‘There’s more,’ I say.
‘Go on.’
I open my eyes and glance to Olivia. She’s still asleep, chest rising methodically.
‘Not here,’ I say.
I take a moment to watch Olivia’s chest rise and fall, to convince myself she’s safe. Dan’s at my side and then he steers me away. I remember little of the corridor or journey but the next thing I know, he’s tucking me into my bed and making sure I’m comfortable. He sits at my side, saying nothing, though I can sense him anticipating. He’s not questioned any of what happened so far, taking it in his stride.
‘I went to the gym,’ I say. ‘I opened your locker.’
‘Oh.’
This time I wait. Dan clears his throat.
‘Did you tell anyone?’ he asks quietly.
‘No.’
‘The stun gun belongs to Alice’s brother. He brought it back from holiday, not knowing it was illegal. I have no idea how he got it through airport security. Alice had it her gym bag. She was going to hand it in to the police but that’s technically an offence. I said I’d do it as a favour. Figured being a deputy headteacher would go in my favour. I’d say I found it in a hedge, something like that. It’s gone now.’
I think of seeing Dan trail after Alice at the car boot and that twinge of sorrow I felt for him. I feel it now, too. Stronger this time. Perhaps he’s in love with her? If he is, it’s not reciprocated. The poor sod. No wonder he said he’d do that for her.
‘DBA Enterprises,’ I say.
‘Who?’
‘The credit card.’
‘Oh…’ He raises his eyebrows in surprise. ‘That’s the leasing company for my new apartment. I thought I told you? I had to pay a deposit. That’s okay, isn’t it?’
Of course it is. It makes perfect sense.
‘Where’s Jason?’ I ask.
‘With the police, last I heard. They’re waiting to talk to you, Tyler and Liv. I think he’s the only one in a decent state. I don’t know for sure.’
I sigh with relief and regret.
Dan’s hand reaches under the covers until it meets mine. He locks his fingers into me and squeezes gently. Neither of us speak because we don’t need to. We’re still breaking up – we both know it. Nothing has solved the underlying problems of our marriage – but at least we have trust. Our beautiful daughter is along the hallway and we owe it to her to be her parents.
‘She’ll be fine,’ Dan says, reading my mind.
We’ve got many conversations to have in the days to come – and I’ve got some serious explaining to do, not only to him but probably the police as well. For now, I can think only of Olivia.
‘Yes,’ I agree. ‘She’ll be fine.’
Chapter Fifty-Two
A second police car pulls up outside Rose’s house to join the first. A pair of officers get out and head inside, joining the two already in there.
I wonder what they’re doing. Wonder what Rose has told them, not to mention my traitorous brother. My house is out of bounds – more police – but the time will come when Rosie, Dan and Olivia are all back here. A time when they think they’re safe.
That’s when I’ll return. I’ll be ready the next time. I owe it to myself and I owe it to Wayne. I waited more than twenty years for this, so what’s a few months more?
Be seeing you around, Rosie. Be seeing you around.
* * *
THE END
* * *
If you were hooked by LAST NIGHT, you'll love THE GIRL WHO CAME BACK, a totally absorbing psychological thriller with an ending you won't see coming.
The Girl Who Came Back
Thirteen years ago Olivia Adams went missing. Now she’s back… or is she?
* * *
When six-year-old Olivia Adams disappeared from her back garden, the small community of Stoneridge was thrown into turmoil. How could a child vanish in the middle of a cosy English village?
* * *
Thirteen years on and Olivia is back. Her mother is convinced it’s her but not everyone is sure. If this is the missing girl, then where has she been - and what happened to her on that sunny afternoon?
* * *
If she's an imposter, then who would be bold enough to try to fool a child’s own mother – and why?
* * *
Then there are those who would rather Olivia stayed missing. The past is the past and some secrets must remain buried.
* * *
An absorbing and gripping psychological thriller that will have you holding your breath until the final page.
* * *
Order now!
