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Back Ghosted
Chapters (61)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. Books by Emily Barr
  4. DEDICATION
  5. Prologue
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. 48
  54. 49
  55. 50
  56. 51
  57. Epilogue
  58. Acknowledgements
  59. Read on for an extract from …
  60. 12 December
  61. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

I smiled because she reminded me of a mermaid, and I was Ariel. I was in a good mood. Max was coming down this afternoon and it was my birthday tomorrow.

‘Yep?’

‘Sorry. You don’t know me. You’re Ariel, right?’

I nodded and stopped walking. I looked at her face. I definitely didn’t recognize her.

‘My name’s Mia,’ she said. ‘I’ve come from the hospital. I only went in for a knee operation, but … well, I need to ask for your help. I’ve heard you might be able to give me a hand with this little tiny, massive, huge problem I’ve got.’

This was freaky. I waited for her to say more, but she didn’t.

‘How would I be able to help? I mean, I guess I will if I can, but I really doubt that I’d …’

She interrupted with a huge smile.

‘Yay! You will if you can! That’s wonderful. Thank you so, so much! I know you can do it. It’s hard for me to get out of hospital. I can only do it early in the morning because I have to be back by ten. But the other day I managed to get on a train at seven and I met a woman called Lara. She said if I seriously wanted to escape from this, then I had to find Ariel.’

‘Really?’ I had a bad feeling about this. Lara.

I started to realize what this meant.

‘She said you’re a ghost detective,’ said Mia. ‘But it’s not urgent. I mean, it can wait until you have time.’

She reached out to touch my arm.

As I had known it would, her hand went right through me.

Acknowledgements

Ghosted has been a long time coming: it was well underway before Covid hit, and I was grateful that it was already set in 2019 as I hated the idea of Joe waiting in a closed shopping mall for months on end while Ariel dealt with lockdowns.

Ruth Knowles, my wonderful editor, has been there every step of the way, with suggestions and edits that are always right. I feel incredibly lucky to work with someone so astute and talented, and even more lucky to be able to call her a friend. I’d like to thank everyone involved in the production of the book: the amazing Wendy Shakespeare, Bella Haigh, Jane Tait, Anthony Hippisley and Niamh O’Carroll. Thanks as ever to my super-agents Steph Thwaites and Isobel Gahan for everything they do.

Charlotte Gapper made an incredibly generous donation to FareShare to help feed hungry people, in exchange for Jack Lockett’s name appearing in the book. Jack, I hope you like your alter ego. Your mum is brilliant.

Bess Revell, thank you for the advice on yoga teaching, and huge thanks to you and Silvia Salib for those Friday evening solidarity sessions.