by TM Logan
‘Audi.’
‘Renault.’
‘Beamer.’
We were almost home. The traffic lights up ahead began to change and I pulled up third in line as they turned red. In the mirror I could see him clutching his first School Superstar certificate in both hands, as if it might blow away in the wind. A CD of kids’ songs was playing low on my car stereo. I am the music man, I come from down your way . . .
William continued calling out cars.
‘Ford.’
‘’nother one Ford.’
‘Mummy car.’
I smiled. My wife – William’s mum – drove a VW Golf. Every time he spotted one, he’d call it out. Not a Volkswagen. A Mummy car.
‘It’s a Mummy car. Look, Daddy.’
My phone buzzed in the hands-free cradle: a Facebook notification.
‘What was that, Wills?’
‘Over there, look.’
Across the dual carriageway, on the other side of the junction, a line of cars in the far lane were filtering left onto a slip road. Rush hour traffic streaming through the junction, everyone on their way home. The low sun was in my eyes, but I caught a glimpse of a VW Golf. It did look like her car. Powder blue, five-door, same SpongeBob SquarePants sun shade suckered to the rear passenger window.
‘Good spot, matey. It does look like Mummy’s car.’
I buzzed my window down and felt the cool city air on my face. A gap in the traffic opened up behind the Golf as it accelerated away down the slip road. It was a 59 reg number plate. My wife’s car had a 59 plate. I squinted, trying to make out the letters.
KK59 DWD.
The number plate was hers – it wasn’t like her car, it was her car. There was the familiar buzz, the little glow in my chest I still got whenever she was nearby. The VW indicated left off the slip road and turned into the car park of a Premier Inn. It headed into the dark entrance of an underground car park and disappeared from sight.
She’ll be meeting a client, a work thing. Should probably leave her to it. She had been working late a lot recently.
‘Can we see Mummy?’ William said, excitement in his voice. ‘Can we can we can we?’
‘She’ll be busy, Wills. Doing work things.’
‘I can show her my certificate.’ William couldn’t quite pronounce the word and it came out as cerstiff-a-kit.
Honking from the car behind me as the traffic lights turned green.
‘Well . . .’
‘Please, Daddy?’ He was jigging up and down on his booster seat. ‘We could do a surprise on her!’
I smiled again. It was almost Friday, after all.
‘Yes we could, couldn’t we?’
I put the car in gear. Made a spur-of-the-moment decision that would change my life.
‘Let’s go and surprise Mummy.’
AVAILABLE NOW IN PAPERBACK AND EBOOK
First published in Great Britain in 2018 by Zaffre Publishing
This ebook edition published in 2018 by
ZAFFRE PUBLISHING
80-81 Wimpole St, London, W1G 9RE
www.zaffrebooks.co.uk
Copyright © TM Logan, 2018
Cover design by Bonnier Zaffre Art Dept.
Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com
The moral right of TM Logan to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, places and events 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.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978–1–78577–081–4
Paperback ISBN: 978–1–78577–080–7
This ebook was produced by IDSUK (Data Connection) Ltd
Zaffre Publishing is an imprint of Bonnier Zaffre, a Bonnier Publishing company
www.bonnierzaffre.co.uk
www.bonnierpublishing.co.uk
Table of Contents
Series
Title Page
Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Part II
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Part III
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Four Weeks Later
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Letter from Author
Extract from Lies
Copyright