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

“I don’t think the prosecutors would be especially interested about the way you behaved all those years ago. I’m not going to blame you. Although you did the wrong thing, so that’s a bit of blame. But you’re a bloody idiot. You made us think you were involved in whatever Liam was up to. And if you’ve made us believe it, you’ve made other people believe it as well.”

“Unless it was a simple mugging after all,” said Jude wearily. She suddenly wanted to lie down in a dark room and close her eyes and sleep.

“You know as well as I do that was no mugging . . . and just when you should be steering clear of all of this, you’re executing his will.”

“It’ll only be a few days.”

“Jude—’

“I owe Liam this much at least.”

Thirty

After Leila left, Jude folded forward with a small gasp and laid her head on the wooden table, closing her eyes. She thought she would cry properly now, howl like an animal with shame and grief. Her stomach ached and her head hurt and there was a strange tingling in her fingers and toes. But she didn’t cry, couldn’t, and after a few minutes she sat up. She felt dazed and her hands were trembling and the world around her went in and out of focus.

Finally, after all these years, she had spoken the words aloud. She had thought that some great change would have come over her; she waited to feel pain, relief, fear, but she didn’t really feel anything except hollow and unreal, like a puppet of herself.

She forced herself to breathe calmly; after a few minutes, she knew what she needed to do. This wasn’t going to be much fun, but she had better get it over with. She picked up her phone.

When Nat opened the door, he didn’t even say hello. He just walked back into the flat, leaving her to shut the door behind her and follow him. In the living room, he turned and faced her.

“I’ve been going through your things,” he said. “I’ve put clothes into bin bags.”

“I can’t take them right now. I came on my bike.”

“I made some coffee. Do you want some?”

Jude wasn’t sure what to make of this. She felt like an animal that had been hit and now was being stroked.

“All right.”

Nat went to the kitchen and returned with two mugs. They sat down, across the room from each other. Jude couldn’t get over the strangeness of it, sitting in the flat they had shared, holding a mug she had bought. He hadn’t put milk in the coffee, although he knew she took milk. She didn’t say anything about it.

“So what are you up to?” he asked.

“Nothing much. I’m just trying to sort myself out.”