BooksBarbecue
Back The Favor Save as PDF
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

In her dreams, someone was calling out for Daddy. A childish, piping voice with a question in it.

“Daddy?”

Jude half-opened her eyes. A small figure stood at the side of the bed, staring at them both.

“Alfie?”

“Daddy?”

“Go back to bed, big man,” groaned Vin. “Away with you now.”

And Alfie disappeared, as if he had been a dream, except Jude could hear him softly shuffle along the hall.

Forty-Eight

Grayness.

Jude felt it before she saw it. Her eyelids felt stickily joined together and she had to rub her eyes to open them. She didn’t know what time it was, but it was clearly day now, which meant what? Eight? Nine? The window was thick with condensation. The room was stiflingly hot with a damp, stale smell. Her skin was clammy. She tried to swallow but her mouth was dry.

Vin was turned away from her, breathing slowly and heavily. His back was like a mound of flesh, hairy and glistening with beads of sweat.

Jude was overwhelmed by wave after wave of repulsion. She held the back of her hand up to her mouth. She was on the verge of vomiting and had to make herself breathe and count the breaths slowly until the sensation receded. She was disgusted by everything but mostly she was disgusted by herself. She thought of Vin on top of her, inside her, and it made her gag. How could she have done this? How could she have let it be done to her? What was wrong with her?

She needed to get out and away as quickly as possible without anyone seeing. She would get back to the flat, have the longest shower of her life, wash all the clothes she was wearing, or throw them all away, that would be better, and try to pretend that none of this had ever happened.

She slid out of the bed. First she needed to find her clothes, and then get dressed and away without disturbing Vin. She tiptoed across the room and looked around. She had to get on her hands and knees to retrieve the different items of clothing. Somehow a sock had got under the bed and she had to reach for it. When she stood up, Vin was sitting up in the bed, grinning at her.

“It’s down the hall,” he said.

“What?”

“The bathroom.” He pointed at a chest of drawers next to the window. “There’s towels in the bottom drawer.”

Jude thought for a moment. She so hated the easy intimacy of Vin’s tone that she couldn’t think straight. She hated the idea of him seeing her, standing naked in the ghastly cloudy morning light of his bedroom. All right, she decided. She pulled out a towel from the drawer, wrapped it around herself and went outside and along the corridor. The door was locked.

“Just coming,” a voice said.