festive spirit seems both irrelevant and lacking.

‘Haven’t given it a moment’s thought,’ she says, though that isn’t true. On her last day off, she took herself shopping to buy a new dress for the occasion, a clinging red stunner featuring – as it happens – a lot of sequins. It was a momentary aberration, way out of her comfort zone, and she’s thinking about returning it and finding something more decorous. Anyway, she hates the office party – this year, dinner and a DJ at an Italian eatery – and she’s thinking she’ll be leaving as soon as coffee’s served.

‘I’ll be there in me best bib and tucker,’ says Dallabrida. He’s standing close to her and she can smell that Gucci aftershave, a scent she’s beginning to think she rather likes. ‘Play your cards right, I might even buy you a drink. You’re a champagne lady, I bet.’

Naylor looks up at him. It’s true what they say. He does have beautiful eyes.

‘A glass of Chablis will do me,’ she says. ‘And what do you mean, bib and tucker? Sounds like a pair of overalls.’

Dallabrida laughs. ‘Me, in overalls? That’ll be the day! Nah, I’ll be in me tuxedo and cummerbund, the works! You won’t recognise me, girl, I tell you, you won’t know me! So come on, are there going to be sequins, or what?’

Naylor smiles.

‘If I answer that, it takes away the element of surprise,’ she says, ‘and you know your best friend in this line of work is the element of surprise.’

Dallabrida laughs again.