‘Your mother is—’ She checked the pad. ‘Rose? She’ll be here to see you later today. She’s bringing a few of the things you wanted.’

Still no response. Not verbally anyway; but there was something in her eyes that worried Marie. Something that made her anxious.

Marie took out the photographs the doctor had given her. They had been found tucked into Elinor’s bag on admission. They must be important to her but they were strange. Not like family photos of a loved one but more like the paparazzi shots Marie was used to seeing in the magazines that adorned the waiting room.

They were photographs of the same man, impersonally taken, without him knowing.

Marie picked one out and showed it to her new patient. ‘Who’s this, Elinor?’

Elinor cocked her head to one side, ruffling the pillow.

‘That’s my husband. His name is Charlie.’

Acknowledgements

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Writing isn’t a solitary business. OK, it starts with me, a laptop and a few loopy ideas but there’s a host of people without whom this book, much like the first Charlie Priest novel, would never have made it to print.

Huge thanks go to the team at Bonnier Zaffre for your endless support and belief, but particularly to Katherine Armstrong, whose insightful and intelligent editing was invaluable and added an extra dimension to the story.

To Oliver, Grace and Archie, the people who live with me, and have to put up with my deeply flawed personality on a daily basis, thank you for being there and for being who you are. You probably don’t realise, but you’re a constant source of inspiration for me and I mean it when I say I’m deeply proud of you all.

Thanks and applause to Mum, not in an obligatory thanks-for-giving-birth-to-me kind of way, but genuinely your work on The Ash Doll was really helpful and your attention to detail is second to none. I’m still getting over the fish tank comment from The Mayfly – only you can notice minutiae to that level.

To Denise (MIL) and Rick (FIL), thanks for taking us in for those few weeks when we were less like a family and more like a nomadic tribe. Special thanks also to MIL for your read through of an early draft; it was great to see the book unfold through your comments.

To you, the reader: thank you for picking up this book and reading it. If you read The Ash Doll because you liked The Mayfly, then welcome back and I hope you enjoyed Priest’s latest outing. If you’re new to the series, thanks for giving a new author a try. There are so many talented writers out there, so many amazing books, I’m humbled to know that you gave up your time to read my work.