Chapters (45)
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-one
- Chapter Twenty-two
- Chapter Twenty-three
- Chapter Twenty-four
- Chapter Twenty-five
- Chapter Twenty-six
- Chapter Twenty-seven
- Chapter Twenty-eight
- Chapter Twenty-nine
- Chapter Thirty
- Chapter Thirty-one
- Chapter Thirty-two
- Chapter Thirty-three
- Chapter Thirty-four
- Chapter Thirty-five
- Chapter Thirty-six
- Chapter Thirty-seven
- Chapter Thirty-eight
- Chapter Thirty-nine
- Chapter Forty
- Chapter Forty-one
- Chapter Forty-two
- Chapter Forty-three
- Chapter Forty-four
- Acknowledgements
It’s tempting. But then I would look weak. I’d never be able to address my issues again. And I’d never get to see my kids. And I’d always be as scared as I am now. And there’s the small matter that this is probably another way that Jack is trying to get at me. Make me accuse him, then Emma magically appears. Frame me so I look mad. No. It isn’t going to happen like this. DS Percy opens the door again.
‘OK, have it your way. But you’re getting yourself into trouble, Caroline. More trouble than before.’
I hurry out of the station and onto the front concourse. I’m still seeing red but I manage to call myself a cab. I scrabble around in my handbag and finally find my house keys. I watch as the town turns to the suburbs and the tidy town houses dot the edges of the avenues.
My mind is clouded by the realisation that Emma is the one. Emma is the one Jack loves. I’m fighting this backslide but the realisation that even though she was a ten he still cheated on her as well rains down on me and I feel slightly better. I try to remember what she looks like from the journal. She seemed familiar, like I had met her before. Young. Blonde. Bubbly, perhaps. Is that what he wanted in a woman? I realise I’m crying in the taxi and the driver is looking at me in the rear-view mirror.
‘You all right, love?’
I nod.
‘Yeah. Just had a nasty shock.’
‘Oh. Police not very tactful, are they? Don’t spare no feelings.’
We turn into the street before my house and I get out there.
Chapter Thirty-seven
I rush into the house and switch on my laptop. Emma. I have to find out about Emma. Find out what game Jack is playing. I’ve slipped up a little here, taken my eye off the ball. All this with Katy has mellowed me a little. Made me think I was on the winning straight.
But he’s gone a step further. He’s framed me. Found a way to make it look like I’ve gone much, much too far. Harmed Emma Parsons. I push the flash drive home and open the PDFs right at the end. The first one is a picture of a blonde girl, young, wearing a fur coat. Then there are three more of Jack and her, taken in a booth. Both laughing. They look really happy. There are more but I need to find out about Emma.