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Also by Kerry Wilkinson
Standalone novels
Ten Birthdays
Two Sisters
The Girl Who Came Back
Last Night
* * *
The Jessica Daniel series
The Killer Inside
Vigilante
The Woman in Black
Think of the Children
Playing with Fire
The Missing Dead
Behind Closed Doors
Crossing the Line
Scarred for Life
For Richer, For Poorer
* * *
Short Stories
January
February
March
April
* * *
The Andrew Hunter series
Something Wicked
Something Hidden
* * *
Silver Blackthorn
Reckoning
Renegade
Resurgence
* * *
Other
Down Among the Dead Men
No Place Like Home
Watched
A Letter from Kerry
Writing books is a weird thing. I can't speak for other authors but, with me, there's a part of everything I write that is a window into who I am as a person. Many of the things I find funny are right there in my characters. Things that frustrate and annoy me will also annoy my characters. If you've read a few of my books and liked them, we'll probably get on. If you hated them, well, we probably won't.
There's also another side - because an author isn't his or her characters. It's easy to think that something like a character's politics are a direct reflection of the author's views - but, if that was true, every crime writer would be a secret murderer.
There is this line that's hard to define where part of a character comes from the creator but another part is pure fiction. I write a crime series with a character named Jessica and get asked all the time about how much of me is in her. The answer is that there's a lot of me in her...but, simultaneously, we're also opposites. I doubt we'd get on.
As I've got older, I think I increasingly try to write about characters to whom odd things tend to happen. The character makes the plot, rather than the plot makes the character. I completely realise that this is polarising. An author can write a chapter in which the only thing that happens is that two characters talk to one another. One reader will say, 'Well, nothing happened there'. Another will say, 'I love how those characters developed'. It's all about perception.
The reason I say all that is because my wife will read this book and this letter. The first time she reads these words will be after she's finished the book. Perhaps more than any thriller I've written before, there is a lot in here about relationships.
The entire backdrop to Last Night is that Rose's relationship is falling apart. While that's happening, it just so happens that something strange is also going on in her life.
I've been married to my wife for nearly 10 years and I suppose there is a part of me in this book. There are the tiny inconsequential things about a partner that ca
n drive a person absolutely mad, while, at the same time, there's an awareness that none of it really matters. There was a side of me that enjoyed taking these thoughts of marital break-up to the extreme. Art and life are not the same thing - but they're not completely different, either.
So, anyway. Hi, Louise. I don't want a divorce, I think you're awesome, but, for the love of all that is holy: STOP LEAVING SO MUCH CRAP ON THE FLOOR.
Whew. It feels cathartic to get that out.
As for literally everyone else, I do hope you enjoyed the book. Please leave a review on your platform of choice. I genuinely appreciate every review...except the one-stars that say 'not read yet'. At least give it five stars and say you've not got round to it!
Feel free to email me through kerrywilkinson.com - or to tweet me via @kerrywk. I try to respond to everything I receive.
* * *
Thanks for reading.
Kerry
* * *
https://kerrywilkinson.com/
Two Sisters
A gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist
They told us he had been missing for nearly two days, that he probably drowned. They told us a lie.
* * *
Megan was ten years old when her older brother, Zac, went missing among the cliffs, caves and beaches that surround the small seaside town of Whitecliff.
* * *
A decade later and a car crash has claimed the lives of her parents.
* * *
Megan and her younger sister Chloe return to Whitecliff one summer for the first time since their brother’s disappearance. Megan says it’s to get her parents’ affairs in order. There are boxes to pack, junk to clear, a rundown cottage to sell. But that’s not the real reason.
* * *
Megan has come to confront her family’s past after receiving a postcard on the day of her parents’ funeral. It had a photograph of Whitecliff on the front and a single letter on the back.
* * *
‘Z’ is all it read.
* * *
Z for Zac.
* * *
A totally gripping psychological thriller that will have fans of Louise Jensen, Sue Fortin and The Silent Child absolutely hooked.
* * *
Get it here!
