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
“I think you should go,” Andy said. But he wasn’t talking to her. He was talking to Dermot.
Fifty-Six
Outside in the car, Dermot and Jude sat for several minutes. Dermot seemed out of breath. Jude wasn’t sure he was safe to drive. She herself felt she was in shock. She had mumbled a few words of thanks and regret but she wasn’t sure that Tara had heard them. Andy had taken her by the elbow and led her to the front door.
“I hope you’ll keep in touch,” he said.
“Yes, of course,” said Jude, earnestly hoping that after today she would never have any contact with any member of the Birch family ever again.
“You’ve been a comfort to Tara. A reminder of the old days.”
She had nodded dumbly. Dermot had walked past them without a word and Jude had nodded at Andy and followed him to the car.
“You shouldn’t have had to see that,” Dermot said finally, looking at Jude. His eyes were damp as if he had been crying.
“That’s all right.”
“You’ve seen the bit we normally keep hidden,” he said.
“When dreadful things happen, people go a bit crazy.”
“Or show who they really are.”
“I don’t think that’s true.”
Dermot looked at her more closely and then he rubbed his face with both hands, as if he was washing it.
“Are you okay?” asked Jude.
He lifted his head.
“Snap,” he said.
“What?”
He reached into the collar of his shirt and pulled out the same little wooden wishbone that she was wearing.
“So he made one for you?”
“No, this is his one.”
He looked puzzled. “But when did he give it to you?”
Jude inwardly groaned. Everything she did seemed to be designed to make people think that she and Liam had been having an affair.
“Sorry, it was wrong of me. When I was in Norfolk waiting for him I saw it in his luggage. And borrowed it. Or stole it, if you want to be precise.” As she spoke the words, they sounded worse and worse. “Tara said I should keep it, though.”
There was a long pause that took Jude by surprise. She could understand Dermot being irritated by what she’d done. It might feel like a violation.
“Anything to get at Danny,” he said. He switched on the car engine. “Let’s be on our way.”
“Are you sure you’re safe to drive?”
“Are you thinking of the teapot? I’m fine.”
Fifty-Seven
Dermot wasn’t fine, though.
“I think the speed limit’s thirty,” said Jude, instinctively throwing an arm up as the car whisked round a bend and then swerved to avoid a cyclist.
“What’s that?”
Dermot twisted his head to look at her, taking his eyes off the road for longer than Jude was comfortable with.
“The speed limit’s thirty. You’re doing fifty.”