Contents ( 71)
- THE
- DAUGHTER
- MICHELLE FRANCES
- PROLOGUE
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
- SIXTY-THREE
- SIXTY-FOUR
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Dropping her bag on the ground, she hoisted herself up one of the oaks. Carefully and slowly, she climbed until she could see back to the farm. There he was. Talking to someone else, another worker it looked like. Then he headed back up to the farmhouse, got into a Land Rover and started it up. In a panic, Kate realized he was heading for the track and that in a few seconds he’d drive right past her. She cursed as she saw her bag at the foot of the trunk. There was no time to rescue it now. It was partially hidden by some long grass and she prayed it would be enough. Holding her breath as he drew closer and closer, she shrank back into the tree, grateful for its new-leaf coverage.
Then he was gone. She waited a moment until her heart calmed, then looked back up to the farm. The other worker had changed into a suit of some sort: white, from head to toe. He turned, and she saw he wore a respirator mask. He headed to a small building set aside from the others, a corrugated-steel container outside the barn she’d just been in. He went inside and reappeared with a plastic container, the contents of which he started to pour into a vessel at the back of a piece of machinery attached to a tractor. Once it was empty, he took the plastic container back to the steel box. He attached a pump to the vessel, and waited for a while. Then, after removing it, he got in the cab and began to drive away from the yard, the machinery dragging behind. It was then she realized what he was doing. He was going out to spray the fields.
It was a sobering sight. Despite the sunshine, she shivered. She couldn’t quite believe what she’d just witnessed. How could an operator be kitted out like that and still no one did anything about the residents, just metres from the spray?
Kate made her way back down the tree and retrieved her bag. Scurrying back up the track, she kept her eyes open for any other workers but, to her relief, no one else seemed to be around.
She tentatively headed for the steel container emblazoned with ‘hazardous’ stickers but the door was closed. She tried the handle and her heart leapt as it turned – he hadn’t relocked it. She stepped inside. There were shelves from floor to ceiling, stacked with a wall of plastic containers. The labels thrust themselves in her face: bright-orange ‘hazardous’ warnings, skull and crossbones, ‘Toxic!’ written again and again. The majority of them were a product called Crixus, manufactured by a company called Senerix. Knowing Justin could come back at any moment, she quickly got out her phone and took photo after photo. Then she heard a Land Rover drive through the yard and she froze.
Kate risked a peek out of the container and saw Justin park outside the farmhouse. Please don’t come into the yard, she urged silently. Instead, he went into the house and she took her chances. She ran across the yard and back down the track as fast as she could. She didn’t stop until she’d got all the way to the train station. Thankfully, there was a train due in three minutes and it was only once she’d jumped on, breath heaving, and the doors had been locked shut behind her that she could sink into her seat with relief.