by Fiona Barton
He was so gentle when he spoke to me. When he asked me why I was there. We both knew, of course, but he needed me to say it. Needed it so badly. So I told him. ‘I’ve come to see our baby girl.’ He thought I meant Glen’s and my baby girl, but Bella is Bob’s and mine, really. He loves her as much as I do. Glen never loved her. He just wanted her and took her.
We sat for a bit, not talking, then Bob told me the real story. The story Glen couldn’t tell me. He told me how Glen had found Bella online and hunted her down. How the police had watched a film of him following her and Dawn from nursery four days before he kidnapped her. How he had planned the whole thing.
‘He said he did it for me,’ I said.
‘He did it for himself, Jean.’
‘He said I made him do it because I needed a baby so much. It was my fault. He did it because he loved me.’
Bob looked at me hard and said slowly, ‘Glen took her for himself, Jean. No one else was to blame. Not Dawn, not you.’
I felt like I was underwater and couldn’t hear or see anything clearly. I felt like I was drowning. It felt like we had been there for hours when Bob helped me up and put my coat round my shoulders and took my hand to lead me away. I turned back and whispered, ‘Goodbye, darling,’ then we walked towards the blue lights flashing through the trees.
I saw the funeral pictures on the television. A little white coffin with pink rosebuds on the lid. Hundreds of people went from all over the country, but I couldn’t. Dawn got an injunction to stop me. We made an application to the court, but the judge agreed with the psychiatrist that it would be too much for me.
I was still there, though.
Bella knew I was there, and that’s all that matters.
Acknowledgements
Sister Ursula IBVM, for turning on the light.
And those who helped replace the bulb: my parents, David and Jeanne Thurlow; my sister, Jo West; and Rachael Bletchly, Carol Maloney, Jennifer Sherwood, Wendy Turner, Rick Lee and Jane McGuinn.
The experts: former DCI Colin Sutton, for putting me right on police matters, and John Carr, the fount of all knowledge on online child safety.
My wonderful agent, Madeleine Milburn; editors Danielle Perez and Frankie Gray, and all at Transworld and NAL/Penguin Random House for their encouragement, patience and determination to put The Widow on the page.
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First published in Great Britain by Bantam Press
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Copyright © Fiona Barton 2016
Fiona Barton has asserted her right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.
This book is a work of fiction and, except in the case of historical fact, any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Every effort has been made to obtain the necessary permissions with reference to copyright material, both illustrative and quoted. We apologize for any omissions in this respect and will be pleased to make the appropriate acknowledgements in any future edition.
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Version 1.0 Epub ISBN 9781473526860
ISBNs 9780593076217 (hb)
9780593076224 (tpb)
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