Chapters (64)
- Cover
- Dedication
- Prologue
- Five Years Later
- 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
- Fifty
- Fifty-one
- Fifty-two
- Fifty-three
- Fifty-four
- Fifty-five
- Epilogue
- Acknowledgements
- Canelo Crime
- About the Author
- Also by Sheila Bugler
Rachel was about to ask if Sharon thought Adam could be their killer, when the mobile phone on Sharon’s desk started to ring. Answering the call, Sharon listened to the speaker at the other end, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
‘Sounds wonderful, darling. I’ll be with you in half an hour.’
Hanging up, she rubbed her hands together.
‘Sorry to break up our little party, but there’s a hot tub and a bottle of Moët waiting for me back at home. You two can scoot away for now. I’m treating myself to a long weekend, so I’ll see you back here on Tuesday morning.’
Outside the office, Rachel breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Thank goodness that’s over,’ she said.
‘She’s not that bad,’ Ade said. ‘You just need to know how to handle her.’
‘And how’s that?’
‘You act like you’re scared of her,’ Ade said.
‘I wonder why.’
‘She can see it and she feeds off it,’ Ade said. ‘It’s like a game to her. And that is not a game you want to get caught up in, Rach.’
The fact that her much younger partner was right did nothing to improve Rachel’s mood. She felt the way she always felt after an encounter with her boss, useless and incompetent. Somehow, Ed and Ade had a way of letting the worst of Sharon wash over them without leaving a mark. Unlike Rachel, who absorbed every barb and snide remark, taking it all too personally. In Sharon’s own words, Rachel would have to ‘grow a pair’ if she was to have any chance of clambering up the slippery, predominantly male, career ladder within the Sussex Police Force.
Thirty-one
Day Eight
Clodagh swam across the still sea, her mind clear of everything except the sensation of being here, in the water. The flashes of sunlight captured in the drops of sea that splashed through the air as she moved; the blue sky above her and the cool water all around her. When her muscles grew tired, she rolled over onto her back and floated, the sun warm on her face, her body loose and relaxed. It was easy, here on the water, to push the events of last week to the furthest corner of her mind. But she couldn’t stay here forever. Sooner or later, she would have to go back onto the beach, get dressed, go back home and face real life once more.