by B. A. Paris
Everyone is talking about Bring Me Back:
‘Made me stay up way beyond my bedtime! B A Paris has a knack for getting into your head.’
Jane Corry, Sunday Times bestselling author of My Husband’s Wife
‘Just finished this BRILLIANT book…Clever, addictive and twisty, I couldn’t sleep until I found out the truth…The twist floored me! Utterly compelling from beginning to end.’
Claire Douglas, Sunday Times bestselling author of Local Girl Missing
‘Addictive and twisted, it will keep you guessing until the very end.’
Alice Feeney, author of Sometimes I Lie
‘Bring Me Back is AWESOME.’
Lisa Hall, author of Between You and Me
‘This dark, deliciously twisty thriller will keep you guessing till the end.’
Mel McGrath, author of Give Me the Child
‘A tale of dark secrets, with mystery and intrigue building up and up to an ending with a fabulous twist. I devoured it – I couldn’t turn the pages quick enough.’
Mel Sherratt, author of Watching Over You
‘Bring Me Back will not leave your hands until you have turned the last page!’
Wendy Walker, author of All is Not Forgotten
‘This book is compulsive reading from start to finish. A perfectly crafted work of art, seamless and mesmerising. I envy those yet to read it for the pleasure they have in store.’
Amanda Robson, author of Obsession
‘A cracking page turner with a killer twist.’
Camilla Way, author of Watching Edie
‘An incredibly pacy, heart-pounding thriller – the twist at the end left me reeling. B A Paris does it again in this exhilarating exploration of love, jealousy and betrayal. A must read for 2018!’
Phoebe Morgan, author of The Doll’s House
Also by B A Paris:
Behind Closed Doors
The Breakdown
Copyright
An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018
Copyright © B A Paris 2018
B A Paris asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Ebook Edition © February 2018 ISBN: 9780008244880
For Christine, the best sister in the world
Contents
Cover
Praise
Also by B A Paris
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
TWELVE YEARS BEFORE
PART ONE
ONE
TWO
THREE
FOUR
FIVE
SIX
SEVEN
EIGHT
NINE
TEN
ELEVEN
TWELVE
THIRTEEN
FOURTEEN
FIFTEEN
SIXTEEN
SEVENTEEN
EIGHTEEN
NINETEEN
TWENTY
TWENTY-ONE
TWENTY-TWO
PART TWO
TWENTY-THREE
TWENTY-FOUR
TWENTY-FIVE
TWENTY-SIX
TWENTY-SEVEN
TWENTY-EIGHT
TWENTY-NINE
THIRTY
THIRTY-ONE
THIRTY-TWO
THIRTY-THREE
THIRTY-FOUR
THIRTY-FIVE
THIRTY-SIX
THIRTY-SEVEN
THIRTY-EIGHT
THIRTY-NINE
FORTY
FORTY-ONE
FORTY-TWO
FORTY-THREE
FORTY-FOUR
FORTY-FIVE
FORTY-SIX
FORTY-SEVEN
FORTY-EIGHT
FORTY-NINE
FIFTY
FIFTY-ONE
PART THREE
FIFTY-TWO
FIFTY-THREE
FIFTY-FOUR
FIFTY-FIVE
FIFTY-SIX
FIFTY-SEVEN
EPILOGUE
Acknowledgements
Extract
About the Publisher
TWELVE YEARS BEFORE
Interview: Finn McQuaid
Date: 15/03/2006
Time: 03.45
Location: Fonches
We were on our way back from skiing in Megève. I decided to stop in Paris on the way up as a surprise for Layla, because she had never been there before. We had dinner in a restaurant by the Notre-Dame cathedral and then went for a walk along the Seine. We could have stayed the night there – now, I wish we had – but we were both eager to get home to our cottage in St Mary’s, in Devon.
It must have been around midnight by the time we left Paris. About an hour and a half into our journey I wanted to go to the toilet so I pulled off the motorway, into the picnic area at Fonches. It’s not a service station, you can’t get petrol there or anything but I knew it had toilets because I’d stopped there before, on previous skiing trips to Megève. The place was deserted apart from the car I told you about, the one parked directly outside the toilet block. I think there were a couple of lorries in the lorry bay on the other side; there must have been at least two, the one I saw leaving and the other one, the one whose driver we spoke to after.
There was an empty bottle of water rolling around the car and we’d been eating snacks on the way up from Megève so I drove past the toilet block and down to the end of the car park where there was a rubbish bin, so that I could get rid of the wrappers. I – I should have just parked outside the toilet and walked down. If I had, then I would have been nearer. I should have been nearer.
Layla was asleep – she’d fallen asleep as soon as we’d hit the motorway, and I didn’t want to wake her so I sat for a while, just to relax a bit. She woke up when I started gathering up the stuff to throw away. She didn’t want to use the toilet there, she said she’d rather wait until we stopped at a proper service station, so as I got out of the car I told her to lock the doors behind me, because I didn’t like leaving her there in the dark. She really hates the dark, you see.
