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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

‘Let’s go home,’ Chloe says. She can’t think straight and they can’t spend all night on this road.

‘Yeah?’ Patrick says.

She nods and slowly he sits forward and turns his keys inside the ignition.

They don’t speak for the few miles that it takes to drive back to Low Drove. There is a solemnness inside the car, a silent undertaking that they will each keep the secret that has been revealed out on that lonely flat road. Just like Patrick all those years ago, Chloe doesn’t know if it is the right thing to do. For some reason she thinks of Nan, of all the times that she has pretended that Stella was coming home soon, or was just out shopping. Was it so different to let Maureen live with that little bit of hope if it made it easier for her to get through each day? Why should we keep forcing those who have lost to accept it and move on? Maybe there is no moving on when you have lost a child. Who knows if the decision she and Patrick have made will be the right one? We can only live the best way we know how, and that’s what Patrick has done all of these years. But he has suffered for it. Maybe even no one more than him.

They arrive into Low Drove through the back way, down the lane that Chloe and Maureen had walked the day that she had broken down talking about her missing daughter. She remembers that day, how it had been so painful to watch, and as they drive closer to Elm House, Chloe feels sure she can’t bear witness to any more of Maureen’s pain.

The road they take, unusually for the Fens, has a slight curve in it that hides Elm House from view from this direction, so they don’t see the police car on the drive until they are almost there and the car’s headlights reflect back the blue and yellow chequered pattern.

‘What the . . .’ Patrick says as he pulls up outside on the road, already tugging at his seatbelt.

They are out of the car quickly, forgetting in an instant everything that has occurred in the last hour. As they hurry down the drive, Maureen must hear their footsteps on the pebbles because she comes flying out of the back door and straight into Patrick’s arms, followed quickly by two stony-faced uniformed police officers.

‘Maureen, thank God . . .’ Patrick says, wrapping her up inside his arms. ‘What on earth’s going on?’

He holds her face in the same hands that had ended the life of that hare. Though it is not with tears of distress that she looks back at him, but relief.

‘It’s Angie, Pat,’ she says. ‘They’ve found our Angie.’

FORTY-EIGHT