Chapters (49)
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Also by Graham Hurley
- LIMELIGHT
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- AFTERWARDS
The Budleigh Six? Would I really choose to share a poster with company like this? The whole thing, I tell myself, is bizarre, but just now I don’t appear to have a choice. I don’t doubt Mitch’s sincerity for a moment. He’s forever trying to give the Tories a kicking and just now must feel like the perfect opportunity. A chance to get the people on their feet, he’ll tell me. An opportunity to listen to the true voice of the masses. Parliament’s moment has come and gone. MPs of every stripe have blown it. Ignore democracy’s middlemen. Go straight to where it matters, to our sainted grass roots.
I accompany Mitch back to the lounge. Beth, predictably, is on her phone. She brings the conversation to an abrupt end and tells me that she’s already made contact with the feature writer from the Daily Telegraph and expects to be interviewed any time now. In the meantime, the Sun is offering her a sizeable sum of money for what she calls ‘the inside story’, and only her lawyer stands between her and national celebrity. The investigation is ongoing. Any revelations might be prejudicial. Only if the police drop the case, and abandon the investigation, will any of us be free to talk.
‘So what’s the point of tomorrow night?’ I’m looking at the bloody poster. ‘Or you talking to the Telegraph?’
‘Because it’s about Chris, about euthanasia, about the principle of the thing, not about us. I was talking to the guys in Palo Alto about an hour ago. They agree it’s a real opportunity to bust the whole issue wide open. We have to do it, Enora. And with your profile, you have to join us.’
Bust wide open? I can’t help thinking of the coffin on the beach, of the splintered marine ply, of the remains of Beth’s farewell artwork, and of the shrouded figure that was once Christianne.
‘They told you about the dog?’ I’m looking at Beth. ‘About finding Hundchen?’
‘They did. And I’ve forgiven him.’
‘Forgiven who?’
‘Bill, of course. He told me she’d gone missing, just wandered off, and I believed him. In fact, he told everyone.’
‘So, you didn’t know?’
‘Know what?’
‘That she was in that coffin? With Christianne?’
‘God, no.’ She’s looking at her mobile again. ‘How could I?’