BooksBarbecue
Back The Village Save as PDF
Chapters (62)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. PROLOGUE
  7. CHAPTER ONE
  8. CHAPTER TWO
  9. CHAPTER THREE
  10. CHAPTER FOUR
  11. CHAPTER FIVE
  12. CHAPTER SIX
  13. CHAPTER SEVEN
  14. CHAPTER EIGHT
  15. CHAPTER NINE
  16. CHAPTER TEN
  17. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  18. CHAPTER TWELVE
  19. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  24. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  25. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  55. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  61. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  62. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Horror engulfed her as she heard Joel’s raised voice. She had seen the way he looked at Morgan. She dipped her chin to her chest, closing her eyes in concentration and . . . click. She exhaled a breath of relief. Her gaze flickered over the kitchen counter as she stepped across a pool of Lloyd’s blood. Her eyes rested on the knife block. She knew what she had to do.

Silently, she padded down the hallway, her limbs shaking as she ventured towards the open door of Morgan’s room. The chef’s knife glinted in the dim light of the corridor. Her mind was focused on one thing.

‘Please, don’t.’ A whimper rose from inside. It was Morgan.

Joel was standing over her, Lloyd’s gun in the crook of his arm. The vein in his temple pulsed. ‘You do as I say from now on, unless you want to end up like your mum,’ he raved, as he instructed her to lie on the bed. ‘Every breath you take is mine. You belong to me.’

No, she doesn’t, Naomi thought, her jaw set firm. Ferocious maternal instinct dictated her movements as she raised the knife in the air. A trickle of sweat ran down her back. Joel was short but muscled. She only had one chance to get this right. Her mind was filled with just one purpose – to save Morgan’s life.

They didn’t hear her as she entered the room. Holding her breath, she plunged the knife between Joel’s shoulder blades. It ripped between bone and sinew. A strangled breath left his lips. His knees giving way, he dropped to the ground.

Morgan cried, her arms outstretched as she rushed to Naomi’s side.

Blood-drenched and shell-shocked, they staggered out of the cottage.

The next moments passed in a blur. Ed arriving, ashen-faced, bundling them into the car as Naomi screamed at him to get them away. Morgan, clinging to Naomi in the back seat, their bond unbreakable now. Ed, calling the police, unable to make sense of it all. Morgan, insisting they drive to the bigger town for fear of Nighbrook’s police officers turning on them. Naomi calling her sister, Connie, at the Met. Then later, their blood-stained clothes being seized. Being separated then examined, cross-examined, fed tasteless canteen sandwiches and tea. Slowly coming to terms with what had happened that night. If only it had ended there.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

‘You’ll wear a hole in the carpet,’ Naomi said, watching her sister walk in circles in their hotel suite. Ivy Cottage was now a crime scene, and it was a relief to stay somewhere safe. Not that any of them had got any sleep recently.

Connie had raced to be by her side, subsequently grilling the officers in charge of the case.