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
‘Because he’s your friend,’ Rachel said. ‘We know that immediately prior to the Air Euro crash, Robbie went on holiday to the same village you were living in. What happened? Did you guys hook up while you were there? Is that why you came back to England with him? And while you’re giving me the answers to those questions, you can tell me why none of the other survivors – not even your good friend Clodagh – knew about the two of you.’
‘There is no me and Robbie,’ Ivan said. ‘And I promise you, we are not friends.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
The duty solicitor scowled at Rachel.
‘I hope you have something to back this up, detective?’
‘It’s okay,’ Ivan said quietly. ‘I am telling the truth. It was a holiday romance, nothing more than that. At the end of it, he asked me to come to London with him and I thought why the hell not? I’d already been in Crete for six months and I was ready to visit somewhere new. I had never been to London. I thought maybe I’d spend a week with Robbie then move on somewhere else. I never intended it to be serious. He wasn’t my type. Too self-obsessed and stuck up.
‘But after the crash, he acted like we were already a couple. He tried to get me to move into his house, he told me he loved me and I was the best thing that had ever happened to him. And I swear to you that the more he spoke this crazy stuff, the more I knew I’d made a mistake ever coming to England with him in the first place. In the end, we had a huge row and I told him I didn’t want to see him again. He was angry and upset. It was horrible, but I thought it’s okay because I won’t see him any more. But of course I did, because we had the investigation and there were meetings with lawyers and then Adam started organising events for all the people affected by the crash. Robbie called me before the first meeting and told me he didn’t want anyone to know about us.’
‘Why would he do that?’ Ade asked.
‘I think he was embarrassed. By then, he had started working with Adam to set up the foundation. I think he wanted to start from fresh, without people talking about him behind his back.’
‘But you were on the plane together,’ Ade said. ‘Surely people would have seen you?’
‘Most of the people who saw us are dead,’ Ivan said. ‘Even if anyone remembered us, they would have assumed we were just sitting together. No big deal.’
‘So you did what he asked,’ Ade said.
‘Of course. It was a relief, if I’m honest. I wanted to forget all about it just as much as he did.’