Chapters (68)
- Cover
- Dedication
- NOW
- One
- BEFORE
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- NOW
- Twenty-One
- BEFORE
- 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
- NOW
- Thirty-Nine
- BEFORE
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Fifty-One
- NOW
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- AFTER
- Fifty-Six
- Acknowledgements
- About the Author
‘I spoke to them myself,’ Mark continued, hoping to be believed, if for nothing else than to move the conversation back to what was important. ‘There’s no doubt. She wasn’t there. So, if she was playing pranks, who would it be with? And what were they?’
Julie shrugged her shoulders in response, but didn’t argue with him further. He turned to Stephanie, who was now standing nearer to him. ‘What about you? Do you know who she could be doing this with? You’ve told me she had no friends, but your mum is saying something different. You can’t both be right.’
Stephanie seemed to think for a moment or two, then shook her head. Mark looked from one woman to the other, trying to figure out what wasn’t being said.
‘She said it was just a game,’ Julie said finally, her voice quiet and flat. ‘That it was nothing to worry about. That she was just messing around. I didn’t think it was anything to do with what happened.’
Mark sighed, wondering if he would be so blind in the same position. ‘What else was she doing?’
‘Just silly things. I didn’t really take much notice. She wasn’t getting into trouble, so I just left her to it.’
‘I went to see her dad,’ Mark said, moving away from the pair and sitting down at the table. ‘That’s how I found out about this.’
‘You can’t believe a word that man says,’ Julie spat out, before checking herself with a look at her daughter. Even now, she wanted to be the bigger person, it seemed to Mark. ‘He’s a known liar. Whatever he’s told you, none of it’s true.’
‘He didn’t tell me a lot and I can’t see him rushing back to be involved. He wasn’t the one to tell me anyway. Another source close to him told me that Emily’s… antics were the cause of some discussion. So much, that they made it back to her father.’
‘It was nothing.’
Mark sighed, knowing he wasn’t getting very far, but also that he had to keep pushing. ‘Did you ever hear her talk about the other people involved, any names?’
Julie shook her head. ‘She didn’t talk about it. I had to hear these things from other people. When I asked her about it, she just glossed over it, like it didn’t matter. So I didn’t think it did.’
‘Julie, why didn’t you tell me this?’
She rolled her eyes, looking tired just from that simple action. When she spoke, her voice was quiet enough that Mark had to strain to hear it. ‘I thought you might just think she was mad and not bother trying to find her. She wasn’t mad.’