BooksBarbecue
Back The Favor
Chapters (78)
  1. Title Page
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-One
  25. Twenty-Two
  26. Twenty-Three
  27. Twenty-Four
  28. Twenty-Five
  29. Twenty-Six
  30. Twenty-Seven
  31. Twenty-Eight
  32. Twenty-Nine
  33. Thirty
  34. Thirty-One
  35. Thirty-Two
  36. Thirty-Three
  37. Thirty-Four
  38. Thirty-Five
  39. Thirty-Six
  40. Thirty-Seven
  41. Thirty-Eight
  42. Thirty-Nine
  43. Forty
  44. Forty-One
  45. Forty-Two
  46. Forty-Three
  47. Forty-Four
  48. Forty-Five
  49. Forty-Six
  50. Forty-Seven
  51. Forty-Eight
  52. Forty-Nine
  53. Fifty
  54. Fifty-One
  55. Fifty-Two
  56. Fifty-Three
  57. Fifty-Four
  58. Fifty-Five
  59. Fifty-Six
  60. Fifty-Seven
  61. Fifty-Eight
  62. Fifty-Nine
  63. Sixty
  64. Sixty-One
  65. Sixty-Two
  66. Sixty-Three
  67. Sixty-Four
  68. Sixty-Five
  69. Sixty-Six
  70. Sixty-Seven
  71. Sixty-Eight
  72. Sixty-Nine
  73. Seventy
  74. Acknowledgments
  75. About the Author
  76. Remarkable Praise for Nicci French
  77. Also by Nicci French
  78. About the Publisher

“All right, then,” said Jude. She felt frail and unanchored. Her vision was blurry with it. “If it’s not true, you can say that. You can tell me that Nat wasn’t being unfaithful.”

“I can only say what I’ve said. You must take it up with him.”

Thirty-Nine

There was none of the paraphernalia of a traditional funeral. There were no ushers directing people. There were no orders of service. The doors of the workshop had simply been wedged wide open. Jude joined the people making their way in and when she stepped inside, she actually gasped. The floor had been cleared of tools and there were now lines of planks on trestles, forming rough benches. The walls were lined with roughly sketched paintings on vast sheets of paper that had been tacked up on all four walls. The effect was dazzling, a riot of brightly colored rhapsodic human figures, dancing, swirling, swimming, mingling. The figures were surrounded by water and sky and sun and stars. Everything was in primary colors, blues, reds, yellows. It was almost like stained glass and the colors were so strong and bright it felt as if the sun was shining through them.

There were bare branches of trees hung with lights, and sprays of greenery dotted around the room. At the front was a slightly raised dais. On a workbench in the center was the wicker coffin but it was scarcely visible for the flowers and leaves that had been woven into it. Liam’s boots were on top, toes pointing toward the gathering. Surrounding the coffin were chairs and a host of musical instruments, guitars, a double bass, an electric keyboard, and other instruments that Jude didn’t even recognize. She looked around and saw Vin and Danny at the front, deep in conversation. Every so often Danny would recognize someone and mouth a greeting. Doc was on the other side of the platform, adjusting a loudspeaker and occasionally gesturing at someone at the back of the hall. Every so often, he picked up his guitar and strummed it softly, picking out melodies and then letting them go. He looked ill.

Jude found a place at the end of a bench right at the back. She took out her phone and stared at it as if she were dealing with something important. Really it was just to stop herself from catching the eye of anyone she knew. If she saw someone familiar, they might come and sit down next to her and she didn’t want to have to perform her response in some way. She just wanted to be alone with her thoughts.