Only Daughter by Denzil Sarah A

Author:Denzil, Sarah A. [Denzil, Sarah A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: thriller, Mystery, Suspense, Crime
ISBN: 9781786817105
Goodreads: 43902853
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2019-03-13T07:00:00+00:00

* * *

By the time he comes home, it’s dark, Michelle is gone and I’m alone in the family room, feet curled under my body, the grey dress loose around my disappearing frame. Even though I want to self-medicate, I am forcing myself to avoid any kind of alcohol in order to keep my faculties sharp and fresh. This is not going to be easy.

Charles stumbles into the house, tripping over the umbrella stand – I hear it crashing onto the tiles – then bumping against the hallway wall. He falls over his feet as he comes into the room and sees me snuggled up on the sofa.

‘I thought you’d be gone.’

‘No,’ I say carefully. ‘I’m still here. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about earlier.’

Charles collapses into a chair and begins removing his shoes. ‘It’s worth nothing, Kat. Nothing at all.’

‘Someone murdered our daughter. Aren’t you angry about that?’

He throws his brogue to the floor and it thuds against the thick carpet. ‘Our daughter was ill and she killed herself. She was depressed. Here.’ He pulls a small square of card from his trouser pocket and throws it down at my feet. ‘Call her therapist if you don’t believe me. She was lost, and we failed her.’ He crumples in, face reddening, nose streaming. But there’s a hardness to him now. He pulls himself together with a lot more ease than before. ‘I want you gone. I won’t live with a woman who thinks I could rape and murder my own daughter.’

‘No,’ I say softly. ‘We’re going to work through this.’

He regards me with complete incredulity. ‘Are you insane?’

‘Maybe.’ I smile at him through the darkness. ‘I don’t care what you say, Charles. Someone killed our only child and I’m going to find out who. Here.’ I toss him my phone. ‘Look at the texts I’ve been getting.’

Charles has to hold the phone at arm’s length to read it. ‘What are these? Are they threats?’

‘Yes.’

‘What was the link in this one? I click on it and it doesn’t go anywhere.’

I switch on the laptop and open the video of Grace bullying the dark-haired girl. Charles watches with his hand over his mouth. ‘Play it again.’ I do and he shakes his head. ‘If someone told me about this, I wouldn’t believe them.’

‘Me neither.’

He sighs, passes me the phone, then leans back against the chair, his greasy, thinning hair creating a halo. ‘This is all so fucked up.’

‘And we haven’t even got to your cancer yet.’

He begins to laugh, and a low chuckle reverberates around the room.

‘You know, whatever happens, I’ll always be grateful for what you did for me,’ I say. ‘Without you, I’d be working behind a bar, or on drugs and living with my mother.’

He shakes his head. ‘No, you wouldn’t.’

‘I was convinced that the one thing I did right in this world was Grace, but now I’m not so sure.’ I shake my head. ‘Do you think Grace had, I don’t know, a personality disorder or something?’

He turns to me sharply.

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