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Back When I Lost You Save as PDF
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

The girl tosses her hair away from her face, revealing the palest skin I’ve ever seen, covered in a mass of freckles, and blue eyes that shine even as far up as me. I will her to win. I will her to fight harder, to win for us both, and when she spits at the woman crouched down next to her I push my hand over my mouth to stop from laughing. That’ll teach her. That’ll show them we’re not animals to be caged.

Finally, they get the girl to stand, arms held tightly behind her back.

‘Come on, Aoife. We’ll go and see what’s for dinner, shall we? Then get you settled in.’ The woman is forcing a smile but the girl refuses to answer. They start to guide her towards a door at the far left of the hall but when they reach it Aoife turns and looks up at me.

I hold my breath. Scared, thrilled, in equal measure. Then she winks at me and I laugh.

We are going to be friends. We are going to be the very best of friends. And now I can stop feeling lonely.

Seven

As they climbed the steps, Bremer said, ‘Hello, Joanne. I wonder if we could have a few minutes of your time?’

Joanne had an air of defeat, but her husband was full of barely contained anger.

‘What can we do for you?’ he asked, pulling Joanne closer to him.

‘It might be easier if we came inside, Mr Fowler?’

Ian Fowler tensed, then looked down uneasily at Joanne. ‘It’s hard for us.’

He spoke to Carla, so she nodded, unsure of what could be said, or should be said, in situations like this.

‘You have to understand we’ve come through so much, all as a result of lies told by the police, so we’re both wary of any further involvement with you. Because we don’t trust you,’ he said simply.

Carla wanted to get back in the car and leave the pair alone, but Bremer continued, apparently unconcerned. ‘We only have one question, Mr Fowler, then we’ll be on our way.’

Ian gave a laugh. ‘They said that the last time and it took us almost three years to get my wife home again.’

‘I can assure you that won’t happen this time.’

‘Can you?’

‘Yes,’ he said. But Carla knew full well he couldn’t.

The front room stretched the length of the house. Floor-to-ceiling windows at the far end let in bright sunshine; shadows from the trees danced on the light wooden floor. Despite its size it felt cosy, wood logs sitting neatly stacked up by the side of a wood burner that was glowing deep orange. Its heat seemed to go unnoticed by Joanne, who curled up on the sofa covering herself with a blanket. There was no offer of tea, no small talk. Ian got straight to the point.