by Claire Gray
She smiles as she remembers how pleased she was when he offered to watch the café for them while they went to visit her sister on the mainland.
‘My sister has breast cancer,’ she says. ‘We’ve wanted to visit her for a long time but been too busy with work.’
‘When did you find out that he was the bomber?’ I ask, forcing myself to meet her eyes. I have my fingers clamped around a pen, pressing down hard on a pad of paper.
‘He saw the police were coming for him. He phoned me. He said sorry, not for what he did, but for how it’s going to affect his father and me. We cannot stay here now. Everyone will hate us. But he wasn’t sorry about the people he hurt. He was glad the tourists died. They used to be so kind to him. When he was here and he helped me in the café, they would give him foreign coins for his collection and he practiced his English with them. His English very good. Such a clever boy.’
‘He made the bomb?’
‘He made it in the café, out the back where we keep all the boxes. I don’t know who taught him that, but he was always good at making things. He fix the bug zapper. The electric thing on the wall.’
‘And then he left before the bomb went off?’
She nods. ‘I think so. I think he set a timer and then he went back to university. But we did not have much time to speak on the phone. He could see the police coming. He hung up when they were outside the house. Until he called, we thought that he had been killed. But then he phoned and say the police coming and he’s sorry, he knew we wouldn’t like what he did, but it was important and someone had to do it.’
‘Where is he now?’ I ask.
‘They bringing him back to Thailand. I might be able to visit him, but I don’t know if I want to. I don’t know if I should.’
‘Thank you for talking to us,’ I say. ‘I can see how hard it is for you.’
‘I always liked you both. Iced coffees your favourite.’ She smiles.
‘You did the best iced coffees in town,’ Steve tells her.
‘They will execute him,’ she says then, the smile sitting like a ghost upon her face.
After that, she doesn’t want to talk to us. We say goodbye and watch from the top of the steps as she walks away, her head bowed.
‘Will they?’ I say to Steve, as she turns a corner and is gone.
‘What?’
‘Execute him.’
‘Probably.’
We go back inside, the door swinging shut behind us. I look at the notebook I’ve left on the table, pages filled with urgent shorthand.
‘Well, there’s a story for you,’ Steve says.
*****
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NOTE TO THE READER
Dear Reader
I wanted to take a minute to thank you for reading Running in Circles. When I started writing this story, I couldn’t be sure if anyone except for my friends and family would ever read it, so it feels amazing to know that there are people out there purchasing and (hopefully) enjoying my work. It’s taken me several years and numerous re-drafts to get to this point!
Lucy and Steve feel like old friends to me now, and it’s exciting to be able to share their adventures with the world. I’ve put some elements of my own life into their stories; I trained as a journalist and travelled in Asia. Thankfully I’ve never lived through anything as dramatic as the events depicted in Running in Circles, but it still feels like a very personal tale to me.
Reviews are really important to new writers like myself, so if you get the chance to leave a review on either Amazon or Goodreads, I would really appreciate it. I’d love to hear your thoughts. You can also follow me on Twitter/ClaireEsnail or Instagram/ClaireGrayIsHere and read my latest blogs and news on my website.
I’m working on a follow up to Running in Circles at the moment. Lucy is no longer in Thailand but she’s still getting herself mixed up with some questionable people while struggling to uncover sinister goings on. I’m very grateful to Sapere Books for picking up Running in Circles and for giving me the opportunity to further explore the world its characters inhabit.
Thanks again for taking the time to read my work!
Claire Gray
clairegrayauthor.com
Published by Sapere Books.
11 Bank Chambers, Hornsey, London, N8 7NN,
United Kingdom
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Copyright © Claire Gray, 2018
Claire Gray has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organisations, 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 resemblances to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales are purely coincidental.
eBook ISBN: 9781912546329