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
“Maybe at the time, you were confused, concussed even, and you didn’t realize what was happening. But later, you would have known and you didn’t come forward. You would have lost your place at medical school if you’d had a criminal record. You would have lost everything.”
She paused and looked at Jude’s pale face closely once more.
“What did you think, Jude? That he was messing his life up anyway? Or did you just manage to avoid thinking about it?”
There was a long silence, and when Jude finally spoke, the words sounded strange. She’d never said them aloud before.
“I didn’t manage to avoid thinking about it. I thought about it every single day. I’d think about it at night, lying awake. Whatever else happened, when I was at university, when I was a doctor, when I was alone, when I was in bed with someone else, a bit of me knew that my whole life had been built on that one lie. His whole life as well. When Liam came to see me, to ask me to do him a favor, I knew I had to do it, whatever it was. He didn’t tell me what it was. I asked him if it was something wrong and he said it wasn’t. But maybe I would have done it anyway. I don’t know. Maybe not. I don’t know.”
“Did he say that when he asked you?”
“About the crash? He didn’t need to. We both knew.”
“And why did he do it? Why did he cover for you?”
“I’ve thought about that, over and over. I think about it in the small hours. He never mentioned it. He never asked to be thanked. I think he was just like that. He was idealistic, he was impulsive, he was passionate. He was the kind of person who would do some big, crazy gesture . . .” Jude stopped herself. “Gesture. That sounds like something shallow. It was bigger than that. He put himself in front of a bullet for me. A bullet that was my fault. But it killed the relationship.”
Leila made an impatient gesture.
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“For the same reason I didn’t tell anyone, ever. My parents. Nat. My closest friends. I was scared and ashamed. I was so ashamed.” Jude realized that she was crying. She took a tissue from her pocket and blew her nose. “So what happens now?”
“What do you mean?”
“I committed a crime. And I covered it up.”
Leila shook her head, but she wasn’t smiling.