The Killer Inside
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 1
Buy here!
* * *
You can lock your doors…but what if the killer is already inside?
* * *
When the body of a woman is found in a locked house, Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is called in to investigate a seemingly impossible murder. Without a key, how did the killer get in or out?
* * *
Jessica is under intense pressure to solve the case fast, but as she and her team chase down flimsy leads, she realizes this might just be the toughest case she has ever handled.
* * *
Then a second body is discovered bearing the same hallmarks as the first victim, and Jessica’s worst fears are confirmed: the hunt is for a serial killer, and only one thing is certain: they will strike again.
* * *
Can she get to him before the body count rises? And is she prepared to put her own life in terrible danger to catch the murderer?
* * *
An intense and compelling edge-of-your-seat thriller full of twists and turns.
* * *
Buy The Killer Inside here.
Vigilante
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 2
A gripping and twisted serial killer thriller
* * *
A killer behind bars is still killing…
* * *
When the body of a man is discovered with multiple stab wounds, Detective Jessica Daniel thinks it could be another drug-related murder. But then two more victims are found with similar markings. Each of the men were hardened criminals but is that the only link?
As Jessica is drawn into her most difficult case yet, dead bodies continue to pile up and the media go to town with headlines of a ‘Vigilante’ on the streets.
Then forensics match blood from the killer to a man already behind bars: Donald McKenna. Serving life in prison, Donald is a dangerous individual with the perfect alibi. But Jessica is sure he’s lying - and that he’s not the only one.
Can she catch a ruthless killer before he takes his next victim? And as Jessica inches nearer to the truth, can she protect those closest to her?
The second novel in the bestselling Detective Jessica Daniel series is a chilling serial killer thriller full of twists and turns.
* * *
Read the second book in the Detective Jessica Daniel series, OUT NOW.
The Woman in Black
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 3
A chilling serial killer thriller with a twist you won't see coming
* * *
A severed hand is discovered in the centre of Manchester and the only clue Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel has to go on is CCTV footage of a woman in a long black robe placing it carefully on the ground.
* * *
With a growing missing persons list and frantic families wondering if the body part could belong to their absent loved ones, Jessica must solve the case fast.
* * *
When a second hand is found and a local politician’s wife goes missing, Jessica is left struggling to find out who the appendages belong to. The mother of missing Lewis Barnes, is convinced his girlfriend, twenty-six year-old January Forrester is responsible, but something doesn’t add up. Who is the mysterious woman in black and how is she connected to the abandoned body parts?
* * *
Then, unnervingly, a detached finger arrives in the post for Jessica - and it's clear that someone knows exactly who she is.
* * *
A totally gripping and chilling thriller that will have you completely hooked to the very last page.
* * *
Buy now!
Think of the Children
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 4
One is dead. One is missing. Who is next?
* * *
Detective Sergeant Jessica Daniel is first on the scene as a stolen car crashes on a misty, wet Manchester morning. The driver is dead, but the biggest shock awaits her when she discovers the body of a child wrapped in plastic in the boot of the car.
* * *
As Jessica struggles to identify the driver, a thin trail leads her first to a set of clothes buried in the woods and then to a list of children's names abandoned in an allotment shed.
* * *
When another child from the list goes missing, Jessica is desperate to find them but in order to do so, she must crack open the secrets of a case that’s been unsolved for fourteen years.
* * *
A darkly compelling and heart-stoppingly gripping novel in the bestselling Detective Jessica Daniel series.
* * *
Order now.
Playing with Fire
Detective Jessica Daniel Book 5
Out now!
* * *
His sentence may be over, but his crime is not forgotten.
* * *
Martin Chadwick is about to be released from prison, seven years after setting fire to a pub, killing a teenage boy. But the victim’s father doesn’t believe justice has been served. He wants retribution.
* * *
A media storm is swirling and it’s not long before journalists have a story to follow. First, a series of arson attacks and Martin Chadwick’s own son, Ryan, is at risk.
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