BooksBarbecue
Back Seven Days Save as PDF
Chapters (148)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Saturday, 16 June 2018
  4. Twelve Years Earlier, 7 July 2006
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. Sunday, 17 June 2018
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. Twelve Years Earlier, 7 July 2006: Evening
  11. 2
  12. 3
  13. 4
  14. 5
  15. Twelve Years Earlier, 7 July 2006: Evening
  16. 2
  17. Monday, 18 June 2018
  18. 2
  19. 3
  20. 4
  21. Twelve Years Earlier, 9 July 2006
  22. 2
  23. 3
  24. 4
  25. Twelve Years Earlier, 9 July 2006
  26. 2
  27. 3
  28. 4
  29. Twelve Years Earlier, 9 July 2006: Evening
  30. Tuesday, 19 June 2018
  31. 2
  32. 3
  33. 4
  34. Twelve Years Earlier, 29 July 2006
  35. 2
  36. 3
  37. 4
  38. 5
  39. 6
  40. Twelve Years Earlier, 30 July 2006
  41. 2
  42. 3
  43. Twelve Years Earlier, 31 July 2006
  44. 2
  45. 3
  46. 4
  47. 5
  48. 6
  49. 7
  50. Wednesday, 20 June 2018
  51. 2
  52. 3
  53. 4
  54. Eleven Years Earlier: Sunday Morning, 1 July 2007
  55. 2
  56. 3
  57. 4
  58. Eleven Years Earlier: Sunday Morning, 1 July 2007:
  59. 2
  60. 3
  61. 4
  62. 5
  63. Thursday, 21 June 2018
  64. 2
  65. 3
  66. Eight Years Earlier: Friday, 18 June 2010
  67. 2
  68. 3
  69. 4
  70. 5
  71. 6
  72. 7
  73. 8
  74. 9
  75. Eight Years Earlier: Sunday, 27 June 2010
  76. 2
  77. 3
  78. Eight Years Earlier: Thursday, 1 July 2010
  79. Eight Years Earlier: Thursday, 1 July 2010
  80. 2
  81. Eight Years Earlier: Wednesday, 18 August 2010
  82. 2
  83. Friday, 22 June 2018
  84. 2
  85. 3
  86. 4
  87. Four Years Earlier: July 2014
  88. 2
  89. 3
  90. 4
  91. Four Years Earlier: July 2014
  92. 2
  93. 3
  94. 4
  95. 5
  96. Four Years Earlier: July 2014
  97. 2
  98. Four Years Earlier: July 2014
  99. 2
  100. 3
  101. Four Years Earlier: July 2014
  102. 2
  103. Four Years Earlier: July 2014
  104. Four Years Earlier: July 2014
  105. Saturday, 23 June 2018
  106. 2
  107. 3
  108. Saturday, 23 June 2018
  109. 2
  110. 3
  111. Martin
  112. DI Wynne
  113. Sandra
  114. Maggie
  115. 2
  116. Martin
  117. Maggie
  118. James
  119. Maggie
  120. DI Wynne
  121. Martin
  122. Wynne
  123. Martin
  124. Wynne
  125. Martin
  126. Wynne
  127. Martin
  128. Wynne
  129. Sandra
  130. Wynne
  131. Martin
  132. James
  133. Wynne
  134. Saturday, 23 June 2018
  135. Wynne
  136. PC Oliver Reid
  137. Maggie
  138. PC Oliver Reid
  139. Maggie
  140. Maggie
  141. Maggie
  142. Martin
  143. Epilogue
  144. Keep Reading …
  145. Acknowledgements
  146. About the Author
  147. Also by Alex Lake
  148. About the Publisher

Or seven days to find a way to save him.

Twelve Years Earlier, 7 July 2006

1

Maggie pulled on the baby-blue Doc Martens her boyfriend, Kevin, had bought her for her fifteenth birthday. She’d had mixed emotions when she unwrapped the present a week before; she really, really wanted the boots, but they were expensive, and although Kevin was sweet and she was very fond of him, she already knew he wasn’t the one – she couldn’t see him as the first person she’d have sex with. What they had wasn’t special enough, at least not to her, and she’d decided she was going to break up with him. Knowing that, accepting the boots didn’t seem fair. She’d seen it on her mum’s face, too. When Maggie pulled the boots from the box, her mum had glanced at her, her forehead creased in a frown.

For a moment, Maggie had considered refusing, but that would have been even more awkward. She’d have had to explain why, and she wasn’t quite ready for that, wasn’t quite ready to break his heart, not on her birthday.

Besides, they really were amazing boots.

She stood up and looked in the hallway mirror. She pulled her hair – recently dyed jet black from her natural copper-tinged brown – into a ponytail, considered it, then let it fall loose around her neck. She could never make up her mind what was better. It was long and thick, and wearing it down showed it off. It meant more care though, or at least a more expensive haircut, and she didn’t feel like asking her parents for money. Though they both worked, things were tight – they didn’t talk about it in front of her and James, her little brother, but she picked up on comments they made about being careful buying groceries and saw how her dad only put in ten pounds’ worth of petrol at a time.

Anyway, that didn’t matter at the moment. She was going to see Anne, her nineteen-year-old cousin, to get some advice on what to do about Kevin. She grabbed her backpack and walked down the hall.

‘Maggie!’

It was her dad. She paused at the front door. He was probably going to tell her to tidy her room or ask if she’d done her homework. If she left immediately, all he would hear was the door closing. When she got home she could say she hadn’t heard him.

She gripped the handle. Behind her, the door to the living room opened.

‘Maggie.’ Her dad was standing there, a piece of paper in his hand. ‘Before you go, we need to talk.’