Chapters (55)
- Cover
- ANNA WHARTON
- Dedication page
- 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
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- Praise
- THE IMPOSTER
‘I hear your grandmother went missing at the city cemetery?’ the officer says, flicking through a small black notepad.
‘Yes, that’s right. I was just getting some water and . . . well, when I went back . . . I mean, I searched, everywhere, I even went into this little wood at the back of the—’
‘And you say she has dementia?’
‘Alzheimer’s, yes. She was diagnosed two years ago.’ Chloe taps the top of the desk quickly. ‘I mean, I don’t know how she just disappeared like that. She can’t even walk that well . . . I only turned my back for a second.’
‘And you’re her primary carer?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does she have a social worker’s contact details that we could take?’
Chloe hesitates. She knows what this will mean. She sits forward in her seat.
‘Look, can’t you just get out there and find Nan?’
The officer sighs and takes his notepad in one hand. ‘Chloe, officers have already been given a description of your grandmother and they’ll be keeping a good eye out for her. I’m sure they’ll find her safe and sound soon enough. In the meantime, you and I just need to complete the relevant paperwork here at the station. Now, if you don’t mind, her social worker’s details . . .’
Chloe wakes with a start, shaking off the rest of a dream she’s had a thousand times before. Anxiety is somehow always waiting for her in the night; it’s constantly there, just under her skin. She opens her eyes quickly as she remembers Nan. She quickly leans over and finds her mobile on the floor beside her bed, but the screen is blank. It is still only 5 a.m. She lies back down on her pillow, but when she closes her eyes the same faces are there. She feels helpless. She gets out of bed, gathers her clothes up from the floor and dresses quickly. But at the bottom of the stairs she looks out the window, onto a dawn that has yet to fully rise, and wonders what she is supposed to do. Nan is still out there. There has been no news overnight. Or at least she has heard nothing. Should she stay here and wait for her? It feels as if she should be doing something else, something more practical. But what? The police insisted they would do everything they could.
She pulls the thick curtain back from the door, wondering why she’d even bothered to draw it across last night when Nan was still out there. She opens the front door and feels the cold rush in. She shivers at the thought of Nan wandering the streets.