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Back The Lucky Eight
Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. Prologue
  4. Five Years Later
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Fifty-four
  59. Fifty-five
  60. Epilogue
  61. Acknowledgements
  62. Canelo Crime
  63. About the Author
  64. Also by Sheila Bugler

‘They were having a row. I asked Adam earlier what they rowed about but he wouldn’t tell me the truth. Which makes me wonder if he had something to do with Nick’s death. Because he was killed, wasn’t he? If he’d died of natural causes you wouldn’t have kept us in our rooms for so long and there wouldn’t be so many people out on the beach. I know who they are. They’re the CSI guys. They’re out there looking for clues, trying to find out who killed him.’

Tara’s voice was rising as she spoke, becoming borderline hysterical.

‘Take some deep breaths,’ Ade said softly. ‘I can see you’re getting upset, Tara. I don’t blame you. But right now the best thing you can do for Nick is slow down and tell us everything you know. We need to work together if we want to find out what really happened. You said you’re Nick’s girlfriend? How long have you two been together?’

‘About a year,’ Tara said. ‘We were deeply in love.’

Rachel doubted that was true. She’d already checked the room bookings for this weekend. Nick Gilbert and Tara Coleman had booked separate rooms. Which didn’t strike her as the act of a couple ‘deeply in love’.

‘I imagine it was a very emotional day yesterday,’ Rachel said, keen to move the conversation along. ‘The five-year anniversary. It can’t have been easy for any of you.’

‘It was very sad,’ Tara said.

‘Is that why some people drank too much?’ Rachel said.

‘You mean Nick.’ Tara scowled. ‘He was suffering, that’s what no one seems to understand. He wasn’t even going to come, you know. But I persuaded him and he changed his mind at the last minute. And because he did what I asked him to, he’s dead.’

‘How would you describe Nick’s state of mind last night?’ Ade asked.

‘I’ve already told you,’ Tara said sulkily. ‘He was upset. These sort of events are traumatic for him. I don’t know what Adam said to him, but it made things worse. I wanted to go over, but Nick saw me and waved me away. I didn’t see him after that.’

She started crying, her body shaking as she sobbed, tears rolling unchecked down her face.

‘I just want to know what happened to him,’ she said between sobs. ‘My Nick didn’t deserve this. Not after everything he’s been through.’

She seemed genuinely upset, Rachel thought. But there could be all sorts of reasons she was telling them about the row with Adam Murray. Including the possibility that she was trying to deflect police attention away from herself. Except if that was the case, why would she have come forward and told them about the affair?