‘It’s the middle of the night, Maggie,’ she snapped.
‘Where are they? I’ve just got home and the place is empty.’
She heard her dad’s voice in the background but couldn’t make out what he was saying.
‘They’ve come to stay with us.’
‘What? They’ve gone back with you? Why?’
‘We drove back this evening while you were working. It was your sister’s decision. We didn’t force her.’
Maggie’s mind fogged with confusion. No way would Lou take off to their parents’ house with no word to her. What the hell was going on?
‘Where is she? I want to talk to her.’
‘She’s asleep, as are the children. I’m certainly not disturbing them for you.’
The way Jeanette spat out her words made Maggie even more frightened.
‘What is going on, Mum? Why are you being horrible?’
‘Me being horrible?’ Jeanette scoffed and her dad made a similar noise in the background. ‘I don’t think you’re in a position to accuse anyone else of behaving like that.’
Maggie began to tremble. She’d had enough rows with her mum throughout the years to know that this one was serious.
‘Mum, please. Tell me what’s going on.’
‘If you really want to know, perhaps you should have another look in your bedroom. I think you’ll find the answer you’re looking for in there.’
‘Why can’t you tell me?’ Maggie pleaded. ‘I don’t have the energy for guessing games. I’ve just got back from work and I’m exhausted.’
‘That’s hardly our fault.’
‘Mum! Why are you being like this?’
Jeanette lost her temper.
‘I don’t know how you can live with yourself for what you did. All these years you’ve lied to us. I’m ashamed of you, Maggie, and so is your father.’
Maggie spluttered down the phone.
‘Ashamed? For what?’
But her mum didn’t answer. Instead, as Maggie listened in disbelief, Jeanette Neville hung up. When she tried to call her back, her mum’s phone was switched off.
Confused and panicky, Maggie retraced her steps back to her bedroom. She hovered on the threshold, trying to work out what her mum meant.
Then she saw it. Propped up on her pillow.
A Valentine’s card.
Two teddy bears in an embrace and above them a balloon in the shape of a heart.
Acknowledgements
Once again I want to thank my editor Catherine Richards and the rest of the Pan Mac ‘family’ for their unending support and for all their hard work on my behalf, especially Francesca Pearce for her unwavering calmness and can-do attitude. Likewise huge thanks to my agent Jane Gregory and everyone at Gregory & Co for always having my back. Special mention must go to Duncan McGarry MBE, co-author of Police Family Liaison (Blackstone’s Practical Policing), for being such an inspiration when I was writing this book – I sincerely hope I’ve done justice to family liaison again; any mistakes in procedure are down to me alone! I also want to thank the Police Oracle for being a great source of information, Sally Hinchcliffe for answering all my hospital-related questions and Dawn Spears and the children at the Disraeli School & Children’s Centre for providing Esme’s shopping list! Heartfelt thanks also go to Allie, Miriam, Petra and Alison for the much-needed brouhaha re-fuelling sessions while I was battling to get the book finished, to Hari, Aaron, Austin, Verity, Vickie, Lynne, Erin and all the LVHS girls for their endless support, and to my sister Sharon and parents Elaine and Mick for always believing. Finally, a special, love-filled thank you to Sophie and Rory. I couldn’t do it without you.
Don’t miss the first DC Maggie Neville novel
GONE ASTRAY
It’s your life. But he wants it.
When Lesley Kinnock buys a lottery ticket on a whim, it changes her life more than she ever could have imagined . . .
Lesley and her husband Mack are the sudden winners of a £15-million EuroMillions jackpot. They move to an exclusive, gated estate in Buckinghamshire with their fifteen-year-old daughter Rosie, leaving behind their ordinary lives – and friends – as they are catapulted into wealth beyond their wildest dreams.
But the dream soon turns into their darkest nightmare when, one beautiful spring afternoon, Lesley returns to their house to find it empty. Rosie is gone.
DC Maggie Neville is assigned to be Family Liaison Officer to Lesley and Mack, supporting them while quietly trying to investigate the family. But a crisis in her own life is also troubling Maggie – a secret from the past that, if revealed, could shatter everything she’s worked so hard to build.
As Lesley and Maggie desperately try to find Rosie, their fates hurtle together on a collision course that threatens to end in tragedy . . .
Out now in paperback and ebook.
WRONG PLACE
Michelle Davies has been writing professionally for twenty years as a journalist on magazines, including on the production desk at Elle, and as Features Editor of Heat. Her last staff position before going freelance was Editor-at-Large at Grazia magazine and she currently writes for a number of women’s magazines and newspaper supplements. Michelle is also crime fiction reviewer for the Sunday Express’s Books section. She lives in London and juggles writing crime fiction with her freelance journalism and motherhood. Wrong Place is the second novel featuring DC Maggie Neville, following Gone Astray.
Also by Michelle Davies
Gone Astray
First published 2017 by Macmillan
This electronic edition published 2017 by Macmillan
an imprint of Pan Macmillan
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Associated companies throughout the world
www.panmacmillan.com
ISBN 978-1-4472-8426-0
Copyright © Michelle Davies 2017
Cover images © t-lorien / Getty Images
The right of Michelle Davies to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
Pan Macmillan does not have any control over, or any responsibility for, any author or third-party websites referred to in or on this book.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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