by Kerry Watts
‘No problem. Good luck with the new job, as well,’ she added before closing the front door behind her.
Dan stood with his back to the door. He pulled his phone from his pocket and pressed the number next to the letter J. He listened to it ring out then hung up.
Epilogue
Three weeks later
Jessie couldn’t stop her right knee from trembling, she was so nervous. So much that it was difficult to walk without drawing attention to the wobble. Or so Jessie thought. She had no need to be anxious, she chastised herself. Benito was a lovely guy. He wasn’t Dan. Anyway, this was just coffee. The coffee she owed him for his kindness, after all.
‘He’s already here,’ she muttered under her breath and smiled to where he waved from the corner of Willow’s coffee shop, in the café quarter on King Edward Street.
Benito stood to greet her, placing a soft kiss of welcome on Jessie’s cheek. He smelled good. Benito Capello always smelled good. Jessie wasn’t sure exactly what it was but it was really nice.
‘You look lovely,’ he commented and pulled a chair out for her.
‘Thanks.’ Jessie wasn’t sure what to say to that. She was wearing her usual skinny jeans and leather jacket. Her day off clothes.
Jessie wasn’t the only one off duty – she had just called to congratulate Dylan and Shelly on the birth of their daughter, slightly earlier than anticipated after a fifty-minute labour that had left the couple stunned and exhausted. They were going to call her Katie. Jessie loved that name. Jack and Katie. Two lovely, traditional names. She planned to go baby gift shopping after coffee with Ben. Dylan had also decided, while Shelly was in labour, that he wanted to take his detective sergeant’s exams. Jessie had been pleased to hear that. Hell, maybe she could even persuade Isla to transfer to CID now. They made a great team, and Isla confessed she’d had a blast working with them. Then she’d blushed, realising she might have said the wrong thing again.
‘What can I get you?’ the waitress appeared behind Jessie as soon as she sat down.
Jessie uncurled her scarf and smiled. ‘A latte please, thank you.’
‘Cappuccino for me, thanks,’ Ben told her.
‘Is that everything?’
Jessie nodded before their waitress wandered back towards the kitchen. The silence between the pair was awkward, until Ben spoke.
‘How have you been?’ His eyes held hers.
‘Aye, good thanks,’ she answered. ‘And you?’
‘Good, yes. I’ve just got back. I was visiting family in Naples.’
‘Sounds lovely.’
‘If you enjoy sharing a small house with three hot-headed sisters, a crazy brother and Mamma and Papà, of course. As well as three dogs, two cats and lots of chickens.’ He laughed. ‘It was Mamma’s sixtieth birthday, so I kind of had to go. They wanted to move back home when Papà retired.’
Jessie enjoyed the way he talked about his family.
‘Must have been nice. Coming from a big family.’
Before Ben could answer, the waitress arrived with their coffees.
‘Grazie,’ Ben said.
‘Thanks,’ Jessie told her.
‘You would think so, maybe, but’ – Ben shook his head – ‘Italian women are loud and passionate. My sisters especially.’ He tipped a packet of brown sugar into his cup and stirred. ‘What about you? Do you have brothers and sisters?’
‘I have one sister, Freya. I don’t see her all that often these days.’
‘I’m sorry to hear that.’
‘It’s fine. We’re OK with it. Heck, I’m too busy anyway.’ Jessie laughed.
She’d begun to relax without realising it. He was so easy to talk to. He made her smile. No, that wasn’t true. He made her laugh. She thought everyone would benefit from having a Benito Capello in their lives.
Dan stood with his back resting on the wall of St John’s Kirk, right across the cobbled road from Willow’s coffee shop. Jessie had ignored all of his letters of apology and phone calls, so he’d begun to keep tabs on what she was doing and where she was going. Looking for the right opportunity to talk to her. If she would just listen to what he had to say, she would understand that he was sorry about what happened. He’d made a mistake. Fallen off the wagon. He stared into the window at the couple sat talking and laughing in the corner booth just inside the door. How could she just move on like that?
The sound of a bin lorry roaring along the cobbles drew his attention away from Jessie, before obscuring his view of her.
Jessie glanced out of the window briefly as the bin lorry drew up, then returned to what Ben was saying. He’d been offered a job in Edinburgh, and she agreed he would be mad not to take it. He told her he would like to keep in touch with her. She liked that. It caused butterflies in her tummy that she’d not felt for a seriously long time.
