When the Dead Speak

by Sheila Bugler

  He’d told himself he wasn’t going to call her again. That he’d wait until she was ready to speak to him. But anything could happen between now and then. If he wanted to fix things with Dee, he had to do it now. Before it was too late.

  * * *

  The tide was high, waves crashing in and out over the shingle shore. Loud, but not loud enough to block the thoughts raging through Dee’s head. She walked fast, head pushed forward into the wind. By the time she reached Cooden Bay, she was out of breath and ready to stop. She went into the hotel, directly to the bar. Her spirits lifted when she saw the four people she’d come to meet, already seated at a table by the window.

  ‘Dee! You’re late. We’d started to think you weren’t coming.’

  Martin stood up, grabbing Dee and hugging her tight before letting her go, so she could turn her attention to Daisy and Ben.

  ‘My turn,’ Louise said, when Dee had finally finished greeting her niece and nephew.

  The cousins embraced, holding each other longer than normal.

  ‘Your face looks a little better,’ Louise said, tentatively touching the fading bruises on Dee’s cheek. ‘Is it still hurting?’

  ‘Not really,’ Dee lied. She sat down and picked up a menu. ‘I’m starving. Have you ordered yet?’

  After lunch, Martin took the children out to play on the beach so Dee and Louise could catch up properly. It was their first time alone together since the night in Charlton Forest. Dee had woken up in the back of an ambulance. None of the paramedics treating her had been able to tell her anything about Louise. She didn’t find out anything until later that night at the hospital. She would never forget those long hours not knowing if her cousin was alive or dead.

  It was Martin, in the end, who’d saved them. He’d arrived just as Karen was about to hit Dee a second time. He’d managed to overpower Karen and keep her restrained until a team of police arrived from nearby Chichester station. Since then, he hadn’t left Louise’s side.

  ‘You guys okay?’ Dee asked, nodding at Martin and the kids on the beach outside.

  ‘We’ve got a lot of work to do,’ Louise said. ‘But yeah, I think we’ll be fine. We’ve been talking a lot. Proper talking, like we haven’t done for years. It’s helping. How about you? Have you spoken to Ed yet?’

  Dee shook her head. She didn’t want to think about Ed. He’d called – repeatedly – asking to see her. So far, she hadn’t returned any of his calls.

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘It’s complicated,’ she said. ‘There are so many things he hid from me. And that night, when I needed him most, he wasn’t there for me. Turns out Ed’s not the person I thought he was.’

  ‘None of us are perfect,’ Louise said. ‘You do know that? You could waste the rest of your life waiting for a man who fits every single one of your ideas of what makes a perfect partner.’

  ‘Or I could choose not to waste any more of my life hooking up with men who let me down.’

  ‘They’ve found Derek,’ Louise said, after a moment. ‘Have you heard?’

  ‘Yes. Rachel called earlier to let me know.’

  Derek had been there when Martin and Dee arrived. As soon as they went into the woods, he’d got into Louise’s car and driven away. Leaving his wife to take the blame for everything. It had taken a nationwide manhunt to track him down. He’d finally been arrested yesterday evening at a rural hotel in West Yorkshire, and charged this morning for his role in the killings of Joana Helinski and Lauren Shaw, and the abduction of Louise.

  ‘According to Rachel,’ Dee said. ‘Derek’s blaming Karen for all of it. Including those dodgy phone calls I was getting, and setting fire to my car. The only problem is, Karen’s already given a statement saying it was all Derek’s work, and she didn’t know anything about it.’

  ‘It was both of them,’ Louise said. ‘Unfortunately for them, Karen told me far more than she should have done.’

  ‘And I’m pretty sure there were two people there the night my car was set on fire,’ Dee said. ‘And that’s what I’ve told the police. But now they’ve been caught, Karen and Derek will do all they can to blame each other.’

  ‘I still can’t believe I let myself get involved with that man,’ Louise said. ‘I feel sick every time I think of him. You know, if Martin can forgive me for that, surely you can find a way to forgive Ed?’

  ‘Can we talk about something else?’ Dee said. ‘Please, Lou?’

  She couldn’t explain how she felt, because she didn’t understand it herself. She’d never expected Ed to be perfect, and she knew people made mistakes. But his lack of trust, his inability to talk to her, felt like a betrayal. After the break-up of her marriage, Dee had sworn to herself she would never let herself be betrayed by a man again.

  ‘Tell me about Joana’s family,’ Louise said. ‘When are they getting here?’

  ‘Her mother and son are flying into Gatwick tomorrow.’

  They both fell silent. Dee imagined that like her, Louise was picturing poor Joana’s body lying at the bottom of the well. And thinking how close Louise had come to ending up with her.

  ‘You were right all along,’ Louise said. ‘Lauren’s murder had nothing to do with what happened to Mary Palmer.’

  ‘Poor Kyle.’ Louise shuddered. ‘Imagine having parents like that.’

  ‘How’s he doing?’ Dee asked. ‘Do you know?’

  ‘Not great,’ Louise said. ‘But he’ll be okay. He’s moved in with Nigel and Maxine for now. They’ll take care of him until he works out what he wants to do with the rest of his life. In a way, Nigel must understand better than anyone what Kyle’s going through at the moment.’

  ‘Of course,’ Dee said. ‘His mother was a killer too. Just like Karen. All those deaths. It’s so sad.’

  Louise pointed out the window at Martin and the children.

  ‘When I think how close I came to losing them… I’ll never, ever be that stupid again.’

  ‘We all mess up.’ Dee reached across the table and squeezed Louise’s hand.

  Right then, her phone started to ring. When she took it out of her bag, she saw Ed’s name on the screen. She was about to divert the call when Louise grabbed the phone.

  ‘Speak to him.’ She answered the call, handed the phone back to Dee and stood up. ‘I’m going outside to Martin and the kids.’

  Dee could hear Ed’s voice on the phone, saying her name. Outside, she watched as Louise joined her family. Martin leaning down to kiss the top of her head; Ben and Daisy playing tag. A perfect picture of an imperfect family. Because Louise was right, no one was perfect.

  ‘Dee? Are you there?’

  She didn’t want a perfect relationship. Just an honest one.

  She ended the call and switched her phone off.

  It was over.

  Acknowledgements

  Special thanks to my agent, Laura Longrigg; my fellow crime writers (especially Chris Curran and Lorraine Mace); and all my friends and family who have been so kind and supportive. I am so grateful for the generosity and support I’ve received from the lovely people at the Eastbourne Herald (especially Annemarie Field and Laura Sonier – two of the best women I know!). Thank you Miriam Anderson for lending your name to one of the characters through an auction for the Salvation Army – I hope you like what I’ve done! Thanks also to Henry Young, Rachel Sweeney and Tamsyn Sutton from East Sussex libraries who have been amazing! As always, thanks to the wonderful team at Canelo – Louise Cullen, Francesca Riccardi, Siân Heap and Sophie Eminson. A big thank you to the wonderful blogging community who support authors in so many ways. Finally, a very special shout out for Chris Simmons who runs Crimesquad.com – a lovely, funny man who has become a very special friend over the last few years.

  First published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Canelo

  This edition published in the United Kingdom in 2020 by Canelo

  Canelo Digital Publishing Limited

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  Copyright © Sheila Bugler, 2020

  The moral right of Sheila Bugler to be identified as the 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.

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  ISBN 9781788639644

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, 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.

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