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

‘No.’ She was assertive now. ‘I had no reason to hurt him.’

‘But Mary did?’ When Joanne didn’t reply, Nell glanced at Paul. ‘Joanne, I’m going to have to take you in, do you understand that? There is a lot we need to go over and I think it’s best we do that at the station.’

‘No!’ Ian’s face flushed with anger. ‘I won’t let you do this to her again. I promised to care for her, to look after her, and so far, thanks to you, I’ve failed. But not this time.’ He stood. Paul did too.

‘Please take a seat, Mr Fowler.’

‘No. This time I’m coming out fighting, so no, you may not “take her in” unless you have a damn good reason to do so.’

‘Would accessory to murder be good enough for you?’

‘My wife hasn’t murdered anyone – not Connor, and most definitely not our child.’

Nell hadn’t wanted it to, but she’d guessed it would end like this, and if they were going to continue to obstruct the investigation she really had no choice. ‘Joanne Fowler, I’m arresting you for—’

‘NO!’ Ian launched towards her. His hand connected with her cheek, but before she could react, Paul had him on the floor. ‘Ian Fowler, I am arresting you for attacking a police officer—’

Joanne let out a howl. ‘Not again, not again not again not again …’ She began to hit her hands against her temples, harder and harder, until Nell grabbed her wrists.

‘Stop.’

Joanne struggled against her, both their arms in the air. ‘I didn’t do anything.’ Her face was wet, tears and mucus merging to form a shiny film. ‘Please, I just wanted to find my family.’

Nell felt Joanne’s arms go slack, so she loosened her hold, pulling them downwards to Joanne’s waist. She spoke gently, as if to a child.

‘Let’s go to the station and I’m sure we can clear it all up. We just need to find Mary, Joanne, before she hurts anyone else. Before she hurts you.’

Joanne was shaking her head, looking at the floor, and Nell doubted she’d heard her.

Fifty-three

Eyre sipped at his coffee and continued. ‘I don’t remember the officer’s name, I’m afraid, but the boy was conscientious, if a little too empathetic for my liking. Seemed to have developed an emotional attachment to Mary, you could see that straight off at the scene. Might have been his way of dealing with the trauma of the event, but even so …’ Eyre trailed off.

‘Do you know if he’s still on the force?’ Carla figured if he was new to the job at the time of Aoife’s killing, there might be a chance he was still on active duty. And if he was, maybe he’d know what happened to Mary.