The bin lorry rolled away after consuming the contents of the café’s wheelie bin. Dan tugged the baseball cap he was wearing down over his eyes and pulled up the collar of his jacket, then walked away, his body obscured by the slow-moving vehicle until he turned the corner on to George Street and on towards his flat.
A moment later, Jessie caught sight of the sun peeking over the top of St John’s Kirk, and smiled.
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Books by Kerry Watts
Detective Jessie Blake Series
Heartlands
Safe Home
AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
Heartlands (Available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Kerry
For those of you returning to Jessie after reading Heartlands, thank you, and I’m so glad you loved her enough to come back. To those who are meeting her for the first time, welcome and thank you for choosing this book. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to know her.
Jessie doesn’t claim to be perfect, but she tries to do the right thing. To stand up for those that can’t stand up for themselves, and for that I admire her immensely. She’s faced enormous challenges in her life, and that has made her the strong woman she is today.
If you want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, just sign up at the following link. Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Sign up here!
I hope that you’ve enjoyed this book. I would really appreciate it if you would leave a review on Goodreads and Amazon, and perhaps tell your friends about Detective Inspector Jessie Blake. I love to hear from readers on social media, and I can be found on both Facebook and Twitter. I look forward to hearing from you.
Thank you,
Kerry
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Heartlands
‘A totally captivating and addictive read. I loved this book!… Had me totally mesmerised from the very first page. This has to be on your 2019 to-be-read list!’ Booked Up Girl, 5 stars
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Call it mother’s intuition, but I knew she was dead the moment she was late home. As I listened to her phone ring and ring, that’s when I knew for sure. My little girl was gone.
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Fifteen-year-old Shannon Ross is missing and her parents are distraught. With her long blonde hair, easy laugh and perfect grades, she’s the girl everyone at school wants to be.
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Detective Jessie Blake is called to Inverlochty, the missing girl’s home town in the Scottish Highlands, and finds Shannon was keeping a diary full of friends’ and neighbours’ secrets. She knows the kind, outgoing boy who’s sleeping with his teacher and the quiet woman who’s been having an affair with her best friend’s husband.
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Just as Jessie and her team are beginning to understand Shannon’s complicated world, her lifeless body is found on an ice-cold river bank on the outskirts of town. And when Jessie tells Shannon’s family the heart-breaking news, she senses something isn’t right. The loving family is beginning to show cracks. Did Shannon know about her father’s alcohol problems and violent past? Why does Shannon’s mother keep finding excuses to leave the room, when Jessie wants to ask her questions?
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As Jessie begins to piece together the final days of Shannon’s life, her own history comes back to haunt her. Putting aside her personal demons, Jessie vows to do whatever it takes to catch Shannon’s killer. But what if the killer is ready to strike first?
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This unputdownable crime thriller set in the dramatic Scottish Highlands will have you reading well into the night. If you like LJ Ross, Cara Hunter or Robert Bryndza, you will absolutely love this.
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Get it here!
Acknowledgements
First, I want to thank Helen Jenner and Bookouture for their awesome support and enthusiasm. Thank you, Helen, for helping me shape Jessie into the wonderful character she has become. I mean that sincerely.
Thank you, Kim Nash and Noelle Holten, for all your hard work, words of advice and wisdom. Your help and encouragement mean a lot to me. I hope you both know that.
My sincere thanks also go to Fraser Crichton. Where would this book be without you?
The support of my family throughout all of this is appreciated beyond words. Mark, for your copious amounts of tea and quiet optimism, thank you. Hannah, for your endless words of encouragement, and Flynn, for making me giggle every day. Dad, for asking ‘How are you getting on with your book?’ every week over our Thursday lattes at the theatre. Denise, for telling her friends she has a famous writer sister. Not to forget Domino and Buttercup, of course. Thank you. All of you.
As always I am so grateful to have a fantastic bunch of supporters on Facebook. Susan Hunter, Dee Williams, Craig Gillan, Livia Sbarbaro and Norma Ormond. Thank you, all of you, for always cheering me on.
For crime fiction lovers, your love of the genre makes writing such a pleasure. To the members of the UK Crime Book Club and Crime Fiction Addict – thank you. You are all amazing.
Published by Bookouture in 2019
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An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
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www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Kerry Watts, 2019
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Kerry Watts 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: 978-1-78681-793-8
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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.