The Secret Admirer: An absolutely gripping crime thriller (Detective Natalie Ward Book 6) by Carol Wyer

Author:Carol Wyer [Wyer, Carol]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838882532
Publisher: Bookouture
Published: 2020-04-01T16:00:00+00:00

The morning was dark grey, as if life had been sucked from nature. Even the sea buckthorn bushes with their silver leaves and orange berries that normally filled a corner of St Mary’s churchyard in Castergate were without colour. In the ensuing weeks after her daughter had been buried here, Natalie had visited every single day and stared silently at the white headstone bearing Leigh’s name. She’d rearranged the flowers in vases and the trinkets and heart-shaped pots endlessly, fussing over them, adding to them, and all the while she’d forced herself to come to terms with the fact her daughter was buried in this cemetery, and wasn’t at home, lying on the settee, laughing uncontrollably at some comedy film, or singing in the bathroom. Leigh had filled all their lives with her presence, and coming to terms with the fact she was no longer with them was nigh on impossible. So, Natalie had visited the graveyard, sometimes twice in the same day, and brought more flowers or soft toys, and piled them up on the mound of grass until the spot overflowed and she knew she was bordering on insanity. Over the last month, she’d cut her trips down to once a week. It was better to distance herself, but there was no way she could come to Castergate and not tend her child’s grave.

She wandered along the narrow path, passing headstones that had been there for decades and were now pitted and weathered with age. The further along she walked, the newer and fresher the stones appeared to be, some in jet-black granite with gold lettering, others grey stone, or white marble. Some bore fresh flowers while others only had wilted stems or empty jugs or artificial posies that had faded to off-white. She could never let Leigh’s or Zoe’s graves become neglected.

Her heartbeat quickened as she approached the spot where her daughter had been laid to rest, adjacent to her best friend, Zoe, who’d been murdered with her. The freshly tied roses in water-filled gift bags that she carried, one for each of the girls, would last a couple of weeks. As she drew closer still, she spotted a familiar figure: Zoe’s mother, Rowena. Before the terrible tragedy, they’d got along well, but ever since, Rowena had kept her distance. Rowena was hunched over Zoe’s grave and hadn’t seen or heard Natalie – who was about to leave and return later – when suddenly Rowena got to her feet, turned around and looked directly at her. Natalie was fixed to the spot, not sure what to expect. Rowena’s eyes blazed and her fists clenched, then she spotted the flower gift bags in Natalie’s hands and her shoulders sagged.

‘It’s you. You’re the person who’s been bringing Zoe flowers,’ she said. When Natalie nodded, she continued with, ‘I wondered who’d been leaving the flower bags. I thought it might have been a schoolfriend. I should have known.’

‘I can never make it up to you, and if I could turn back the clock, I would in a heartbeat.

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