by Alison James
Lucy has not returned to Redgate since that night in early September and knows now that she never will. After his discharge from hospital, Jeffrey Gibson sold his bungalow and moved into a care home near East Grinstead, thus ending Lucy’s final link with the place. But with some of the proceeds from the Barnes house sale, she has set up two trust accounts; one for Paige Watts and one for Skye Watts. Her solicitor forwarded all the relevant paperwork to Adele, along with the instruction that she did not expect or want any communication in return.
Lucy gets off the train at Temple Meads, buys a second coffee to fuel her walk and sets off due east to the Umbrella headquarters in the suburb of Barton Hill. It takes her fifteen minutes, across railway tracks and major roads, but she relishes the contrast between this gritty, urban landscape and the sedate Jane Austen gentility of Bath.
‘Morning, my lover!’ crows Lilian, who mans the front desk and always addresses her with this Bristolian endearment. ‘You’re looking very bonny today. Roses in your cheeks.’
‘It’s the cold,’ Lucy smiles, brandishing her coffee cup. ‘And the exercise.’
She sits down briefly at a free desk and logs onto a terminal to check the day’s agenda, before heading to the public access area to man the help desk. This is her main responsibility on most mornings, and dealing with problems fresh off the street has been a steep learning curve for her.
‘Morning, Lucy.’ Dougie, her line manager and closest work friend raises a hand in greeting. He’s a bald, ascetic-looking man with an unexpectedly dry wit and a kind heart. She waves back. ‘A group of us are doing a pub quiz tomorrow night, at the Barley Mow. Fancy lending us your brain? We need someone to cover the mysterious world of pop culture, and I thought you might fit the bill.’
‘Maybe,’ Lucy says with a grin. ‘As long as I’ve got time to binge-watch the back catalogue of Real Housewives between now and then.’
She checks the facilities in the visitor room – tissues, water, information leaflets in a variety of languages – then goes to sit behind the help desk with a book to read while it’s quiet. It’s still only nine thirty and few clients with enquiries come in much before eleven.
Lilian appears a few minutes later.
‘Lucy, my love, there’s a man at the main reception desk asking to see you.’
Lucy frowns. ‘Not a client?’
‘No, definitely not a client. English. Big bloke. Asking for you by name.’
Lucy’s heart lurches in her chest. She has a sudden, dizzying flashback to ‘Denny’ appearing in the offices of Pink Square. Her fingers start to tingle, and her heart races so hard that she feels as though she will pass out. She tries to draw air into her lungs, but her body won’t comply. It’s as though she’s suffocating.
‘You all right, sweetheart?’ Lilian looks worried.
Lucy nods dumbly. ‘Just give me a minute,’ she says in a strangled gasp and heads outside through the fire door. The rush of wintry air acts like a slap in the face, and she manages to inhale, with gulping breaths at first, but then more slowly and regularly. She leans against the wall of the building and braces her arms on her thighs. Breathe, she instructs herself. In for three counts, out for three counts.
Her heart rate steadies, but her mind is racing. The black plastic sacks wrapped around Jason Fox obscured his identity. And it was Adele who did the wrapping, when she was on her own in the flat, with Lucy conveniently out of the way dropping off the girls. So she only had Adele’s word that it was Jason Fox that they threw into Blackwater. If that really was his name. Even that could have been a bluff for her benefit.
You’re being ridiculous, her rational self protests. You saw his body. You saw the blood.
But it was Adele who felt his pulse, who said he was dead. What if he had still been alive?
The fire door opens and Lilian sticks her head out. ‘Okay there, Luce?’
Lucy straightens up slowly. ‘Yes. Just needed some air… listen, Lilian, do me a favour and go and ask the man his name, will you?’
She has gathered herself sufficiently to return to the desk, smoothing her hair and rearranging her skirt.
Lilian reappears thirty seconds later.
‘He says he’s called Noah Kenyon.’
Noah. Giddy with relief, Lucy heads to the lobby.
‘How on earth did you find me?’ She greets him with a brief but warm embrace.
‘Google, I’m afraid.’ He throws up his hands. ‘Go ahead and call me a stalker, but I saw the For Sale sign outside your house, and when I didn’t hear any more from you…’
Lucy steers Noah out of the front door of the building, conscious of Lilian’s curious surveillance. ‘I’ve got five minutes, but then I need to get back, I’m afraid.’
They walk along the bank of the canal and sit down on a bench. Lucy is shivering in her thin wool dress, and he takes off his coat and drapes it over her shoulders.
‘When I googled you, I found a picture of you at some Umbrella PR initiative or other. And I remembered you’d once been thinking about a move down here… I’m in Bristol to meet with a client, by the way.’ He grins. ‘I’m not just stalking you.’
Lucy turns and looks at him, at the familiar angle of his jaw, the curve of his dark lashes against his cheek. She has missed him so much. She likes him so much. But she also knows that she can’t be with Noah, and not just because of geographical distance. Jason Fox’s death is an insurmountable barrier between them, and it always will be. She can’t engage in a relationship founded on dishonesty, and she cares too much about him to be lying by omission for ever more. And in any future relationships, she’ll never again experience the heady euphoria of those early days with Noah. She will always be more circumspect, metaphorically looking over her shoulder.
She stands up abruptly, handing Noah’s coat back to him. ‘Look, I’m supposed to be on the help desk; I’d better go.’
‘That’s a shame. Are you maybe free for a drink later? This evening? I don’t have to hurry back to London.’
Lucy shakes her head. ‘I’m sorry, Noah, I can’t.’
He shrugs. ‘Okay, well… maybe another time then.’
