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

“Great. Thanks. Did you have a good time?”

“It was fine. I missed you, though.”

Jude forced a smile.

“You’re allowed to have a good time when I’m not there, you know.”

“All right. I had a reasonably good time.”

“Were there fireworks?”

“It rained. Nobody stayed long. I came home early.”

She got up and walked round the table and kissed him.

“I do love you,” she said.

“You’d better,” he said easily. “What with the wedding and everything.”

Leila Fox rang her that afternoon. Jude snatched up her mobile and took it into the yard.

“Would tomorrow be convenient?”

“I’m working.”

“I was just being polite. We can come to you before you go to work or after you get back.”

Jude felt a rush of panic.

“I’ll come to you.”

Eleven

When Jude woke the following morning her head felt clear. She would go to the police station, answer any remaining questions, and then it would be over. She would have learned a lesson. Nat was still asleep, bundled up in the duvet with his forearm over his eyes, small comforting snores coming from him every so often. She stood by the bed for a moment, looking at him. It would be okay.

She made herself a pot of tea, then boiled an egg, dipping toast into the yolk and eating slowly while she scrolled through messages on her phone: drinks after work, a movie tomorrow with a group of women friends, yoga class on Wednesday followed by a meal out and she was supposed to have booked the table for six and hadn’t. Did she want to sign up for a half-marathon? No, she didn’t, she could barely run six miles. Did she and Nat want to go to a gig at the weekend? Did she want to go halves on a friend’s thirtieth birthday present? How about a pizza and board-game night sometime soon? She sent messages, washed up her breakfast things, hung her lanyard round her neck, feeling the little leather string of Liam’s necklace like a guilty reminder, and left the flat.

Jude didn’t think she had ever been into a police station before, and it felt unreal as she pushed open the door and stepped into the windowless reception area, as if she was in a play whose lines she hadn’t learned. There were a few rows of plastic chairs and a large desk behind a Perspex screen. It felt rather like the waiting area in A & E, except that was always crammed and noisy. Here there was only one other person: a thin elderly woman in slippers, sitting very straight and holding a large bag on her lap with both hands.