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
He said it was. She lifted her head and he looked at her and smiled. As if it was a joke, thought Jude. As if none of this really mattered: just one of those things.
He was asked if he had been driving, whether he had been drinking, whether they had all been wearing seatbelts. He was told that he was going to be tested.
She saw Liam shrug. The blue light flickered over his face. Everything became confused once more until she saw him being led toward the open door of one of the police cars. He looked round at her and lifted a hand in what looked like a gesture of farewell.
That was the end, really. The end of Liam and Jude and the glorious agony of first love, the end of her summer, the end of her childhood.
Jude stayed in hospital for two days. She had received a head injury and they wanted to keep her under observation. She had a broken nose that the young doctor assured her would mend and leave no scar. A gash in her forehead needed twelve stitches. The day after the accident, she didn’t recognize herself in the mirror, her face swollen, her skin all purples and deep browns and murky greens.
“You could have been killed,” said her mother.
“What were you thinking, getting in a car with someone who was drunk?” said her father.
Her parents looked at each other and asked about Liam. Who was he? Why had she been in his car?
Jude winced. “He’s just a boy I know,” she said.
Just a boy. Her boy. She tried calling him and he didn’t pick up. She sent a text, several texts, saying she urgently had to see him, and he wrote back saying things were a bit complicated, but not to worry about him. He was fine. He probably wouldn’t be going to prison, just have to do a bit of community service. “Travel plans on hold,” he wrote.
Prison. The word made her feel sick.
When Jude got out of hospital she went to his house. The door opened and she felt a sudden rush of panic and excitement at the sight of Liam but then saw it wasn’t Liam. It was someone who looked like Liam but was younger, less formed, less assured. He said that he was Liam’s brother, Dermot. He said that Liam wasn’t there, that nobody was there. Apart from you, Jude said, and he blushed. She asked if Liam was all right and Dermot said he was all right, a bit shaken up.