She manages a bright smile. ‘Sure.’
‘Well…’ Noah shoves his hands into his back pockets in an attempt to cover his awkwardness. ‘Goodbye then.’
Lucy raises a hand in salute, and before heading back into the building she stands and watches him walk away, until he has completely disappeared from view.
The sun is low in the sky when she returns home that evening, casting a warm glow onto the amber stone buildings. As she trudges up the steep hill to her house, she notices she has two unread texts on her phone. The first is from Trisha, one of her neighbours.
A group of us are heading out to a live music night at that new bar in Camden. Fancy joining us? 6.30 onwards. T
The second is from Noah.
It was so lovely to see you today, however briefly. Promise me you’ll get in touch when you’re next in London? I miss you xxx
Lucy lets herself into her house and, after dropping her work bag in the hall, heads straight upstairs to change into jeans and reapply her make-up. Sitting on the edge of the bed, she types a quick reply to the first text.
See you there in 10. L
After reading and re-reading the second text, she deletes it without replying. This is, she reflects, the price of her pact with Adele. Then she sets off to the bar; to music and new friends and the beginning of the rest of her life.
***
If you enjoyed The Friendship Pact then you’ll love the gripping Detective Rachel Prince series by Alison James – buy the first book Lola is Missing here!
Lola is Missing
Detective Rachel Prince Book 1
‘I was hooked from page one and couldn’t put it down until I’d reached the end. The twists and turns just keep coming… will have you gasping in surprise.’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
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The little
girl stirred and opened her eyes. A light from the landing played a shadow across her toy cupboard. It was then she realised… There was someone else in the room.
Michelle Harper’s world is shattered when six-year-old Lola Jade is stolen from the safety of her own bedroom. She says her ex-husband has taken their daughter. Lola’s father denies it was him.
Family, friends and neighbours all say they didn’t see a thing. But someone must know where the little girl is. Who is lying? And who is telling the truth?
Detective Rachel Prince knows the longer a child is missing, the less likely they are to be found alive.
Can Rachel find Lola Jade, before it’s too late?
Truly addictive from start to finish, Lola Is Missing is a nail-biting crime thriller that will shock you with the final heart-stopping twist. Perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Karin Slaughter.
ORDER NOW!
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Books by Alison James
The Friendship Pact
The Detective Rachel Prince series
1. Lola is Missing
2. Now She’s Gone
3. Perfect Girls
AVAILABLE IN AUDIO
The Detective Rachel Prince series
1. Lola is Missing (available in the UK and the US)
2. Now She’s Gone (available in the UK and the US)
A Letter from Alison
Thank you so much for choosing to read The Friendship Pact. If you enjoyed it and 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.
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When I decided to create a standalone domestic thriller, there were two threads that intrigued me: dysfunctional marriages and friendships that take a dark turn. I always like to start a book with a ‘what if?’, and with The Friendship Pact it was this: what if a dysfunctional marriage and a troubled friendship collide? What if the secrets from one were to infect the other? I hope you agree that the answers are intriguing, and they take Lucy and Adele on a journey full of shocks and betrayals.
I really hope you loved The Friendship Pact, and if you did I would be so grateful if you could write a review. I’d love to hear what you think, and it makes such a difference helping new readers to discover one of my books for the first time.
I love hearing from my readers – you can get in touch on my Facebook page, through Twitter, Goodreads or my website.
Thanks,
Alison James
Now She’s Gone
Detective Rachel Prince Book 2
She took a mouthful of the sweet liquid and started to feel a pounding in her head. Arms went around her waist and she was half lifted and half pulled. The last thing she was aware of was her head hitting a step…
Sixteen-year-old Emily had everything to live for. A bright, beautiful teenager with a promising future ahead of her. But in one night her life is cut short. The police say it’s an accident. But her parents think she was murdered.
When Detective Rachel Prince is called in to investigate the shocking death at the height of the Edinburgh festival, her instincts tell her that things are not as they first appear. Something is very wrong.
As the case takes an unexpected turn, Rachel discovers a chilling link with the suspicious death of another international student, who stayed in the same house as Emily two years before.
Just as Rachel finds herself on the hunt for a serial killer, a painful relationship from her own past catches up with her. And Rachel must decide what is more important – catching the killer or keeping her own secrets?
A breath-taking, tense roller-coaster crime thriller featuring unforgettable series detective Rachel Prince. Now She’s Gone is perfect for fans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Karin Slaughter.
Get it here!
Perfect Girls
Phoebe. Tiffany. Melissa. They all made one little mistake...
When twenty-five-year-old Phoebe Stiles opens the door to her perfect apartment she doesn’t realise it’s the mistake that will kill her…
The body of the beautiful English girl is discovered months later - dumped behind the back of a department store. But who was the stranger she let into the safety of her home?
As Detective Rachel Prince pieces together the mystery surrounding Phoebe’s death, another young, blonde girl is found brutally murdered and abandoned in the grounds of an old theatre.
In the most dangerous case of her career, Rachel must track down the faceless individual to stop the body count rising. But to uncover the shocking truth, Rachel has to put herself at risk… can she catch the twisted killer, before they catch her?
A gripping page-turner that will have you completely hooked until the utterly jaw-dropping twist. Fans of Angela Marsons, Peter James and Karin Slaughter will love this crime series, featuring unforgettable Detective Rachel Prince.
Get it here!
Acknowledgements
With huge thanks to all the team at Bookouture for their support and dedication, especially Natasha, Peta, Ellen, Kim and Noelle.
Published by Bookouture in 2019
An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Alison James, 2019
Alison James 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.
eBook ISBN: 978-1-78681-954-3
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.