‘I might be late tonight. I’ll try to be back before Mina goes to bed, but we have a lot to get done today. I love you.’ He leans over to kiss me again, and what he says next makes my blood run cold. ‘I was worried about you, you know.

When Leo was crying last night, you were just lying there, with your eyes open, not moving. I didn’t know what to

think when I woke up and you weren’t there.’

‘Sorry,’ I say quietly, but he is already rushing down the path, towards the car, his mind already moving past us to the day he has ahead of him. What does he mean, I was

lying there with my eyes open? Wasn’t I asleep? And if I was awake, how could I have had a nightmare? An icy

finger runs up my spine as I turn his words over in my

mind, dread settling on my shoulders. Because if it wasn’t a nightmare, then what was it? The words on my lips last night swim before me, as if written in neon. What did I do?

The Woman in the Woods is available now!

Acknowledgements

As always it took an entire army to get this book from first draft to the finished article. Thank you to Lisa Moylett, Zoe Apostolides and Elena Langtry at CMM for all your support and guidance. I am so lucky to have such strong, amazing women behind me.

Thank you to my editor, Kate Mills, who always knows the right thing to say, and always encourages me to go that little bit darker. Thanks also to Vikki Moynes and Becky Heeley for all your hard work, and to the incredible Lisa Milton.

Caroline Brownsell, I am so eternally grateful that you let me kill you on paper … sorry it was a bit more horrific than I originally planned. Cocktails on me to make up for it. And thank you to Rob, for loaning me his tradition of collecting coal on the beaches of Norfolk.

Thank you to all the bloggers, reviewers and readers – I can’t even tell you how grateful I am for all the support I have received from the reading community. I am still pinching myself that people pay to read and enjoy my work. You are all wonderful.

Finally, thanks to Nick, George, Missy and Mo for everything. Sorry I am sometimes a bit rubbish at cooking dinner/cleaning the house/remembering appointments. I promise you it’ll be worth it in the end…

About the Publisher

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