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Back The Imposter Save as PDF
Chapters (55)
  1. Cover
  2. ANNA WHARTON
  3. Dedication page
  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. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  54. Praise
  55. THE IMPOSTER

‘We are not closing the case, and we still hope that Angela will be returned to her parents. I’d like to reiterate that without the discovery of a body we can only assume that Angela is alive and well. I would once again urge the public to come forward with any information that may help police – however insignificant it may appear to them.’

Chloe knows the cranks who would have got in touch back then, the same people who phone the newsroom with promises of stories if only the news editor dispatches a reporter to their home. Some people are prepared to do anything for attention. Some people just want the company.

Patrick and Maureen Kyle, of 48 Chestnut Avenue, are said to be ‘inconsolable’ at the thought of the police hunt being called off. A statement from Mr Kyle released through police said, ‘Angela is our life, our love, our everything. An open wound will be here in our hearts until the day she is returned to us. We will wait for the rest of our lives for the day we are reunited.’

Anyone with any information should contact DI Newton at the city’s police station.

Chloe reads the cutting over and over, checking Angie’s age against the date, and doing the maths in her head. Angie was the same age as Chloe was in 1979, and so if she is alive, she’d be twenty-nine too. She closes her eyes and tries to picture her now. What really were the chances of her still being out there? Her mind flickers then to the worst outcome: a young girl dead in a shallow grave, never properly resting in peace. She shudders when she thinks of Nan. Is Chloe the only person right now who can imagine the pain this couple feel to this day? Instantly she feels so desperately, so sadly connected to them. Just twenty-four hours in the Kyles’ shoes has taught her something of what they’ve been through.

She checks her phone again. Nothing. She drops the cutting onto her desk. She can’t be here, not now, when everything is a reminder to her that Nan is missing. She could have picked up any file, and yet she’d chosen that one. She checks the time – it’s nearly eight. She’s too worried about Nan to do anything here, and anyway, it feels empty, pointless while Nan is still out there somewhere. She pushes back from her desk on her swivel chair; there is still time to get to the police station and back before 9 a.m. She leaves the office the same way she came in. Only this time she feels the editor’s gaze follow her out.

FIVE