by Carla Kovach
For once she wasn’t going to argue. ‘Goodnight, Mum. I love you.’ She placed the carnation back on the gravestone and stumbled as Briggs helped her up. He gently kissed her on the head and led her back to the car.
‘Can we have some cocoa too?’ She smiled through the tears as she linked her arm in his and they shivered all the way back to the car.
Epilogue
Gina made the call and nervously waited for an answer.
‘Nanna.’
‘Hello, chicken. Can I speak to Mummy?’
She listened as the dog barked and Gracie ran through the house calling for her mother.
She had thought about everything over the past couple of weeks. Chris had kept her secret like he’d promised and they’d even been spending some time together as friends. She shivered as she thought about how he was now compromised. They were both deep in the pits. That hadn’t been her intention but sometimes life has a way of offering alternative endings but all endings are temporary, until the next one. What the future held, she couldn’t predict. Keeping her secret had been the hardest thing ever and now there were two of them to shoulder the burden.
She thought of Mary and her family. The press hadn’t stopped hounding them since and it would be a long time before they did. The story of the abuse was starting to hit the national papers. As promised, Briggs had given Lyndsey first dibs on the story. Gina only hoped she’d be promoted and move out of the area.
Stephanie and Susan had confirmed their stories at the station. She knew their friendship would be instrumental in helping them to heal. Clare was still in Susan’s bad books and she’d moved out into her own apartment, funded by Mary. After discovering that Clare had been passing information on Susan’s every move to Ronald Halshaw, it would be a long time before Susan could forgive or trust her again. Investigations had been satisfied that Clare knew nothing about Ronald’s intentions, he’d manipulated her just like he had done back then with Susan, Dale and Stephanie.
Mary however had been supportive, offering love and understanding to both of her daughters. Each one of them had lost so much. Gina smiled, she had hope that the family would find a way of coming together.
‘Mum. You okay? I read about the case in the papers.’
‘I’m fine, Hannah. I just wondered if I could pop over to see you and Gracie. I’ll book a bed and breakfast just down the road from you. I know you’re busy—’
‘Shut up! Gracie wants to see you and you don’t need a B&B. We have a spare bed, I’ll make it up. When do you want to come?’
She took a deep breath, surprised by how welcoming Hannah sounded. ‘Now.’
A silence formed between mother and daughter. She’d pushed it. Hannah was horrified and thinking up excuses to put her off.
‘Gracie… Nanny’s coming to stay.’ The little girl screamed with joy as she hurried to the phone.
‘Yayyyy.’ The dog began to bark and Gracie continued to scream.
‘Looks like you have to come now. Don’t you dare let us down. Don’t let Gracie down.’
If anything came up, the station would be on their own, just for a day at least.
‘I’m going to bring something, something we can share.’
‘Okay. What’s that?’
She smiled. ‘I’ll tell you when I get there. See you soon.’
She ended the call and opened her holdall, making sure she hadn’t forgotten the surprise. Of course she’d stop off along the way and go armed with wine, chocolate and sweets, but she also had her box, the one with all her mother’s things in it. She’d never showed Hannah the box. They could go through her mother’s photos together. One day the little box of memories would belong to Hannah when she passed. She just wanted Hannah to know how special it was. Maybe Gina could add some of her belongings to it, items that had her smell permanently trapped in the fibres and then Hannah could do the same for Gracie.
A text beeped on her phone from Wyre.
Quiz night on Tuesday, local venue, would you be up for it? A few of us are going and we think you might be the brains. Get this, Jacob will be bringing Jennifer. Jacob and Jennifer, has a nice ring to it – haha! Paula.
She replied immediately.
Count me in but don’t count on me bringing the brains!
It was time to start living again and attending a quiz was only a small step, but it was the first step in her recovery. Zipping the bag up, she headed to the car, excited to see her family and nervously happy about making plans to go out. Then there was Briggs. What the future held was still a mystery but it held a tight friendship, one based on far more than a brief affair, one based on deeply held secrets of which they could never speak. She shuddered as she locked the door, wondering if she was asking too much of him. Only time would tell.
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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
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)
A Letter from Carla
Dear Reader,
I thank you so much for reading Her Dark Heart and I’m grateful for the continued support of the crime reading community. I also hope you enjoyed the fifth instalment of the DI Gina Harte Series. I can’t express how much I enjoyed writing it.
If you enjoyed Her Dark Heart 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.
Sign up here!
As with all my books, the subject matter is dark and this book is no exception. At times I found writing it challenging. My characters are fictional but the crimes committed against people like Stephanie, Dale and Susan exist within society. It really hit me emotionally as I delved into their stories and thought deeply about what they’d been through to the point that as soon as I’d completed the second round of edits, I decided I needed to read comedy for a short while. It’s not the acknowledgement section, but I should thank Emma Robinson for her book, The Undercover Mother, as it was just the tonic I needed.
Whether you are a reader, a tweeter, a blogger, a Facebooker or a reviewer, I remain truly grateful for 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.
