BooksBarbecue
Back The Cliff House Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Booklist
  3. Title Page
  4. Praise
  5. Dedication
  6. Prologue
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  62. Epilogue
  63. Acknowledgements
  64. About the Publisher

Edie was screaming. She ran to him as he tumbled forwards on to his knees. His stomach was soaked with red, blood seeping into the fabric of his T-shirt. His eyes found mine and he shook his head helplessly. Edie pulled him to her. His bloody hand reached up and grabbed her shoulder. Max dropped down beside them. I was rigid, trapped in my frozen body, as I watched him push Edie to one side. Max pulled his sweater off. Balled it. Pressed it against Jago’s stomach. Eleanor caught my eye, clawing herself away from them as if she were dying in the desert, knife in her hand, face painted in horror.

My eyes were drawn back to my brother. Blood had pooled on the terrace. It ran between the paving stones, along the gaps between, dripping into the pool. I watched the drops falling, tapping like a metronome, ripples in ever-increasing circles as his blood dispersed in the inky water.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

Angie

August 1986

Nobody answered her repeated knocks. She glanced back at Gareth who shrugged and stepped backwards to look up at the windows.

Then they heard raised voices coming from the terrace behind the house. She swore, angry that Max hadn’t kept his word to keep her daughter away from that mad cow. She reached for the handle and pulled open the door. As she did a scream ripped through the house. She could see them through the window in the living room. They were gathered on the terrace. All of them. Something was wrong. She ran out through the open door and tried to take everything in.

Tamsyn was standing in her underwear, hair wet, skin white with cold. Eleanor was on her knees, rocking like a boat on the sea, a knife on the paving stones beside her. There was blood on her hands.

Whose blood?

Max was crouched down. His face was wracked with concern. In his hand he held a light green sweater against the person who lay on the floor. Edie was there too, shaking as if an electric charge was passing through her. Angie walked closer. Her gaze was locked on the unmoving figure on the floor. The familiar clothes and boots. Familiar hazel hair.

‘An accident,’ Max said. His voice faint. ‘A terrible accident.’

Horror tumbled her insides, twisting and tightening them like a garotte.

‘No,’ she whispered. ‘No. Please, God. No.’

She was aware of Gareth trying to hold her back. She shook him off. She thought she heard Tamsyn calling her name. Max said more words. These ones she didn’t hear. All she was aware of was the blood soaking her son’s T-shirt, soaking the sweater pressed against his stomach, pooling on the floor beside him.