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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

There was a pause and suddenly Jude had a sense of horror. She knew what she needed to say, but it also felt wrong and she didn’t know how to begin so she just spoke, as if she were leaping off into space.

“I understand how terrible this is for you. The whole thing. It’s the most awful tragedy. But on top of it all, you must be wondering who the hell I am and what on earth I was doing. I want to tell you, right up front, that I had no involvement with Liam.” She paused. Involvement. What a stupid word to choose. Of course she’d had a kind of involvement with Liam, even now in the present. She had agreed to do this favor for him. “When I say involvement, I mean there was nothing . . .” She paused again. She was sounding insane. “I know what you must be thinking. But we weren’t having an affair.” She had said it. She had got the words out. “I want to be clear about that. We had a coffee together. That was all.” Stop talking, she said to herself silently. Just stop.

“I know who you are,” said Danny. “Liam talked about you. I mean about him knowing you when you were at school.”

“But I hadn’t seen him since then,” said Jude. “I want you to believe that. Or everything would be even more awful for you.”

“It’s easy for you to say that. But the fact is, you were one of the last people to see Liam alive. And then that arrangement. In Norfolk.”

“If you wanted to talk to me because—”

But Danny cut in. “I wanted to talk to you because the only thing worse than talking to you was not talking to you.”

“I get that,” said Jude. “If there’s anything I can do to help, I’d be happy to do it.” What should she say next? “Would you like to meet?”

Jude made the offer impetuously and she regretted it as soon as the words were out of her mouth. But she was sure Danny wouldn’t accept.

“Yes.” Danny spoke firmly. “I certainly would like that.”

“Great,” said Jude faintly. “Of course. Where? Shall we meet for coffee?”

“I’m having trouble getting out of the house at the moment. There’s so much to organize. And I have Alfie. It’s all a bit chaotic. Could you come to me? I know it’s a lot to ask.”

“No, of course,” said Jude. “I’d be happy to.”

It wasn’t like she had anything else to do.

Eighteen