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

Perhaps Liam had missed the train, in which case she might have to wait for the next one. Using the torch on her phone, she was able to find a timetable on the wall and quickly saw that there was no next one. And the previous one had been fifty minutes earlier. There was no doubt about it. That had been the train and Liam hadn’t been on it and if he was going to arrive by train it wouldn’t be until tomorrow.

Jude cursed herself and him for not having given her any means of contacting him. What was she supposed to do now? For a horrible moment she thought Liam might have been playing a weird practical joke on her. But this practical joke involved her taking his car and his credit card and buying petrol with it.

She shivered. She was getting cold. Once again, she was tempted just to give up and return to London. He hadn’t turned up. What was she expected to do? As soon as she thought of this she started to see the complications. She would have to go back to the house anyway, to collect her stuff and the food and Liam’s bag. What then? Meanwhile, if Liam had missed the train, he would probably arrange another means of getting to Ixley. He might have rented a car or got a lift from someone. He was probably already on his way.

So she drove back to Springs Cottage and when she let herself in it felt twice as strange and lonely as before. She opened the wine and poured herself a glass. She didn’t feel hungry but she opened the packet of crisps and took a couple and chewed on them almost without thinking. She didn’t know what to do. The idea of watching TV or listening to the radio or reading her book seemed completely out of the question. She just sat at the table and refilled her glass of wine and slowly finished the crisps.

Suddenly she heard a sound, very faint and, it seemed, very far away, so far away that she couldn’t make it out except that it sounded musical, repetitive. She moved her head, trying to find out where it was coming from. It was inside the house, upstairs. What could it be? A clock radio that had suddenly come on? She padded upstairs, her heart beating fast so that she could feel it in her temples. It made her feel faint.