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’ve always thought one of Nick’s problems was his determination to put it behind him and move on with his life. I know he’s done very well for himself, but it takes time and hard work to get past something like that.’
‘I can’t even begin to imagine,’ Rachel said.
‘Of course you can’t.’
There was silence and Rachel guessed Shelly was reliving the horror of what had happened that day five years ago.
‘What can you tell me about Nick’s relationship with Tara?’ Rachel asked, after what she hoped was a suitable pause.
‘Tara’s a mess too,’ Shelly said. ‘In her case, it’s more obvious than it was with Nick. And, I’m afraid to say this, I doubt she’d ever have ended up with someone like Nick if it wasn’t for his fame and his money. Tara’s a sweet girl, but she’s foolish too.’
‘What do you think happened to Nick?’ Rachel asked.
‘I’m hoping it will turn out to be an accident,’ Shelly said. ‘I’m sure Nick upset lots of people last night. But enough for one of them to murder him? I doubt that very much. We were all used to him and, no matter how bad he got, we never forgot that he’s one of us. There’s a bond between the eight of us that’s difficult to explain to anyone who wasn’t on that plane. We’re like a family. We may drive each other mad, but we’ll always be there for each other too.’
Soon after that, Rachel thanked Shelly for her time and asked her to get back in touch if she thought of anything else.
‘Did anyone mention a row between Tara and Nick?’ she asked Ade, after hanging up from Shelly.
‘First I’ve heard of it,’ Ade said. ‘Who was that on the phone?’
‘Shelly Clarkson returning my call. She says Tara and Nick were always arguing and they had a particularly bad one last night.’
‘But according to Tara, the row was between Nick and Adam,’ Ade said. ‘And for the record, I’m still not sure Adam told us the truth about that. He said they argued about his dead wife, but I think there’s more to it. I did a bit of reading up on him earlier. He was a nobody when he married Vivienne. A struggling crime writer who’d only ever had one book published. Two months before the crash, he was dumped by his publisher. Everything changed for him after he wrote the memoir.’
‘None of it would have happened if his wife hadn’t died.’ Rachel sighed. ‘Tara did her level best to make sure we knew about the argument between Nick and Adam, but never mentioned anything about the row she’d had with him.’
‘You want us to go and speak to her again?’ Ade said.