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Chapters (44)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. CONTENTS
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. Chapter One
  6. Chapter Two
  7. Chapter Three
  8. Chapter Four
  9. Chapter Five
  10. Chapter Six
  11. Chapter Seven
  12. Chapter Eight
  13. Chapter Nine
  14. Chapter Ten
  15. Chapter Eleven
  16. Chapter Twelve
  17. Chapter Thirteen
  18. Chapter Fourteen
  19. Chapter Fifteen
  20. Chapter Sixteen
  21. Chapter Seventeen
  22. Chapter Eighteen
  23. Chapter Nineteen
  24. Chapter Twenty
  25. Chapter Twenty-One
  26. Chapter Twenty-Two
  27. Chapter Twenty-Three
  28. Chapter Twenty-Four
  29. Chapter Twenty-Five
  30. Chapter Twenty-Six
  31. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  32. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  33. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  34. Chapter Thirty
  35. Chapter Thirty-One
  36. Chapter Thirty-Two
  37. Chapter Thirty-Three
  38. Chapter Thirty-Four
  39. Chapter Thirty-Five
  40. Chapter Thirty-Six
  41. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  42. Epilogue
  43. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  44. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

‘Oh.’ Bile rose up in my mouth. ‘I – God, that’s awful.’

The police seemed so tired, like they’d already given up. They asked me where I’d be over the summer – in bloody Hull, where else – and I got up to go. As I walked downstairs, into the sunlight, I could see Mike hovering anxiously. Waiting for me. I took my time coming down the stairs, slowly, like a queen. I had the feeling that the next few moments were going to be very important. That maybe they’d even determine the rest of my life.

‘Well?’

‘It’ll be fine. I don’t think they know what happened.’

‘They knew I was with her. That I . . . that we were together.’ I knew there was more he wasn’t telling me, but what did it matter now?

‘It’s fine. I told them I saw you afterwards, not with her.’

He breathed out hard. ‘Shit, thank you, Al. I just can’t have this on my record if I’m going into law. You’ve no idea what you . . . thank you.’

I looked out to the lawn, my friends blurs against the sunlight. This was my last day here, my last time walking down these steps or crossing the grass. It was all ending. ‘Can I share the house with you and Cal?’ I said suddenly. ‘I need a place. I can’t stay at home. My dad . . .’

He paused. ‘There’s only two bedrooms, Al.’

‘I know.’

That was it, the moment everything was decided between us. Almost twenty years of marriage, two kids, a ridiculous house. My whole life. His whole life. Turning on a small lie. Barely even a lie. Mike said nothing. I was asking so much that I should have felt sick and shaky, but I didn’t at all. I felt strong. ‘I’ll talk to Cal,’ he said. ‘I guess it would be good to split the rent.’

Chapter Thirty-Four

Chapter Thirty-Four

Jodi was crying when I went into her hospital room. Lying on the bed, red-faced, her legs splayed out like a rag doll’s. Crying in a low moan, like a baby left howling for so long it gives up. ‘You’re here,’ she wept. ‘I was all by myself.’ There was blood on her clothes.

‘It’s OK,’ I said, though it was about as far from that as it could be. ‘Where’s Callum?’ He couldn’t still be at work, could he, when his wife was in labour?

Jodi was groaning, her face grey and bloated. ‘We had – row. Can’t – reach him. Jesus.’