BooksBarbecue
Back Perfect Ten
Chapters (45)
  1. Chapter One
  2. Chapter Two
  3. Chapter Three
  4. Chapter Four
  5. Chapter Five
  6. Chapter Six
  7. Chapter Seven
  8. Chapter Eight
  9. Chapter Nine
  10. Chapter Ten
  11. Chapter Eleven
  12. Chapter Twelve
  13. Chapter Thirteen
  14. Chapter Fourteen
  15. Chapter Fifteen
  16. Chapter Sixteen
  17. Chapter Seventeen
  18. Chapter Eighteen
  19. Chapter Nineteen
  20. Chapter Twenty
  21. Chapter Twenty-one
  22. Chapter Twenty-two
  23. Chapter Twenty-three
  24. Chapter Twenty-four
  25. Chapter Twenty-five
  26. Chapter Twenty-six
  27. Chapter Twenty-seven
  28. Chapter Twenty-eight
  29. Chapter Twenty-nine
  30. Chapter Thirty
  31. Chapter Thirty-one
  32. Chapter Thirty-two
  33. Chapter Thirty-three
  34. Chapter Thirty-four
  35. Chapter Thirty-five
  36. Chapter Thirty-six
  37. Chapter Thirty-seven
  38. Chapter Thirty-eight
  39. Chapter Thirty-nine
  40. Chapter Forty
  41. Chapter Forty-one
  42. Chapter Forty-two
  43. Chapter Forty-three
  44. Chapter Forty-four
  45. Acknowledgements

‘I don’t know. I don’t feel confident. It’s one thing after another. I feel … vulnerable.’ I need to get out of here. Now. ‘I’m worried what he will do next. I honestly don’t know anything about all this. But he’s convinced it’s me. I don’t know how …’

She gets up and shuts the door.

‘I was going to tell you at some point but … well, it’s a bit tricky. We’ve found the missing bag.’

I can hardly disguise my pleasure. I feel the guilt and regret fading and I try to drag them back, but the pull of revenge is too strong. It’s like a wave washing over me. I can tell her later. But for now …

‘Oh. Thank goodness. Did the depot find it after all?’

She’s silent for a moment. Considering how to tell me.

‘No. It was found elsewhere. But you don’t need to worry about that. All you need to think about now is getting some help and getting over all this. We need to focus on finding out who robbed those men and who sent those pictures now.’

That’s it. She’s completely invested. She stands up and it’s time to leave. I can’t go home – I can’t face it yet – so I ask her to ring a taxi to take me to my office. I wait outside, my backside numb on the hard wooden bench. I check my messages and there’s one from Eileen confirming a meeting on the 27th. Another from Amazon telling that, based on my previous purchases, I might like another slow cooker. I almost laugh out loud and look up just in time to see Missy being led into an interview room.

She looks older and frailer and if I didn’t know that she was such a bitch I would feel sorry for her. She’s still wearing her slippers and I suddenly wonder where Charlie and Laura are. Probably at school. Who would collect them? Rage surges up at the unfairness that it isn’t me. I only just manage to resist the urge to phone social services and demand to know what’s going on, who will care for my children. But I know that’s what you want. Hysterical me jeopardising the meeting. All that shit still in my house. Another black mark against Caroline. It takes me all my will to stop myself though.