Once again, thank you so much. In the meantime, I’m an avid social media user so please feel free to contact me on Twitter 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.
‘Absolutely the best thriller I’ve read this year!’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
‘I absolutely, totally and utterly LOVED reading The Next Girl… has to be one of my top reads of 2018.’ Ginger Book Geek, 5 stars
‘Oh my goodness! This was gripping and fast moving from page one.’ Southern and Sassy Wine Lady, 5 stars
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.
Her Final Hour
Detective Gina Harte Book 2
Anything can happen behind closed doors…
The gripping new novel from the author of bestseller THE NEXT GIRL. Her Final Hour will have you hooked!
Melissa Sanderson is the perfect wife and mother. She dotes on her daughter, and lives in her dream home in a quiet cul-de-sac in the suburbs.
But looks can be deceiving.
Something is amiss in that house – all the neighbours think so. Some say Melissa is having an affair. Others say she’s been drinking too much.
Then one night, sirens wake up the whole neighbourhood.
Melissa Sanderson is dead.
AN ABSORBING THRILLER WITH AN ENDING YOU WON’T SEE COMING – if you like Lisa Gardner, Robert Bryndza or Clare Mackintosh, you’ll love this absolutely heart-stopping thriller from Carla Kovach.
Get it here!
Her Pretty Bones
Detective Gina Harte Book 3
Get it here!
THE UNPUTDOWNABLE NEW THRILLER FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF THE NEXT GIRL
She’s just the girl he’s looking for…
A young woman falls from a vehicle speeding down a quiet road. Battered and bruised, she turns her head to the person who comes to her aid. ‘Help her’, she whispers before her eyes close.
Days later, the body of another young girl is found in a shallow grave just a few miles away. The similarities between the two girls are startling – same age, same frail body, same shocking red hair.
As the town fears there’s a serial killer living amongst them, Detective Gina Harte must put aside her own struggles at home, and catch the killer before he finds another perfect girl.
AN ABSOLUTELY HEART-STOPPING CRIME THRILLER FROM CARLA KOVACH – if you like Lisa Gardner, Robert Bryndza or Clare Mackintosh, Her Pretty Bones will have you hooked.
Order now!
The Liar’s House
Detective Gina Harte Book 4
Get it here!
‘I am hooked on this series… If you love a good detective series with plenty of twists and turns, you really need to put Carla Kovach on your list, you won’t be disappointed!’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
‘Another Gina Harte winner!… HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!’ Goodreads Reviewer, 5 stars
‘Just wow!… FANTASTIC… I just had to keep reading.’ Bonnie’s Book Talk, 5 stars
Samantha stumbled out of the party and on to a busy street only ten minutes away from her home. But she never made it home…
Seven years after Samantha’s disappearance, on what would have been her thirty-fifth birthday, her best friend Diane is shocked to find a letter addressed to Samantha on her doorstep.
Opening the envelope, Diane pulls out a birthday card and a finger nail painted in dusky pink nail polish. The same shade Samantha always wore. The same shade she was wearing the night she went missing.
When police analyse the nail, they don’t get the result they expected. Instead of linking them to Samantha, the nail belongs to another woman, Jade Ashmore. And Jade was murdered the night before the envelope was delivered…
THE COMPLETELY ADDICTIVE NEW CRIME THRILLER FROM BEST SELLING AUTHOR CARLA KOVACH – if you love Lisa Gardner, Robert Bryndza or Clare Mackintosh, you’ll love The Liar’s House. Gripping from the first page – you won’t be able to put it down.
Order now!
Acknowledgements
I’d firstly like to thank my editor, Helen Jenner. The amount of work you did to make Her Dark Heart shine absolutely amazed me – I don’t know how you did it but I’m convinced you are Superwoman. I love working with you and hope to do so for a long time. I also never stop feeling grateful and thankful that I have such an awesome editor.
Kim Nash and Noelle Holten, you both work so hard, making sure that we authors have such a lovely fanfare on publication day and beyond. Thank you so much for all that you do. I’d like to also spread thanks to all the fantastic bloggers for giving up their time, I appreciate everything you do. I have to mention the other Bookouture authors too, the support that I receive from you makes me feel all warm and fluffy.
Lynne Ward, Derek Coleman, Su Biela, Brooke Venables and Vanessa Morgan, thank you so much for beta reading my work. I love that I have you all in my life and your input and support remains invaluable to me. I also know your time is valuable so here’s a big, fat, thank you! And thank you for your friendship too.
For my insight into the real world of policing, I have to thank DS Bruce Irving. Our gruesome phone conversations are instrumental when it comes to bringing my fictional police department to life. I couldn’t do it without you.
Lastly, I have to thank my wonderful husband, Nigel Buckley. Thank you for the coffee and biscuits. Thank you for not being judgemental when I stay in bed writing until midday in my bedclothes – haha. A huge thank you for all your support and for always being there.
Published by Bookouture in 2019
An imprint of Storyfire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
Copyright © Carla Kovach, 2019
Carla Kovach 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: 978-1-78681-882-9
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.
