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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

Suddenly he lunges towards her. She flinches, squeezing her eyes shut. But when she opens them, out of the window, at exactly the same level and even speed, a barn owl flies alongside them. Its beautiful white plumage streaks across the dark green of the fields, its black eyes fixed straight ahead. It moves as if it flies in slow motion.

‘Ent that a sight, eh?’ Patrick says.

For a moment the pair of them are mesmerized by the sight: the bird’s round moon face, its dangling feathered legs, within them a mouse, or perhaps a vole.

A bump underneath the wheels jolts them out of the moment. For a second, black tyres tear across the road. Patrick clutches hold of the wheel, which spins under his grip, and he slams on the brakes. Chloe grips the upholstery harder as she jolts in her seat. A moment later and the car is still, the only thing moving a cloud of dust chewed up from the road behind them.

Patrick checks the rear-view mirror. ‘Oh Jesus,’ he says, quickly undoing his seat belt. Then again: ‘Oh Jesus Christ.’

He’s out of the car before Chloe has time to turn around. He leaves the driver’s door open. Chloe thinks of the cutting crumpled in her pocket and looks quickly at the keys hanging in the ignition. She glances through the back windscreen, and sees Patrick striding swiftly back the way they came. She turns further in her seat to see why. Not too far in front of him, there is something unidentifiable writhing in the road.

Chloe unfastens her seat belt and opens her own car door. Out on the open road, Patrick marches closer to the figure on the tarmac. Chloe follows him. He looks up.

‘Stay back,’ he says, holding his hand up to stop her.

She jumps slightly, but obeys him.

He turns back to the creature, and she hears him say again, ‘Oh Jesus.’

A hare lies on the road, its deep brown eyes bulging in pain. Even from this distance, Chloe can see the whites of its eyes. The terror in them as Patrick approaches. She can feel it. The hare makes a pathetic attempt to run, but its hind leg is stuck fast to the road, a mass of pink and red seeping into the tarmac.

Patrick kneels down beside the hare. The animal jerks away, a bloody part of its leg tearing from the tarmac, but not enough. Flesh and fur enmeshed on the road.