Kiss Her Goodbye: The most addictive thriller you'll read this year
Page 33
‘You don’t look too well,’ she says, ‘but it all worked out for the best. Cheer up. It’s a nice day.’
‘You…’
‘They’re better now. It needed doing. No one else helped them.’
The sound of the water is like static and my heart races as I try to make sense of it all. I can’t. It’s so wrong. It’s hard to get a breath. Sweat breaks out on my forehead as I see their faces. Moira, Kirsten and Maxine – so young and full of life. I remember what Hayley said about Michael Lancaster and all the people who backed it up. She used me and I didn’t see it. I didn’t want to see. I was blind. Was it all lies? Did he do any of it? I just don’t know any more. I don’t know anything. The air is too thick to breathe. It’s like being underwater, struggling for breath. I gasp and try to inhale. My chest hurts.
She licks her lips.
‘Prison wouldn’t suit me. I’m just not a people person, but he’ll be OK,’ she says. ‘I’ll see you around.’
‘Stay there,’ I try to say, but I can hardly get the words out.
‘There’s nothing you can do,’ she replies with a shrug. ‘It’s over. You lose.’
Hayley walks towards the sewerage pipe and her betrayal is crushing. My hands start to shake and my muscles tense as I take small breaths. I try to remember the evidence from the trial that could be tied back to her, but the sound of the river is so loud that I can’t concentrate. It all pointed to Lancaster. I know it did. There was nothing. We have nothing. I look at her, not knowing who she is. There aren’t any excuses.
‘Wait!’
‘Go home, Beverley.’
I stand and take a step towards her. As she notices, she puts her hand behind her neck, lifts her arm back and throws something towards the opposite bank. It glints silver under the midday sun and twists in the air above the water, before it drops into the dark river. That’s it. She’s going to get away with it. It doesn’t matter what I say or do. I think about Michael Lancaster’s face as they took him away and my smug smile back. I hate myself.
The riverweeds curl and stretch through the current towards the sewerage pipe and there’s a flash of blue as a kingfisher flies across the water. As Hayley walks away, it flies over the river and onto a branch near the bulrushes. There’s nothing I can do to stop her. She’s right: I saw what I wanted to see.
I sit back down and try to get my breath. All I can hear is the river and the pounding of my heart. Sunlight glints on the water, underneath an empty branch where the kingfisher was perched, and when I look back to the sandy path, Hayley Reynolds has gone too. One constant thing remains: the river, as it thunders past, over the rocks, towards Cheadle Bridge.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks so much to my agent, Luigi Bonomi at LBA Books, for his invaluable advice and guidance. For giving this book a home, I would like to thank Aria Fiction. Big thanks to my editor, Lucy Gilmour, for all her help, great feedback and understanding of the book. Much appreciation to Sue Smith for her meticulous work on the copy edits. Thanks also to Sue Lamprell for the line edits and to all at Aria who have worked on this book.
My grateful thanks to the staff and students at Manchester University’s Centre for New Writing, where this character was born.
I am hugely thankful to fellow writers L Cliffe-Minns and Percy Herbert for reading through early drafts and for the useful discussions in the Jabez. You’re both fabulous. Big thanks to Louise for being a total legend. A nod goes to Theo and Niall for being part of the journey; hope to see you both soon. Thanks also to Sarah Ganczarski for all your advice.
Much gratitude to all the friends and family who have supported me - you’re all wonderful. Special thanks to The Sinclair’s: Jane and Jim, especially Jane, for telling me to do it and to Derek for all the encouragement. Thanks also to Chris and Jim for their support.
Biggest thanks of course, Paul, Mary and Sam, for being patient and putting up with my writing. You’re the best.
About Susan Gee
SUSAN GEE was a finalist in the Daily Mail Write a Bestseller Competition as well as a finalist in The Good Housekeeping fiction competition.
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Addictive Fiction
First published in the United Kingdom in 2018 by Aria, an imprint of Head of Zeus Ltd
Copyright © Susan Gee, 2018
The moral right of Susan Gee to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
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A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN (E) 9781788547734
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