Chapters (78)
- Title Page
- Dedication
- 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
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Remarkable Praise for Nicci French
- Also by Nicci French
- About the Publisher
He reached out a hand and helped Danny up to the stage. She turned to face the crowd. She was wearing black trousers with a satin strip down the leg and a scarlet tux and scarlet lipstick that stood out from the deathly pallor of her face. Jude thought she looked straight-backed and fierce and almost magnificent in her grief. As she spoke, her voice sounded firm, and so calm that Jude wondered if she was on medication.
“When Liam and me met, we were both a bit . . .” Danny paused. “All over the place. But I’d never met anyone like him. He was handsome, he had the kindest eyes I’d ever seen, he was the most creative person I’d ever met, he was funny, he was strange, he was unexpected.” She stopped again. She was clearly thinking of what to say as she went along. “We never got married. But we did make a sort of vow together. It was none of that love, honor and obey stuff. We promised to look after each other. And to trust each other.” She seemed to have lost her thread for a moment. “There were other things as well. Love. We did keep that bit from the marriage vow. We promised to love each other. And we said we were going to grow old together. We didn’t get to do that.” She sniffed and put the back of her right hand up to her nose. “I’m sorry about that, Liam. I’m sorry we didn’t get to do that.” Now there was a long pause, so long that there was a feeling of awkwardness in the crowd, a restiveness. Danny seemed to have forgotten where she was. She looked round at the coffin. “Bye, Liam,” she said.
There was a murmuring from the crowd. She acknowledged it with a regal nod of her head.
“Thank you, all. Now his brother, Dermot, is going to say something.”
Everyone looked expectantly at Dermot, but he didn’t move. After a few moments of awkward waiting, Danny stepped off the dais and walked to where he sat. She bent down and whispered in his ear, then straightened up and held out her hand. Dermot took it and stood up. Danny led him to the little stage and waited while he climbed onto it. She gave him a nod, part encouragement and part command.
Jude hadn’t seen Dermot before now. When he stood facing the audience, awkwardly, self-consciously, she felt that he was like her. He wasn’t one of this group. He didn’t belong. It was like he hadn’t quite got the memo about dressing colorfully. Like her, he had dressed for a more traditional funeral. He was wearing a dark suit that was slightly too large. His extravagantly patterned tie was his concession to brightness, but its bulky knot looked as if it was pushing into his neck and up into his chin.