The Lost Hours by Susan Lewis

Author:Susan Lewis [Lewis, Susan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2021-02-12T17:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

‘It threw me badly when they started talking about PTSD and David’s behaviour after he left the army,’ Annie was saying to her mother over lunch at the Seafront Café. ‘It was like the detective already knew he’d suffered from it, or some other condition that sounded just as bad if not worse … Dissociative disorder?’

‘Mm, I’ve heard of it,’ Harriet responded grimly. ‘But how are you supposed to know when nothing was ever diagnosed?’

‘I don’t think I was supposed to know, only to provide the possibility it might have been the case. And if he did have blackouts … Well, I know he did, of sorts, but only when he’d been drinking and like I told her, that happens to everyone.’

Harriet didn’t disagree, although she was looking dubious.

‘What?’ Annie prompted without actually wanting to know.

‘Think of it this way,’ Harriet said, ‘if he was as drunk as we heard he was that night then how on earth would he have even been capable of having sex with the girl?’

Annie flinched, but her mother didn’t seem to notice.

‘I guess the same goes for Dickie and Henry,’ Harriet said flatly, ‘because they were apparently legless too.’

Feeling her appetite fading, Annie put down her fork and turned to stare out through the steamy window where sluggish traffic was coming and going along the promenade and a heaving metallic sea was blending with a far horizon. It was painfully clear to her that the police believed it was David who’d had sex with Karen Lomax and then killed her, maybe to keep her quiet, or perhaps accidentally, while not in full control of his senses. It could be that Henry and Dickie, once they found out what had happened, had taken charge of the situation and disposed of the body …

‘What are you thinking?’ Harriet asked gently.

Annie turned back, having no intention of sharing her nightmarish suspicions, not even with her mother. ‘I was thinking,’ she said, trying to turn things around, ‘that when I picture the three of them in my mind’s eye it just doesn’t seem possible that any of them could have done it.’

Harriet nodded forlornly. ‘Maybe that’s because you’re seeing them as they are now,’ she suggested. ‘They were much younger men back then, at the top of their games, and they’ve always been very attractive …’ Realizing she wasn’t helping one bit, she broke off and regarded Annie regretfully.

Needing to get away from the moment Annie took out her mobile. ‘A text I had from Sienna this morning,’ she said, handing the phone over.

Hey Mum, just to say thinking of you. Sorry if I’ve been a pain lately making out like I can’t cope. I get that it’s a lot worse for you than it is for me. I’m ignoring the trolls and some of my friends are being great, especially Grant. None of them think it’s Dad, which is lovely of them. I don’t get into anything about Grandpa or Uncle Henry because I don’t think they know.

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