One Left Behind: A completely gripping and addictive crime thriller with nail-biting suspense (Detective Gina Harte Book 9)

by Carla Kovach

  ‘Your so-called colleague threatened to set poor Stephen up with a murder charge or plant some evidence.’

  That was true but there was no way Gina would ever admit to that. Not to Hetty, not to anyone. The need to speak had been overridden with the need to preserve oneself and she didn’t trust Hetty at all.

  ‘You killed Terry, didn’t you? He didn’t fall down those stairs. I’ve seen the way you looked every time it was mentioned; the emotionless statue that you were at his funeral and that service that Hannah planned a few years ago. A person only has to look at you to know. You ooze guilt from every pore. I hope you never know how it feels to lose a child. What happened, Gina?’

  With shaking hands, Gina turned away and paced back towards the gate before almost running back up to the door, her nose touching Hetty’s ear. Hetty flinched. ‘Here’s what happened…’

  The woman stared open-mouthed as Gina continued to whisper.

  ‘Your son broke my bones. Your son raped me, repeatedly. Your son locked me in a shed. Your son used to shout so loud at his baby daughter I was scared he would kill her. Your son was a monster. You made that monster. That is exactly what happened. You could see that, Hetty, couldn’t you?’

  The woman pushed Gina away and shook her head.

  In a low voice Gina continued, ‘You saw the marks on me and the pain I was in and you turned a blind eye, just like you did with your husband all those years ago. You made a monster called Terry. That is what happened and you have the nerve to turn all this around onto me! Your son was a drunk and he fell. I won’t let you bully and intimidate me like he did all those years ago just because he’s dead.’ Gina felt her face burning.

  ‘No, you killed him and my husband never hurt me.’

  ‘We all know, Hetty. Everyone knows. Your family, your friends, your neighbours – they heard the shouting too. I heard them gossiping. Stephen and Terry used to laugh when they used to talk about how he gave you the belt when you “nagged him about his drinking”. Your own children laughed at their father abusing you.’ Gina moved in so close, she could smell the bacon that Hetty had just eaten oozing from her skin. She whispered so quietly that Hetty would just about hear. ‘You created two monsters, make sure your other monster doesn’t turn and get his comeuppance. If he does, that’s on you too. If anyone killed Terry, you did. You sat by and did nothing to correct his behaviour, to shape that nasty little boy into a good man.’

  ‘But…’ Tears began to spill from the woman’s eyes. No one had ever said anything like this to the mighty Hetty but now the mighty had fallen.

  Gina pushed the door open and saw exactly what she’d expected to see, a phone running on record. She grabbed it and spoke into it. ‘I repeat, your son beat me, raped me and mentally abused me. For the tape, he came home drunk one night and fell down the stairs. I called an ambulance and the police but they couldn’t save him. There was no evidence of any crime at the scene.’ Gina paused. ‘Even after all he did to me, Hetty, he was my husband and the father of my child and I loved him. He died, so please stop harassing me or I’ll be forced to take action and I don’t want to do that. Let’s not air our dirty linen. It won’t do either of us any good.’

  The woman’s bones cracked and creaked as she crumpled to the doorstep.

  ‘How did you get my and my colleague’s numbers?’

  Hetty shrugged her shoulders. ‘I’m not saying another word. I never want to see you again.’ She sobbed, anger and bitterness still present in her face.

  Gina deleted the recording, the phone numbers and messages between her, Briggs and Hetty before dropping the phone into Hetty’s lap. Although she’d confessed nothing, she wanted Hetty to know that she’d gained nothing by her stunt.

  The woman remained there as Gina drove away. Not one element of their exchange had been satisfying. In normal circumstances, Gina would like nothing more than to be able to help a woman who was just coming to terms with her own abuse after all these years but she couldn’t be there for Hetty, not after everything that she’d done. Gina pulled over in the car down the road and yelled and cried. Her phone rang and she answered. ‘I’m on my way back, sir.’

  ‘Are you crying, Gina?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Briggs went silent. ‘What’s happened? I need to know. I feel sick to the stomach.’

  ‘It’s over. I’ll fill you in when I get back.’ She wiped her face. ‘I’m on my way now. Be there soon. Sorry I left like that, it just couldn’t wait.’ She pulled back onto the road and headed back to the station, ready for a long night of finalising everything with the CPS. It had been an intense few days and all she wanted to do was go home, catch up on some sleep and wait for her daughter to turn up on Sunday. Only after that could she finally rest.

  Seventy-Three

  Saturday, 7 August

  DI Harte did come back to see me in hospital and I feel so much more positive after our chat. For the first time ever, I managed to open up about how Frank had been treating me and it’s helped. She also helped me see that there is so much I can achieve. I refuse to let my mistakes in life stand in my way anymore. I had a social worker visit earlier and there’s a place for me, a downstairs temporary apartment that is equipped for my needs. I can stay there until I’ve sorted my life out. That might take a while but she said there was no rush. I still don’t know what’s happening with my burnt-out cottage and the insurance. Nevertheless, I’m looking forward to getting my discharge papers and leaving this room.

