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Back The Dead Wife Save as PDF
Chapters (49)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Chapter One
  4. Chapter Two
  5. Chapter Three
  6. Chapter Four
  7. Chapter Five
  8. Chapter Six
  9. Chapter Seven
  10. Chapter Eight
  11. Chapter Nine
  12. Chapter Ten
  13. Chapter Eleven
  14. Chapter Twelve
  15. Chapter Thirteen
  16. Chapter Fourteen
  17. Chapter Fifteen
  18. Chapter Sixteen
  19. Chapter Seventeen
  20. Chapter Eighteen
  21. Chapter Nineteen
  22. Chapter Twenty
  23. Chapter Twenty-One
  24. Chapter Twenty-Two
  25. Chapter Twenty-Three
  26. Chapter Twenty-Four
  27. Chapter Twenty-Five
  28. Chapter Twenty-Six
  29. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  30. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  31. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  32. Chapter Thirty
  33. Chapter Thirty-One
  34. Chapter Thirty-Two
  35. Chapter Thirty-Three
  36. Chapter Thirty-Four
  37. Chapter Thirty-Five
  38. Chapter Thirty-Six
  39. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  40. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  41. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  42. Chapter Forty
  43. Chapter Forty-One
  44. Chapter Forty-Two
  45. Chapter Forty-Three
  46. Acknowledgements
  47. About the Author
  48. Also by Sue Fortin
  49. About the Publisher

‘It’s fine, honestly,’ said Steph, wondering what exactly had put Harry in a bad mood. ‘I don’t mind at all.’ And she didn’t, now she thought about it – it would be a good opportunity to try to get some information out of Pru, but she knew she would have to be careful about it. ‘I’ll need to grab a coat,’ said Steph, moving towards the stairs.

‘Oh, I’m sure there’s one in the office you can borrow,’ said Pru. ‘Wait there.’ She returned almost straight away with a waxed cotton jacket. ‘It’s Harry’s. He won’t mind. And here are some boots – you look about the same size as me. Size five?’

Steph nodded, taking the jacket and eyeing up the boots. ‘I’ll be OK in my trainers.’

‘Wear the boots. We’ll have to wade out to the first rowing boat. Your shoes will get ruined.’

Steph took off her trainers, which Pru whisked up and put in a holdall she had hooked on her shoulder. ‘Good. Let’s go.’

Obediently Steph followed Pru out of the house, through the centre of the resort and along the now familiar path down towards the lake. Pru walked briskly, chatting to Steph about how she’d used to come down to the lake every day when she was younger and take an early morning dip.

‘I used to try to get Max to join me, but he never would,’ she said. ‘In the end I gave up asking him. He was never really an outdoorsy type of person. He was much more the engine room of the business side of Conmere.’

‘It sounds like a good partnership,’ said Steph. ‘A good balance.’

‘Yes, it was,’ said Pru, with a small smile. ‘I do miss him, despite his being a bit cantankerous at times.’

They had reached the edge of the lake now and Steph could see the two rowing boats drifting in the middle. She couldn’t remember if there had been two or three boats out there when she was last down here and these looked further out than she recalled. It wouldn’t be that easy towing two boats behind their one. She followed Pru into the water and they waded out to a lone rowing boat tied up to a buoy.

‘Do you want me to row?’ asked Steph as Pru climbed in first, putting the holdall in the front of the boat.

‘I’ll row out; maybe you can row back,’ said Pru, holding out her hand to help Steph climb into the boat. ‘You save your strength for the return journey.’

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Conmere House, Friday, 17 May, 2.45 p.m.