My Darling Boy by Cooper Helen

Author:Cooper, Helen [Cooper, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Psychological Thriller, Suspense
ISBN: 9781399701105
Publisher: Hachette UK
Published: 2024-12-02T13:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Saturday 9th December 2023

Alice

Alice hasn’t been this close to Chrissy’s house since just after Chrissy moved in. The memory is foggy, as if she sleepwalked here with her thinly veiled blackmail folded in her hand. She was so angry, she remembers, so enraged that Chrissy still wasn’t moving out of the village, even after she’d finally put her pub up for sale. Alice wouldn’t be the one to leave. It should’ve been Chrissy.

The cottage’s thatched roof looms ahead of her, in need of repair and dusted with frost. It’s still odd to think of this place as Chrissy’s home. Even after everything, Alice associates her with the flat above the Raven. So much happened there. Life, love, friendship … death.

The pub sign flashes in her mind’s eye and she relives the shock of seeing it back up.

‘Okay, Alice?’ Peter asks as she stops on the lane, several metres from the cottage.

A police car and a large police van are parked just ahead. Beyond Chrissy’s front hedge, two scenes of crime officers work in silence, one dusting her wheelie bin for prints and the other shining a torch at the ground. Alice’s heart starts to pump. There shouldn’t be any traces of her, from all that time ago, but still it makes her nervous.

The windows of the cottage are lit, several figures moving around inside. She recognises the curly mass of Chrissy’s hair.

‘I … I don’t know if I can go in.’ She takes a step back, drawing her jacket close around her body.

‘It’s okay if you can’t.’ Peter sounds almost relieved.

‘Are you going to?’

He purses his lips, his eyes darting. ‘I need to.’

‘Why?’ As her resolve weakens, their reasons for coming here grow murky.

‘I just need to talk to the officers.’

She looks at him sidelong. ‘Pete,’ she says. ‘I’m going to ask you one last time.’ She slows her voice right down, keeping it low enough not to be overheard. ‘Is there something you want to tell me?’

Suddenly, he grips her hand. His is freezing, like a slab of ice.

‘Pete,’ she echoes. ‘Seriously. What is it?’

A beat of silence, then he drops her hand. ‘Nothing for you to worry about,’ he says, in a tone that sets off every alarm bell in her body. ‘There’s just something I need to do.’

Before she can say anything more, he strides towards Chrissy’s front garden. The SOCOs look up and watch him all the way to the door – in recognition or suspicion, it isn’t clear. One of them calls out to him but Alice can’t hear what’s been said. She is rooted to her spot, shivering with cold, unable to follow him but unable to walk away.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.