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
‘You don’t know what it’s like around here. No one cares if I come or go and that was doubly so for Emily. She had her own shit going on and we all had to walk on eggshells around her, just because she was fat and ugly. She had some desperate lads who were interested in her, but she didn’t even care. It was just constant moaning about never being liked. All it comes down to is that she wasn’t Princess Stephanie, so that was enough to spend all day, every day, in a shitty mood. Last couple of years though, Uncle Rich has taken more of an interest in her.’
‘An interest?’
‘I don’t know,’ Charlie said, scratching his head, dandruff flakes floating in the air and onto his shoulders. ‘Just making comments and that. He was coming round all the time because Mum thinks I needed some “male influence”. Like that drug-dealing idiot could teach me anything about being a man.’
‘You don’t get on with him then?’
‘Could you? He would come in here, sit there and just run down everything I like. It was stupid. He’s stupid. Just a Neanderthal wanker, who thinks everything can be solved with a fight or a fuck. I don’t need him. Never did. I’ve got my own thing going on.’
Mark followed Charlie’s glance towards a lifeless computer screen on a small desk. Dreaded to think about what lurked on that hard drive. ‘So when he failed to make an impact on you, are you saying he tried to help Emily?’
A snort of derision. ‘Help is probably too strong a word. Like I said, he had two ways of solving a problem – he wasn’t going to fight her…’
Mark waited for him to say something more, but he didn’t finish the thought. ‘You have to be very clear with me here, Charlie. This is important. Do you know anything about possible abuse or otherwise between Rich and Emily?’
Charlie averted his eyes, picking a stray thread on his black jeans. ‘I can’t give you anything. It’s just the way they were with each other, the last few months. The past year, to be honest. He would go in her room and stay in there for ages. I tried listening, but couldn’t hear anything. When he came out, she’d be quiet for hours. To be fair, it was the only time we didn’t hear her whining about something or other.’
‘Do you think he… did something to her?’