  I jump as I hear a knock on the door. It’s Lara. The last time I saw her, she was shouting paedo at me from the kerb outside my cottage. My stomach begins to jitter and nausea begins to swell. I can’t even escape them in hospital. I grip the emergency buzzer.

  ‘Hi.’ She smiles at a nurse before entering.

  ‘Lara.’

  I can’t work out why she sounds like she’s trying to be nice. ‘It’s good to see you looking so well and dressed.’

  ‘I’m leaving any minute now. The cough has gone and my chest is a lot better. Just waiting for the docs to let me go.’ She moves closer to me and I swallow.

  ‘Look, I’m sorry about the way I was, at your house. What your husband did, it wasn’t your fault.’

  I look up, my gaze meeting hers and I see fear in her eyes. ‘Thank you.’ I feel a tear welling up in the corner of my eye. ‘I heard about your daughter. How is she?’

  Lara shook her head and looked away. ‘I don’t know. She’s not saying anything to me or anyone really. I don’t know her anymore. To do all those things—’

  Only now did Lara really understand what it was like to be the object of blame for someone else’s wrongs. I know there are no winners here, just enlightenment. ‘They’re terrible things that she did but you’re her mother. She’s going to need you.’ At least I can walk away from Frank. She has it worse than me.

  The woman nodded as a few tears slid down her cheeks. ‘Remember that stupid pinkie promise we did at school? What were we, ten, maybe?’

  I smile. Too much has happened for me to be angry forever. I remember back to when we were kids and I know I have to reach out. I may be too soft but I care, I really do. ‘Yes, I said if I told people that you stole Charlotte’s pens they’d blame me too as we were friends. You know something, Lara, I’m still your friend now. We’re friends and whatever might come, we’ll face together.’

  Lara began to sob. ‘How can you want to be friends with me? I stood outside your house shouting my mouth off, blaming you. How can you be so forgiving?’

  ‘Because, Lara, I could use a friend right now too. I know how you feel and I know what you’re going through to a certain degree. We can help each other through this just like we helped each other as kids. I know we weren’t best friends for long as you went to a different senior school but I always missed what we had. Besides, things are going to get tougher for both of us, it’ll be nice to have someone who understands.’

  Lara stepped in and put her arms around me
and, for a moment, I felt like we were ten again. Life will never be the same for either of us but it was ultimately tragedy that brought us back together as friends and I intend to be a good friend in all this. Having friends is all I wanted and now I can be there for Lara. She’s as much of a victim in all of this as I am. I nearly lost my life and she’s lost her daughter and I know what it’s like when the angry mob call. I’ll be there for her every step of the way.

  Epilogue

  Hannah played with the ends of her long plait as she sipped the coffee that Gina had placed before her. Ebony jumped through the cat flap and began eating her food.

  ‘So, what’s going on, Hannah?’ Gina knew that Hetty had got hold of her number but she didn’t know how. What she did know is that Hannah had the answers.

  Her daughter’s cheeks reddened and blotches formed at her neck. ‘I did something really stupid, Mum, and I’m so, so, sorry.’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘When I visited last, I went through your phone.’ Hannah paused and gulped down more of the drink.

  ‘Why were you going through my phone?’

  ‘Nanny Hetty asked me to. She said she wanted to get the number of your boss and I knew who she meant when she said the man in his fifties. You’ve mentioned your DCI, Chris Briggs, before. I saw the messages on your phone and I read them. I know you’re both in some sort of on/off relationship. I didn’t want to give Nan the number but she kept going on, saying that this Briggs threatened to plant some evidence on Uncle Stephen once and she said she was going to take care of it, once and for all.’

  ‘That’s an absurd accusation. So you gave her his number without speaking to me?’

  Hannah nodded. ‘I’m not proud of my part in this but I owe you the truth. I couldn’t say anything when you called as Greg was there and I didn’t know if talking on the phone would incriminate anyone. I didn’t want anyone to get in any trouble.’ She shrugged and began to play with the handle on the cup. ‘Anyway, after I gave her your number, it got more sinister.’

  ‘Sinister.’ Gina felt her hands tremble with anger in her lap. Her daughter had ended up in the middle of all this and now she hated her ex-mother-in-law more than ever. Her mind flashed to the woman crumpled and crying on the doorstep.

  ‘I don’t know. I think they’re going a bit mad, if I’m honest. I overheard Stephen and Nan talking. They’re convinced that you must have had something to do with Dad’s death, but that’s just stupid. We all know it was an accident. The way they talk about you…’

  ‘It’s okay. I know the sort of things they say.’

  ‘It’s not on. I don’t know why they hate you so much and I don’t believe for one minute you would have had anything to do with Dad’s death. I know he was drunk and he fell down the stairs.’ Gina gulped, hoping that Hannah couldn’t see her guilt. ‘I think I need to distance myself from them. Nan has been good to Gracie but she’s not good for me anymore and I don’t want my child to grow up around them with the way that they speak. Stephen hates women, I can tell by the way he calls them names and treats them. I don’t know how his girlfriend stands to be around him. Nan doesn’t put him right either and I can’t forgive that. I have a daughter and being around them is toxic so I’m cutting myself off from them. I’m sorry I chose them over you in the past and I’m sorry I gave Nan the phone numbers.’

