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
“And then it got taken away. After the crash.” Now Jude spoke very carefully and slowly. “When I look back on it, it’s like a kind of fairy tale. This awful thing happened and at the end of it, I got everything I wanted and you lost most of what you wanted.” Jude looked at Liam but she couldn’t see any response. She couldn’t tell what he felt. “Afterward, you rejected me. You didn’t want to see me. I felt you hated the sight of me because of what we had been through and then I went into a tunnel and tried to pretend none of it had ever happened. I’m ashamed of that.”
“It was ten years ago,” said Liam softly.
“Eleven,” said Jude. “More than eleven.”
“We were just kids.”
“I know. And here we are, all grown up.”
She looked down at her coffee. She had barely even touched it. She took a sip. It was cold. Without asking her, Liam picked up the two coffee cups, took them over to the counter and came back with two fresh ones.
“Here,” he said. “Drink it before it gets cold too.”
Jude sipped her coffee; her head buzzed mildly.
“You haven’t asked me why I got back in touch with you.”
“It’s a shock. I’m still processing it all. Okay, so why have you got back in touch with me?”
Liam grinned and suddenly he looked just like when he was a teenager, when she was in love with him, and she could feel it right in her chest.
“I want you to do me a favor,” he said. His eyes were black as sloes.
“A favor?”
“Yes.”
“What kind of favor?”
He took a piece of paper from his pocket and pushed it across the table. She took it. It was an address: Springs Cottage, with a postcode she didn’t recognize, but clearly out of London.
“What’s this?”
“I want you to go there on Saturday.”
Jude had thought he might want some money. Or help with getting a job. Something that would make them both awkward. But she couldn’t make any sense of this.
“I don’t understand. You want me to go to this cottage? Why? Where is it?”
“There’s nothing complicated. I’ve booked it for the weekend. It’s an Airbnb place. I’ll meet you there on Saturday evening and tell you what the favor is. It’s nothing big.”
“You mean go there and stay the night?”
“Yes.”
“Where is it?”
“Norfolk.”
Jude felt lopsided; the table seemed to tip away from her. She didn’t know whether it was her oncoming migraine or her sense of utter confusion.
“I don’t understand what you’re asking.”
He smiled, but his eyes were watchful. “It’s very simple.”
“Why me?”
Liam hesitated before replying.