It was too much. If only she could wake up and start the day all over again. She’d never leave her mother, never allow her to go running alone; she’d force her to stay home…

Jordan never loosened his grip and she sank deeper into him, feeling his body, hot and tense, next to her. The image of battering whoever was responsible for murdering their beautiful mother burned in her head. She closed her eyes and howled.

Chapter 9

Kelly opened the front door of her small cottage in Pooley Bridge. Johnny had said he’d cook tonight. Josie, his daughter, was at her boyfriend’s house. She spent more and more time with him. Callum was a thoroughly genuine young man, and both Kelly and Johnny liked him.

Her body was weary. It was gone 9 p.m. and there was nothing more she could do at the office. The night shift, patrolling the streets of Penrith, around Potton Park and the surrounding estates, were under strict instructions to call her should anything change, or a significant witness statement come in. It had been a harrowing day.

She dropped her bags and coat onto a chair in the hallway and stretched. She needed a shower. Johnny came from the lounge and opened his arms. He knew what she’d faced today. They’d spent three whole weeks sailing around the Florida Keys and it had been a time of pure intrinsic happiness. Everyday life was spent doing chores, work and other duties, but now and again, if you were lucky enough, a holiday came along that enabled you to completely switch off and rewind, to a point of bliss.

It had happened in Florida.

November was an excellent time to go, and the weather had been superb. Every day, they sailed, moored up and swam, then rowed ashore to find an idyllic restaurant or food shack and eat seafood and the freshest salads and fruit cocktails. Her body felt thankful and her mind even more so. She didn’t take her work phone or her iPad and had almost completely forgotten about Eden House for three damn weeks. Three weeks. It had been divine.