On my way into the toilets, I passed a man coming out and a minute or so later, I heard a car drive off. He was shorter than me, maybe six foot? I think he had dark hair, he definitely had a beard. I was quick in the toilet, I didn’t like being in there, I felt unnerved, as if someone was watching. Maybe it was because one of the stall doors was closed.
As I made my way back to the car, I heard a lorry pull out of the parking bay and I watched it as it headed along the slip road to the motorway. He was driving fast, as if he was in a hurry, but I honestly didn’t think anything of it at the time. In the distance I could see the silhouette of our car, it was the only one left because the other one, the one that had been parked in front of the toilet block, had gone. It was only when I got closer that I
realised Layla wasn’t in the car and I thought she must have changed her mind about going to the toilet. I remember looking behind me, expecting to see her hurrying after me – I knew she’d be as creeped out by the whole place as I was – but she wasn’t there, so I got into the car to wait. But the darkness began to get to me so I started up the engine and moved it in front of the toilet block, where there was at least a modicum of light, so that Layla wouldn’t have to walk all the way back in the dark.
It must have only been a couple of minutes before I began to worry. It didn’t feel right that she hadn’t appeared yet so I got out of the car and went into the ladies’ side of the block to look for her. There were three stalls, two were empty but the other one had the door closed so I presumed she was in there. I called to her and when there was no answer I put my hand on the door and pushed against it. It swung open easily and when I saw that Layla wasn’t there I hurried back outside and began calling for her, thinking that maybe, after I left the car, she’d decided to go for a short walk to stretch her legs or get some fresh air. But even as I was thinking it, I knew she would never have wandered off, not at night, not when it was pitch-black because, as I said, she hated the dark.
I ran round to the back of the block, in case she was there, and when I couldn’t find her I got a torch from the boot and widened my search, taking in the whole picnic area, shouting her name. There was still one lorry in the bay so I went over and called out, hoping to find someone to help me look for her. But there was no one in the driver’s cabin and when I hammered on the door no one answered, so I assumed the driver was asleep in the back. I tried hammering on that door too but nobody came and when I took out my phone and realised that I didn’t have a signal, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to leave in case Layla had fallen and was lying injured somewhere, but I knew I wasn’t going to be able to find her with only the light from my torch. So I got back into the car and drove as fast as I could to the next petrol station and ran in shouting for someone to help me. It wasn’t easy to get them to understand me because my French isn’t very good but they finally agreed to phone the local police. And then you came and you spoke good English and you took me back to the picnic area to help me look for Layla, because I really needed to find her.
That was the statement I gave to the police, sitting in the police station somewhere off the A1 in France. It was the truth. But not quite the whole truth.
PART ONE
ONE
Now
My phone rings as I’m walking through the glass-walled foyer of Harry’s impressive offices on London Wall. I turn and check the time on the digital display above the receptionist’s desk; it’s only four thirty, but I’m impatient to get home. It’s taken months of perseverance to get Grant James, the famous business magnate, to invest fifty million pounds in Harry’s new fund and I’m ready for a celebration. As a thank you, Harry has booked dinner for me and Ellen tonight at The Hideout, the best restaurant in Cheltenham, and I know she’s going to love it.
I glance impatiently at my phone, hoping it’s a call I don’t have to take. The caller name comes up as Tony Heddon, a police detective based in Exeter. We first met twelve years ago when I was arrested on suspicion of Layla’s murder, and we’ve become good friends since. There’s a curved steel bench to the left of the reception area so I walk over and put my briefcase down on its metallic seat.
‘Tony,’ I say, taking the call. ‘Good to hear from you.’
‘I’m not disturbing you, am I?’
‘Not at all,’ I say, noting that he sounds serious, the way he always does when he calls to tell me that an unidentified woman’s body has been found by the French authorities. Guessing how awkward he must feel, I decide to plough straight in. ‘Has another body been found?’
‘No, nothing like that,’ he says reassuringly in his soft Devonshire accent. ‘Thomas Winter – you know, your ex-neighbour from St Mary’s – came into the station yesterday.’
‘Thomas?’ I say, surprised. ‘I didn’t think he’d still be alive after all these years. How’s he doing?’
‘Physically he’s pretty good, but he’s quite elderly now. Which is why we don’t want to give too much importance to what he said,’ he adds, pausing. I wait for him to carry on and while I wait, my mind analyses what Thomas could have told them. But then I remember that before Layla and I left for our holiday in France, before she disappeared, Thomas only knew us as the happiest of couples.
‘Why, what has he said?’ I ask.
‘That yesterday, he saw Layla.’
My heart misses a beat. I lean my free hand on the cold metal back of the bench, trying to process what he’s just told me. I know he’s waiting for me to say something, but I can’t, so I leave him to fill the silence.
