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
‘I’ll speak to him about his behaviour earlier as well,’ Adam said. ‘I had no idea he was going to kick off like that.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Clodagh said, deciding it would be petty to pick a row with him as he was about to leave.
‘Thanks.’ Adam put his hands on her shoulders and looked into her eyes. ‘I don’t know what I’d do without you, Clodagh. I love you. I hope you know that.’
‘I know.’
She tried to smile but she couldn’t get her mouth to work. Over the last few months, she’d allowed herself to believe she could be happy again. She had forgotten, for a brief period of time, that happiness wasn’t something she deserved. Today, all that hope and cautious optimism had disappeared. As she stood here with the man she loved, in the golden light of the warm evening sunshine, all she could see ahead of her was darkness and despair.
Seven
Rachel pushed her chair away from the desk and stood up. She’d spent the last hour writing her report on the body found on the beach earlier. Writing was a key part of any detective’s job but it would never be something Rachel enjoyed doing. Mildly dyslexic, she’d always struggled to get the words from her head onto the page. But the report was finally done, and now she needed a break.
‘Fancy a walk around the block?’ she asked Ade.
‘Damn right.’ Ade stood up and stretched. ‘I’d kill for a bag of chips.’
‘Best get a move on, then. Chippy closes in half an hour.’
‘Another reason no one should ever move out of London,’ Ade said.
‘What do you mean?’
‘What sort of place has a chippy that closes before the pubs? That is messed up. No way you can tell me it isn’t.’
‘Well, messed up or not,’ Rachel said, ‘if we don’t go now there’ll be no chips for you tonight.’
‘You know we’re going to get the scaggy bits at the bottom of the tray?’ Ade said. ‘It was the same last time we went just before they closed.’
As part of the Surrey and Sussex Major Crime Team, Rachel and Ade worked out of the East Sussex headquarters in Lewes. The complex of buildings, on the outskirts of Lewes town, was a twenty-minute walk to the nearest chippy. Enough time for Rachel and Ade to run back over Nick Gilbert’s death.
‘What are you thinking so far, Ade?’
‘I’m thinking that, apart from his brother and girlfriend, no one seems very sad that Nick Gilbert is dead.’
Nick’s brother, Simon, and his wife had both been staying at the hotel with the rest of the party. During his interview, Simon explained that Nick had invited them because he wanted them with him to mark the five-year anniversary of the crash.