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Back The Missing Wife Save as PDF
Chapters (64)
  1. THE MISSING WIFE
  2. PRAISE FOR SAM CARRINGTON
  3. Dedication
  4. 1
  5. 2
  6. 3
  7. 4
  8. 5
  9. 6
  10. 7
  11. 8
  12. 9
  13. 10
  14. 11
  15. 12
  16. 13
  17. 14
  18. 15
  19. 16
  20. 17
  21. 18
  22. 19
  23. 20
  24. 21
  25. 22
  26. 23
  27. 24
  28. 25
  29. 26
  30. 27
  31. 28
  32. 29
  33. 30
  34. 31
  35. 32
  36. 33
  37. 34
  38. 35
  39. 36
  40. 37
  41. 38
  42. 39
  43. 40
  44. 41
  45. 42
  46. 43
  47. 44
  48. 45
  49. 46
  50. 47
  51. 48
  52. 49
  53. 50
  54. 51
  55. 52
  56. 53
  57. THE EPILOGUE
  58. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  59. Prologue
  60. Chapter One
  61. Chapter Two
  62. About the Author
  63. By the same author
  64. About the Publisher

‘Well, that’s a long way, and the common? You don’t know Oliver – you should’ve come straight home.’

Emily’s eyes were suddenly wide. ‘I’m sorry. You were talking to him at your party. I didn’t think there was any reason to think he was a psycho or anything. I mean, he’s not, is he? He’s been lovely to you, to us.’

‘Yes, I know, love. But you can’t be that trusting. Not when Oliver hasn’t been around for so long. We don’t really know him.’

‘He said you were the love of his life, Mum. Has he come back for you? Is that why he turned up at your party?’

‘No. No, of course not.’ Louisa’s words carried no conviction. She couldn’t be sure that Emily was wrong. She couldn’t be sure of anything.

25

THE APOLOGY

Saturday p.m.

Louisa pulled at the cupboard doors and drawers in the kitchen, banging each shut again loudly. She needed to go shopping. Brian – still comatose following his heavy drinking session with Oliver – was not going to be able to drive even when he did eventually surface.

‘Emily,’ she said as she walked into the lounge, ‘fancy helping me do an online shop?’

‘Yeah, sure.’ Emily put Noah down on his playmat. To give Louisa a break, she’d given him his feed, winded him, and had been playing with him for the last hour. All Louisa had done with that time was have a sneaky cigarette in the back garden and then crash around in the kitchen, all the while ruminating about what Oliver might have been telling Brian last night.

‘Will they still deliver today, do you think?’ Louisa put her laptop on the coffee table and got Tesco’s groceries homepage up.

‘It could be an issue leaving it this late on a weekend, but we can see what slots they have.’

‘Great. Let’s do this then.’

About ten minutes after they’d finished, Brian made a hesitant entrance into the lounge.

‘You look like shit,’ Louisa said.

‘Good morning to you, too.’

‘It’s afternoon, actually.’

‘God.’ Brian gingerly moved to sit down on the sofa, lowering himself in what looked like slow motion, then held his head in his cupped hands. ‘I feel really, really rough.’

‘You deserve to.’ Louisa was about to launch into an attack on his drunken behaviour but stopped herself. Last Saturday, she’d been the one hanging. She’d been the one making her way tentatively into the house in the hope Brian wasn’t mad at her. She should cut him some slack.

‘I’ll make you some coffee,’ she said instead.