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Back The Jump Save as PDF
Chapters (52)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Page
  3. Dedication
  4. Acknowledgements
  5. BOOK ONE
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Chapter Fourteen
  20. Chapter Fifteen
  21. Chapter Sixteen
  22. Chapter Seventeen
  23. Chapter Eighteen
  24. Chapter Nineteen
  25. Chapter Twenty
  26. Chapter Twenty-One
  27. Chapter Twenty-Two
  28. Chapter Twenty-Three
  29. Chapter Twenty-Four
  30. Chapter Twenty-Five
  31. BOOK TWO
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Chapter Thirty
  37. Chapter Thirty-One
  38. Chapter Thirty-Two
  39. Chapter Thirty-Three
  40. Chapter Thirty-Four
  41. Chapter Thirty-Five
  42. Chapter Thirty-Six
  43. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  44. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  45. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  46. BOOK THREE
  47. Chapter Forty
  48. Chapter Forty-One
  49. Chapter Forty-Two
  50. Chapter Forty-Three
  51. Chapter Forty-Four
  52. Epilogue

‘If he’s all you’ve got, love, then I pity you.’

Donna closed her eyes and turned back towards the window.

‘I wish you’d stop all this.’ His voice was low.

She laughed without humour. ‘I can’t. Now let’s get on with what we’ve got to do.’

She could feel his breath on the back of her neck.

‘All right then, Donna, you win. We’ll do what we have to do - on one condition.’

‘What’s that?’

Alan turned her around gently and stared into her eyes. ‘Promise me that when it does get too much for you, you’ll tell me? Until that time I’ll give you every bit of the respect I would give to Georgio, OK?’

Donna nodded. ‘I promise that if it all gets too much, you’ll be the first to know.’

‘I didn’t say if, Donna, I said when.’

‘The most irritating thing about you, Alan Cox, is that you’re so sure you know everything.’

He laughed. ‘My wife used to say that.’

Donna pushed past him and went back to the sofa. ‘Your wife also divorced you. I can see why.’

‘All right then, this round goes to you, but what I said still stands. When you want out, just let me know. Now let’s finish these sandwiches and get some shut eye.’

Donna poured herself another cup of tea. ‘My sentiments entirely, Mr Cox.’

Alan closed his eyes to hold on to his temper. ‘You’ve always got to have the last word, haven’t you?’

Donna bit into another sandwich and said through a mouthful of ham, ‘Yes, actually, I have. Especially where you’re concerned.’

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Two

Mr Ellington and Mr Borga were amazed to be invited into the cell of Eric Mates, normally a quiet man who kept himself to himself. The offer of a cup of tea and a look at his new paintings was too good to miss. Eric Mates was in on what was commonly termed a ‘lump’ - a really big sentence. Convicted of murdering his wife, his children and his wife’s alleged lover, he was not getting out at any time. He had spent fourteen years on the ‘Nutcracker Suite’ - C wing, where the psychiatric cases were - and was noted for the number of ‘tear ups’ he’d had with cons and screws alike. Then he had discovered painting, and that was his salvation.

He painted stark pictures of the world as he saw it. He painted the children of Bosnia, dying, bedecked in flowers. ‘The beauty among the evil’ was what he called it.