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Back When I Was Ten Save as PDF
Chapters (79)
  1. Cover
  2. WHEN I WAS TEN
  3. Dedication page
  4. Epigraph page
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. PART ONE
  7. 1
  8. 2
  9. 3
  10. 4
  11. 5
  12. 6
  13. 7
  14. 8
  15. 9
  16. 10
  17. 11
  18. 12
  19. 13
  20. 14
  21. 15
  22. 16
  23. 17
  24. 18
  25. 19
  26. 20
  27. 21
  28. 22
  29. 23
  30. PART TWO
  31. 24
  32. 25
  33. 26
  34. 27
  35. 28
  36. 29
  37. 30
  38. 31
  39. 32
  40. 33
  41. 34
  42. 35
  43. 36
  44. 37
  45. 38
  46. 39
  47. 40
  48. 41
  49. 42
  50. 43
  51. 44
  52. PART THREE
  53. 45
  54. 46
  55. 47
  56. 48
  57. 49
  58. 50
  59. 51
  60. 52
  61. 53
  62. 54
  63. 55
  64. 56
  65. 57
  66. 58
  67. 59
  68. 60
  69. 61
  70. 62
  71. 63
  72. 64
  73. 65
  74. 66
  75. 67
  76. 68
  77. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
  78. WHEN I WAS TEN
  79. Also by Fiona Cummins

A heat burned behind Catherine’s eyes. She pressed the tip of her finger to the screen, touched Brinley’s face. Sadness engulfed her, for everything that was lost, for everything still to be lost: the home she loved so much; her sense of security and her family unit.

Honor’s innocence.

The new life she had so carefully constructed had been blown apart and would need to be remade, brick by painstaking brick. Who was she anyway? Catherine Allen? Sara Carter? A sister? Wife? Mother? A killer? She didn’t know anymore.

She was a lost cause, drifting further from land, caught in the riptide of an inhospitable sea. When she was a child, she had made a willing sacrifice, but she was still paying for it, her lies weakening the foundations of everything she held dear.

Catherine placed her head on the desk and wept for her ten-year-old self and the woman she had become, a ghost of a presence in her own dead life.

Please, don’t apologize – I’m so happy that you’re back. What an awful shock it must have been. I saw the newspapers today and everything fell into place. All those lonely years waiting and you were right here, if only I’d known where to look.

The time has come for me to tell you my story, Hero. I think it might surprise you.

Once upon a time there were two sisters who loved each other very much. They did everything together because it was safer than being alone with parents who did not want them. They had plans to escape as soon as they were old enough, but it all went wrong and one day, the younger of those sisters killed their mother and father. She went to prison and now she has a daughter of her own.

Have you worked it out yet? It seems my instincts were correct – we are bound, you and me, by the thickness of blood. Family, Hero. At last.

52

It was fitting that the Right Honourable Geoffrey Heathcote – a hypocrite and morally bankrupt cheat – having enjoyed the best night of his fifty-six years on this earth, was about to endure his worst day.

His mouth was bruised and tender, his back a criss-cross of painful welts. He had no idea how he was going to explain away the scratches to Barbara, but when Anna had raked her nails down his skin, he had lacked the impulse to stop her. In fact, he had begged her to continue.

They had hardly slept, and now his tongue was thick with stale whisky and the taste of his mistress, but he was smiling to himself as he splashed his face in the toilets, shaved with his electric razor and brushed his teeth, his monogrammed wash bag balanced on the enamel sink.

With a generous spray of aftershave, clean underwear and a freshly laundered white shirt, he looked and felt almost as good as new.