To Kill A Shadow: Castleton Thriller #1 (Julia Castleton #1) by Julia Castleton

Author:Julia Castleton [Castleton, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pendulum Books
Published: 2024-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

41

I STAYED with Emilia all weekend. Alex was happy to have his mum back and seemed completely content for us to stay in the big house on Holland Villas Road forever. I wondered if he would ever feel safe at home again. He hadn’t been there when Tull had come back and bundled me out of the flat on trumped-up indecent images charges, and I would never tell him our home had been invaded a second time. He was still so upset from the first police raid, I worried that the flat was now permanently tainted. Would we have to move for him to feel safe again? I couldn’t even think about that now. I was exhausted from recent events and just allowed myself to float in a kind of half-sleep in the comfort of Emilia’s guest room.

Philippe greeted me with his cold smile at breakfast. I tried to warm to him – after all, my son and I were frequent beneficiaries of his hospitality – but he didn’t make it easy. Even my breakfast order – weak tea rather than the thick black coffee bubbling on the stove – led to raised eyebrows.

‘The British and their obsession with tea,’ he said.

I shrugged and spread raspberry jam on a piece of toast. Alex had already eaten and was playing in the garden with little Jacques, holding his hand and helping him water plants with a pink can. I knew he yearned for a sibling and hoped he would forgive me and find company enough from his cousins and friends.

I wondered if Philippe expected some breakfast small talk and was relieved when he pulled out the business section of The Sunday Times. He sipped his tiny cup of coffee and read some long piece on Bank of England policy.

Emilia burst in, dewy and rosy-cheeked. She smelt of perfume and soap and her hair was still a little damp from the shower after an early morning pilates class.

‘Morning. You look better,’ she said. ‘Have you had breakfast? Did you try this rye bread?’

‘It’s very good, thanks.’

‘Another slice? Some apricots?’

I smiled. Only Emilia would present dried fruit as if it were a treat. ‘I’m good, thanks. I’ll take another tea though if you’re putting the kettle on.’

Philippe rolled his eyes behind his paper.

As we sipped our tea at the kitchen table, watched the children play in the garden and made easy chitchat about Jacques’ refusal to give up the bottle and Emilia’s concerns that Veronique might be dyslexic, I had a glimpse of the kind of life I could have led. One of comfort, easy company, long breakfasts, pilates classes and eye creams. The au pair loading the dishwasher, the husband making plans to pick up lunch from a deli in town. The security of a full bank account.

‘We’re going to see Daddy today,’ Emilia said. Unusually for her, this wasn’t a suggestion but an instruction. ‘You owe him, Julia. William Stone isn’t a guardian angel, you know. He was there because of Daddy.

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