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
Julie’s cries filled the corridor as she sank to her knees, her body finally giving up. Stephanie held on to her, slowly moving down with her, holding her in her arms. Stroking her back, crying with her, silently.
Mark watched them for a few seconds, feeling the lump at the back of his throat grow. Watching as reality took hold and their lives changed in an instant.
‘What do we do now?’
Mark didn’t have an answer for Stephanie, as she looked up towards him. He stammered, knowing he needed to stay professional and give them something. He couldn’t. There was nothing he could say in that moment that would provide solace.
Stephanie had already turned back to her mum, helping her to her feet, as Julie’s cries still filled the corridor. He shepherded them away, finding a relative’s room quickly and sitting them down.
‘What happened to her?’ Stephanie said, her own eyes filled with tears. ‘Was she… Who did this to her?’
‘They’re going to do a post-mortem and find out,’ Mark replied, talking low as Julie moaned and rocked in her chair. ‘Once we know, you’ll be told. We’ll tell Charlie and your Uncle Rich as well. You can stay here for as long as you need, but there’ll be more questions. I need to prepare you for that. Now we’ve found her, we have to make sure we find the person who did this.’
Stephanie nodded, then hugged her mum and stood up. She placed a hand on Mark’s arm and guided him out into the corridor. She left the door open behind her, but spoke in a hushed tone.
‘We need answers. We need to know what happened. You can’t leave us without them. Promise? Only, my mum… she’s not going to come back from this without knowing. This is going to destroy her and I can’t lose both of them.’
‘I’ll… We’ll do everything we can,’ Mark replied, staring into Stephanie’s blue, filmy eyes. ‘We have every resource on this. Forensics, the works. If there’s something to find, it’ll be found. Hopefully answers will be easy to come by. If not, I guarantee we won’t leave any stone unturned to find them.’
‘I knew it was coming,’ Stephanie said, trying to keep her words from sticking in the back of her throat. She coughed and blinked back tears. ‘I could feel it. It doesn’t make it any easier. I thought it might, you know, if I prepared myself for this to be the end. I just feel empty.’