  Gina reached over and hugged her daughter. At last, there was a break in the tension between them. ‘It’s okay. You know I’m always here for you.’

  ‘Thanks, Mum. About the messages, just tell your colleague to tell her to get lost and I’m sure she’ll go away.’

  Hannah had no idea that Gina had already sorted this problem. Since facing Hetty, there had been no more messages or communications of any kind.

  ‘Nan is just full of ridiculous ideas and needs putting in her place. If he tells her to stop harassing him and that he knows who she is, I’m sure she’ll stop. I’ll tell her too when I call her next. I’m not bothered if she has a go at me anymore.’

  A ray of sunlight reached the far wall of Gina’s kitchen. ‘I’ll pass the message on to him.’ She smiled, not giving anything away.

  ‘I’m going to ask you a question and I don’t want you to lie to me. I sense things, like the way you were at Dad’s memorial a few years ago and the way you stiffen when I talk about him. I want the truth, Mum. What was he really like?’

  This was the conversation Gina had been dreading. However bad her ex-husband was to her, telling her daughter about the beatings, the rapes and the control wasn’t going to be easy but if their relationship was to move forward, the truth had to come out. The time had come. ‘I hope you’ve got nothing else on today.’

  Hannah shook her head. ‘I’m here all day. In fact, I told Greg that I’d be staying over so take your time. I just need the truth.’

  A tear slid down Gina’s cheek and Hannah hugged her mother. ‘It’s okay, Mum. Take your time.’

  Some truths should never come out but others should. It was time to face the monster of the past who’d done nothing but divide them. It was time to rebuild things with her daughter.

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  Books by Carla Kovach

  Detective Gina Harte Series

  The Next Girl

  Her Final Hour

  Her Pretty Bones

  The Liar’s House

  Her Dark Heart

  Her Last Mistake

  Their Silent Graves

  The Broken Ones

  One Left Behind

  Meet Me at Marmaris Castle

  Whispers Beneath the Pines

  To Let

  Flame

  AVAILABLE IN AUDIO

  The Next Girl (Available in the UK and the US)

  Her Final Hour (Available in the UK and the US)

  Her Pretty Bones (Available in the UK and the US)

  The Liar’s House (Available in the UK and the US)

  Her Dark Heart (Available in the UK and the US)

  Her Last Mistake (Available in the UK and the US)

  Their Silent Graves (Available in the UK and the US)

  The Broken Ones (Available in the UK and the US)

  A Letter from Carla

  Dear Reader,

  I’m truly grateful that you chose to read One Left Behind. The support from the crime reading community always makes me feel welcome as a reader and an author, and for that I’m thankful. I also hope you enjoyed the ninth instalment of the DI Gina Harte series as I thoroughly enjoyed writing it.

  If you enjoyed One Left Behind 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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  As with my previous books, the subject matter is dark. I specifically chose teenagers to focus on in this book as I feel those years spent battling hormones and seeking acceptance makes them vulnerable and susceptible to doing things that they wouldn’t normally do. I certainly wouldn’t like to be that age again, navigating my way through the demon that is peer pressure while not knowing if I wanted to laugh or cry on any given day. I also felt I had to tell Sandra’s story in this book. Not only did she have mobility problems, she was trapped in an abusive relationship where she couldn’t see a way out of her situation. I also wanted to play with the idea that people who stand in judgement of others might just get the tables turned on them. It’s so easy to angrily throw blame without proof of a person’s involvement. I appreciate that we’re innocent until proven guilty.

  Whether you are a reader, a tweeter, a blogger, Facebooker or a reviewer, I really am appreciati
ve of everything you do and as a writer, this is where I hope you’ll leave me a review. They not only help me, they help other readers.

  Again, thank you so much. I’m an avid social media user so please feel free to contact me on Twitter, Instagram or through my Facebook page.

  Thank you,

  Carla Kovach

  The Next Girl

  Detective Gina Harte Book 1

  Get it here!

  You thought he’d come to save you. You were wrong.

  Deborah Jenkins pulls her coat around her for the short walk home in the pouring rain. But she never makes it home that night. And she is never seen again…

  Four years later, an abandoned baby girl is found wrapped in dirty rags on a doorstep. An anonymous phone call urges the police to run a DNA test on the baby. But nobody is prepared for the results.

  The newborn belongs to Deborah. She’s still alive…

  THE GRIPPING THRILLER EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT – if you like Lisa Gardner, Robert Bryndza or Clare Mackintosh, you will absolutely love The Next Girl. A completely unputdownable page-turner with an ending that will blow your mind.

  Buy now!

  Her Final Hour

  Detective Gina Harte Book 2

  Anything can happen behind closed doors…