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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

He was holding a cup of tea and a cigarette burned almost down to the filter. As Nell and Paul approached, he pulled out another, lighting it from the first, before stubbing the first one out in an old coffee cup already overflowing with fag ends.

‘I don’t suppose you’re going to do me for smoking in my own shop, not with –’ Terry gestured to the ceiling with his cigarette, ‘– that up there.’ He took a long drag and it was only as Nell took the seat next to him that she saw he was shaking.

‘It must have been quite a shock, finding him like that.’

Another drag. ‘Yeah, you could say that.’

She picked up the packet of cigarettes and tapped one into her hand. ‘May I?’

Terry paused, then leaned over and flicked open his Zippo. ‘Sure.’

Nell took a drag and waited for the nicotine to hit. ‘What made you go up and check the flat?’

‘I’m the caretaker and the woman renting rang and asked me to look at her window catch. Broken, she said.’

‘It isn’t?’

‘Didn’t get a chance to look. Got a bit distracted by the dead body in the middle of the floor.’ He attempted a laugh but only managed a fit of coughing. Nell blew smoke towards the ceiling and waited until he’d finished.

‘And the name of the woman who rents the flat?’

Terry frowned. ‘Shit. Can’t remember.’ When he looked up, he seemed lost. ‘I only spoke to her yesterday as well.’

‘Do you have the name written down anywhere?’ Nell gestured to what seemed to pass for a desk.

‘Oh, yeah. Course.’ He stood, and Nell noted the beer belly and sweat marks under his armpits. Her stomach churned.

‘You’ve met her then?’ she called after him as he went to the desk.

Terry shook his head as he dug under paper and discarded cups and plates. ‘No. Heard her on the phone and seen her on CCTV.’ He suddenly held up a piece of paper. ‘That’s it. Benote,’ he said. ‘Her name is Gloria Benote.’

Nell glanced at Paul, then asked, ‘You sure?’

‘Yeah, says so right here.’ He waved the paper to make his point.

‘Did she have anyone staying with her? A child maybe?’

He shook his head. ‘No, it wasn’t that kind of flat, if you get my meaning.’

Nell’s look told him she didn’t. Stubbing out the cigarette on the nearest plate, he shrugged. ‘It’s a bit more of a use-by-the-hour sort of a job.’

‘Gloria’s a prostitute?’