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
She looked around. Ahead of her was a staircase and there were doors on either side of the hallway. On the left wall was a large canvas: an abstract painting, with fierce reds, blues, yellows—like a fire or a torrent or stormy clouds. On the right wall, a mural had been painted directly onto the plaster: five stick figures with heads like pumpkins, dancing in a circle.
“That was Liam,” said the man, pointing at the painting. He turned to the mural. “And that’s Danny. She’s good.” He lifted up his left arm to reveal, on the underneath, running from the elbow to the wrist, a branch adorned with green leaves and blossoms. “That’s Danny as well.”
“That’s beautiful.” Jude looked at him inquiringly. “I’m sorry. You seem to know me but I don’t know you.”
“Of course you don’t.”
There was a pause. The man just looked at her as if he was amused.
“Fine,” she said at last. “I’m just here to see Danny.”
He laughed, a booming sound. “I’m Vin.”
He held out his hand. Jude was holding the large bunch of flowers and she had to move it under her arm to take his hand. As she shook it, she felt like her hand had been entirely enfolded.
“Liam and I are old friends. We work together.” He caught himself. “We worked together. It feels strange and wrong to talk about him in the past tense.”
“I’m sorry,” said Jude. “This must be so terrible for you all.”
Vin nodded slowly. “We’re still processing it. It’s a lot to get your head around. Liam was the linchpin, you know what I mean?”
“Yes.”
“You do? You know what a linchpin is?”
“I know it’s something important. Something that holds things together.”
“Not just things,” said Vin, looking serious. “You know when you put a wheel on an axle?”
Jude hoped she wasn’t supposed to reply to that.
“The linchpin,” Vin continued, “is what you put through the hole in the end of the axle to hold it in place. We were like spokes in the wheel and Liam was what held us together.”
Jude wasn’t quite sure how to continue this conversation and then she heard her name being called out. She looked round and recognized Danny immediately.