‘He said he saw her standing outside the cottage and that when he went to speak to her, she ran off,’ he goes on.
‘Because it wasn’t her,’ I say, my voice neutral.
‘That’s what I suggested. I reminded him that twelve years have passed since he last saw her but he said he’d know her after fifty. She was wearing a hood thing over her head but he was adamant it was Layla. Something about the way she was standing, apparently.’
‘But he didn’t speak to her.’
‘No. He said, and I quote, “I called her name and she turned her head, but when she saw me, she ran off.” He said she went towards the station but the ticket office was closed at that time and we can’t find anyone who saw a woman waiting for a train. There’s no CCTV so we’re none the wiser.’
I search for the right response. ‘You don’t really think it was Layla, do you? Not after all these years.’
Tony sighs heavily. ‘I’m inclined to put it down to Mr Winter’s overactive imagination. I thought you should know, that’s all.’
‘Well, thanks, Tony.’ I want to hang up but it seems too soon. ‘When are you retiring? September, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, just another couple of months to go. Not too sure what I’ll do with myself, though.’
I grab onto this. ‘You can start by coming down to see us. I know Ellen would love to see you.’
‘I will, definitely.’
Maybe he understands that I’m not up to speaking because he tells me that he has another call to make. I stand for a moment, trying to get things in perspective, wondering why Thomas thought he saw Layla. I make a quick calculation; we had celebrated his eightieth birthday just before leaving for that fateful holiday in France in 2006, which means Thomas is ninety-two now, an age at which people get easily confused, an age where it’s easy to dismiss what they say, or what they think they saw. It can only be the ramblings of an old man. Confident, I take my keys from my pocket and carry on to the car park.
The journey home is unbelievably slow, which isn’t unusual for a Friday afternoon. As I drive past the ‘Welcome to Simonsbridge. Please drive slowly’ sign at the entrance to the village, my earlier excitement over the new deal starts to come back. It was good of Harry to book The Hideout; he said I should go for the venison steak, and I probably will.
A minute later I’m pulling up in front of the house, nothing much to look at from the outside maybe, but once inside it’s my haven, and the garden, my sanctuary. In a normal world Ellen would be standing on the doorstep, as impatient to see me as I am to see her. More often than not, roused from whatever illustration she’s working on by the sound of the tyres scrunching on the gravel, she opens the door before I’m out of the car. But not now. And today, it seems ominous.
I tell myself not to be stupid, that she doesn’t always open the door, that if I’d phoned ahead to tell her the good news, of course she’d be waiting. But I’d wanted to tell her face to face, I want to see her telling me how clever I am rather than just hearing it. I know how it sounds but it isn’t that I have a huge ego, more that pulling off this deal is a career highlight. A result like Grant James is such an adrenalin rush. It even beats the high I get from outsmarting the mar
kets.
The sound of my key in the lock doesn’t bring her to the door. It doesn’t bring Peggy, our red setter, either, which is even more unusual. Instead of calling out, I go in search of Ellen, a flicker of worry making itself felt. As I push open the door to the sitting room, I see her curled up in one of the armchairs, wearing my blue denim shirt, which she continually pinches from my wardrobe. I don’t mind, I love to see her in it. She has her knees pulled up to her chest and the shirt pulled down over them, like a tent.
My silent sigh of relief at finding her there is checked by the way she’s staring unseeingly out of the window, her eyes on a distant past. It’s a look I haven’t seen for a while but a look I know only too well. It explains why Peggy – always sensitive to Ellen’s mood – is lying silently at her feet.
‘Ellen?’ I say softly.
She turns her head towards me and as her eyes come into focus, she scrambles to her feet.
‘Sorry,’ she says ruefully, hurrying over to me, Peggy following more sedately behind her, her age showing. ‘I was miles away.’
‘I can see that.’
She reaches up and kisses me. ‘How was your day?’
‘Good,’ I say, putting my news about the contract on hold for a moment. ‘What about yours?’
‘Good too.’ But her smile is just a little too bright.
‘So what were you thinking about when I came in?’
She shakes her head. ‘Nothing.’
I put my finger under her chin and tilt her head upwards so that she can’t avoid my eyes. ‘You know that doesn’t work with me.’
‘It really is nothing,’ she insists.
‘Tell me.’
She gives a small shrug. ‘It’s just that when I came back from taking Peggy for a walk this afternoon, I found this’ – she puts her hand into the front pocket of the shirt and takes something out – ‘lying on the pavement outside the house.’
I look down at the painted wooden doll sitting in her palm and a jolt of shock runs through me, quickly followed by a flash of anger, because for one mad moment I think she’s been rummaging around in my office. But then I remember that Ellen would never do such a thing, and concentrate on chasing the red mist away. Anyway, hadn’t she said that she found it on the pavement outside the house?
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