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Back The Daughter Save as PDF
Contents ( 71)
  1. THE
  2. DAUGHTER
  3. MICHELLE FRANCES
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. ONE
  6. TWO
  7. THREE
  8. FOUR
  9. FIVE
  10. SIX
  11. SEVEN
  12. EIGHT
  13. NINE
  14. TEN
  15. ELEVEN
  16. TWELVE
  17. THIRTEEN
  18. FOURTEEN
  19. FIFTEEN
  20. SIXTEEN
  21. SEVENTEEN
  22. EIGHTEEN
  23. NINETEEN
  24. TWENTY
  25. TWENTY-ONE
  26. TWENTY-TWO
  27. TWENTY-THREE
  28. TWENTY-FOUR
  29. TWENTY-FIVE
  30. TWENTY-SIX
  31. TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. TWENTY-NINE
  34. THIRTY
  35. THIRTY-ONE
  36. THIRTY-TWO
  37. THIRTY-THREE
  38. THIRTY-FOUR
  39. THIRTY-FIVE
  40. THIRTY-SIX
  41. THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. THIRTY-NINE
  44. FORTY
  45. FORTY-ONE
  46. FORTY-TWO
  47. FORTY-THREE
  48. FORTY-FOUR
  49. FORTY-FIVE
  50. FORTY-SIX
  51. FORTY-SEVEN
  52. FORTY-EIGHT
  53. FORTY-NINE
  54. FIFTY
  55. FIFTY-ONE
  56. FIFTY-TWO
  57. FIFTY-THREE
  58. FIFTY-FOUR
  59. FIFTY-FIVE
  60. FIFTY-SIX
  61. FIFTY-SEVEN
  62. FIFTY-EIGHT
  63. FIFTY-NINE
  64. SIXTY
  65. SIXTY-ONE
  66. SIXTY-TWO
  67. SIXTY-THREE
  68. SIXTY-FOUR
  69. EPILOGUE
  70. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  71. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

‘Please don’t move the sheet,’ said the policewoman, making eye contact with her. ‘It’s very important.’

They waited for her to go in first and Kate felt Tim take her arm.

She stepped inside, and an animalistic moan pulsated out of her. Becky lay on a high bed, a sheet up to her neck, eyes closed. My baby, my beautiful baby, Kate thought, and she broke free from Tim and touched Becky’s head, stroking her cheek, her forehead, with her thumb. There was a cut just above her eye and she suddenly noticed her hair wasn’t covering it because they’d brushed it but the parting was on the wrong side. She had an urgent need to put her back together and she smoothed her fine auburn waves back the way they should be. There, now she looked like Becky, but in a sudden moment of horror Kate realized that wasn’t what she wanted, and she felt her head fall next to her daughter’s and she wept and wept.

They’d sat in another consulting room for over three hours before Tim softly suggested he take her home.

The taxi driver had instinctively known something terrible had happened, or maybe Tim had told him, but either way he mercifully stayed silent. Tim sat next to her on the back seat and she was aware of him glancing her way every few minutes, a worried and compassionate frown creasing his brow. After a while, the landscape grew increasingly familiar. They passed Trinity Primary, where Becky had gone to school, and Kate had a sudden image of her running towards her from the classroom on one of the rare occasions she’d been able to pick her up, Becky’s arms outstretched and full of paintings and her book bag and water bottle as she’d hurled herself at her mum. Tim’s hand landed softly on hers and she blinked, once, and the school was replaced by the park where Becky would go mad for the swings, taking herself higher and higher until Kate got worried and wasn’t able to restrain a quick ‘Careful!’ The swings were now hanging idle in the wet dark, with just the occasional twitch as the wind whipped through the play area.

The taxi driver took another turn and then they were in her road, pulling up near the house. Tim paid and then ran around to open her door but this time she’d already done it. The taxi driver waited until she’d got out and then he turned his car around quickly, as if he was embarrassed and wanted to be away from whatever it was that had been inflicted upon them, and after a few seconds the tail lights disappeared as he drove around the corner.

‘What the . . .?’ said Tim urgently and Kate looked up. ‘Wait here,’ he instructed and then ran up to the front door – which was already open – and then he was in the house and she couldn’t see him anymore. A sudden glow spilled out onto the street as he switched on the hall light.