The Woman at 46 Heath Street: A twisty and absolutely gripping psychological thriller
Page 23
Right on time the doorbell rings and I go downstairs to let Fiona in. Nancy’s friend from church is a sprightly woman in her fifties. She’s agreed to lead a blessing, which Melissa has written. Mr Mortimer is also heading this way, in his ‘Sunday best’, as he calls it. It’s the first time I’ve seen him without his flat cap.
We stand in a row; Melissa is in the middle. I take her hand in mine and squeeze it. Her arm is rodlike and I shake it gently but she doesn’t relax. She needs time, too. A breeze blows and Mr Mortimer’s sparse hair trembles. Fiona reads from the script she has prepared:
‘Baby Alice was born on this day twenty-one years ago. Her life was all too brief, but she has never been forgotten. Today we lay her to rest, and we will continue to watch over her.’
As Fiona says a prayer Melissa’s arm relaxes and she drops my hand. Once Fiona has finished, Melissa lays the white roses she holds in her other hand on the small rockery she has built at the edge of the neat lawn; it can be seen from any window at the back of the house. Water trickles from a fountain next to Nancy’s tree. A ray of sun picks out the engraved stone that Melissa has placed at the front.
In memory of baby Alice, who was born and died at 46 Heath Street.
Forty-Six
NANCY’S LETTER
My dearest Doris,
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As you are reading this, I will have passed on. Thank you, my oldest friend, for all the kindness you have shown me, enabling me to entrust you with this letter. Firstly, I must apologise for abandoning you. It was not by choice: my husband was a wicked man who wanted me all to himself. He saw my friendship with you as a threat and he put a stop to it. I was afraid of him, too afraid to go against his wishes. I hope you can forgive me.
I want to be able to unburden myself, and for the truth to be known, for the sake of my granddaughter. Yes, this will no doubt surprise you, this child unknown to you, for she had but a fleeting life.
Melissa became pregnant, and once Edward found out he kept her a prisoner in the house. I helped her with the birth; she was a little girl, Alice. She only lived for a few minutes, and I believe Edward buried her remains in the garden.
I am poisoning Edward. Slowly, over a long period of time, but painfully, and eventually fatally. He will have no access to medical care, for he is a helpless man, utterly dependent on his wife to cater to his every need. Alas, I will not tend to him this time. He has driven his son away, he has terrified his daughter away, which only leaves me, his dutiful wife, to care for him as I see fit – and this is how I choose to repay him. Mushrooms, picked from the heath. My conscience is clear.
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As you sow, so shall you reap.
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Your loving friend,
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Nancy
If The Woman at 46 Heath Street had you hooked, you won’t be able to put down The Orchid Girls by Lesley Sanderson: a breathless, gripping and twisty story of love, obsession and dark, shocking secrets. Get it here!
The Orchid Girls
'Now we are bound forever,' she says, her eyes determined. 'I will never tell anyone, I swear. This is between you and me. Now you swear too.'
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When Grace Sutherland’s phone rings in the middle of the night, she hangs up with a trembling hand as soon as she hears the voice at the end of the line. Because the familiar whisper belongs to the person she has been running from for the last fifteen years…
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Up until now, Grace’s life has been perfect. She adores her beautiful canal-side apartment, her glittering career in the world of food, her doting, influential husband – a life she has always dreamed of.
* * *
But the phone call changes everything. Because Grace has a secret – a dark, tragic secret that she has kept buried since she was a teenage girl on a jagged Dorset cliff, wind whipping her hair, waves crashing on the rocks below. And the voice on the phone belongs to the one person who knows what Grace is hiding…
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The Orchid Girls is a breathless, gripping and twisty story of love, obsession and dark, shocking secrets. Fans of K.L. Slater, The Wife Between Us and The Girl on the Train – read this one with the lights on…
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A letter from Lesley
Thank you so much for reading The Woman at 46 Heath Street. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you did, and you’d like to keep up to date with the latest news on my new releases, just click here to sign up for a newsletter. I promise never to share your email with anyone else.
As with my first book The Orchid Girls, in The Woman at 46 Heath Street I hoped to create an evocative novel about obsession, secrets and the blurred lines between love and lies. Once again female relationships lie at the heart of my novel, enhanced by the suppression of secrets. The Heath Street in the story is fictitious, and not to be confused with the real Heath Street in NW3.
If you enjoyed The Woman at 46 Heath Street, I would love it if you could write a short review. Getting reviews from readers who have enjoyed my writing is my favourite way to persuade other readers to pick up one of my books for the first time.
I’d also love to hear from you via social media: see the links below.
Thanks so much,
Lesley
Books by Lesley Sanderson
The Orchid Girls
The Woman at 46 Heath Street
Acknowledgements
So many people have helped me along the way with The Woman at 46 Heath Street.
To everyone at Curtis Brown Creative and my fellow writers in the 2015 cohort, for continued support.
To Erin Kelly, whose summer school of 2017 showed me how to be the writer I hope one day to become – you’re a true inspiration.
Thanks to the judges of the Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize for shortlisting me for the 2017 prize, for the kindness of everyone involved with the event and their continued support.
I can’t say a big enough thank you to my lovely agent Hayley Steed, and to everyone else at the fabulous Madeleine Milburn agency. Hayley, I’m so proud to be your first ‘official client’.
To the Next Chapter Girls, Louise Beere, Cler Lewis and Katie Godman – you know how much you and this writing group mean to me – I couldn’t have done it without your belief in me and my writing.
To my lovely editor, Christina Demosthenous – working with you is a joy, and from the very first email, ‘Best News Ever…’, I knew it was going to be a dream partnership. Kim Nash – thanks for your amazing energy and enthusiasm promoting my book. To everyone at Bookouture – you all work tirelessly and with infectious enthusiasm for your authors, and I’m so proud to be one of them.
And to everyone else – all the other writers I’ve met along the way, too many to name but nonetheless important – I’m so happy to be one of such a friendly group of people.
Published by Bookouture in 2019
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An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
United Kingdom
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www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Lesley Sanderson, 2018
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Lesley Sanderson has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in any retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers.
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eBook ISBN: 978-1-78681-890-4
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This book is a work of
fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places and events other than those clearly in the public domain, are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.