BooksBarbecue
Back When I Lost You
Chapters (81)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. Prologue
  5. One
  6. Two
  7. Three
  8. Four
  9. Five
  10. Six
  11. Seven
  12. Eight
  13. Nine
  14. Ten
  15. Eleven
  16. Twelve
  17. Thirteen
  18. Fourteen
  19. Fifteen
  20. Sixteen
  21. Seventeen
  22. Eighteen
  23. Nineteen
  24. Twenty
  25. Twenty-one
  26. Twenty-two
  27. Twenty-three
  28. Twenty-four
  29. Twenty-five
  30. Twenty-six
  31. Twenty-seven
  32. Twenty-eight
  33. Twenty-nine
  34. Thirty
  35. Thirty-one
  36. Thirty-two
  37. Thirty-three
  38. Thirty-four
  39. Thirty-five
  40. Thirty-six
  41. Thirty-seven
  42. Thirty-eight
  43. Thirty-nine
  44. Forty
  45. Forty-one
  46. Forty-two
  47. Forty-three
  48. Forty-four
  49. Forty-five
  50. Forty-six
  51. Forty-seven
  52. Forty-eight
  53. Forty-nine
  54. Fifty
  55. Fifty-one
  56. Fifty-two
  57. Fifty-three
  58. Fifty-four
  59. Fifty-five
  60. Fifty-six
  61. Fifty-seven
  62. Fifty-eight
  63. Fifty-nine
  64. Sixty
  65. Sixty-one
  66. Sixty-two
  67. Sixty-three
  68. Sixty-four
  69. Sixty-five
  70. Sixty-six
  71. Sixty-seven
  72. Epilogue
  73. Acknowledgments
  74. Read More
  75. Prologue
  76. One
  77. Two
  78. Three
  79. Four
  80. Follow Merilyn online
  81. Dedication

‘Good Lord, no, the pair wouldn’t have harmed each other for all the money in the world. No, Mary stayed around in Portsmouth to do her exams then left.’

‘She left? Did you look for her? Put out a missing persons?’

Harriet’s face was deliberately calm. ‘She was sixteen when she left – the day of her birthday was the last day we saw her. In those days, sixteen was the legal age to leave the care home, so she did.’ She paused. ‘We know we failed her, I don’t need you both here to tell me that. We failed both of them. But all I can say is, we tried. Sometimes that’s all you can do.’

‘And you never heard any more from Mary after she left?’ Carla asked.

‘No. Sadly not. I thought a lot about her over the years, wondering what she’d grown up to be, trying not to wonder too hard in case I was right.’

‘But you said she had good grades?’

‘Grades mean nothing when you’re as lost as she was. She’d lost the one person she loved and who loved her, so if I were to hazard a guess I’d say that was pretty much the end of any chance she had of a normal life. I can’t even bear to picture where she ended up.’

‘We’d like to find out about a girl who may have known Aoife and Mary,’ Nell asked. ‘She’d have been the same age as them – called Eve?’

Harriet narrowed her eyes, thinking, before shaking her head. ‘No, I’m sorry, that name doesn’t ring a bell. And really, no one hung out with Mary and Aoife.’

‘Are you sure you can’t remember a child called Eve? Surname Wilkes?’ Nell gave Eve’s maiden name, hoping to jog Harriet’s memory, but she shook her head again.

‘I’m sorry, but I can’t. Although,’ Harriet gave a short laugh, ‘are you sure you’re not looking for Aoife?’

Nell glanced at Carla, but she just shrugged.

Clearly amused by their confusion, Harriet said, ‘Aoife is the Irish for Eve.’

Nell stared at the woman. Aoife. Eve. They couldn’t be the same person – one was dead and the other wasn’t. But if there was no record of Eve at the care home, then who the hell was she and where had she come from?

Forty-four

Then

I feel my heart beating against the baby. I look to the wall where Aoife and I had sat just hours before and wonder, should I run? But he told me to go. He was giving me a way out without me needing to find one.

‘Stop!’

I freeze. Alf’s voice is right behind me. I clutch Aoife’s baby closer to me.

‘There’s a bloody cop.’