Her Last Secret: A gripping psychological thriller
Page 31
That was her Big Plan.
So, Kendra copied Ruby’s number from Ben’s phone one night. Next day she sent a couple of text messages to the teen, mentioning the fight, to throw the kid off the scent and make her believe it was her peers picking on her. The messages contained nothing bad, just intimating that she wasn’t the most popular person in the world. She wanted Ruby to be miserable and cause trouble at home. It wasn’t something Kendra was proud of, but all is fair in love and war, right, and she’d make it up to the teen once she became her stepmother.
Like Ben always said, you had to bet big to win big. And sometimes there was collateral damage.
As time had gone on, though, Kendra’s texts had become more extreme, more bullying. She had often taken her frustrations with Ben out on the girl.
‘You stink.’
‘You’re ugly.’
‘Why don’t you do everyone a favour and die?’
It had seemed fairly innocent at the time; after all, how bad could a few text messages be? Kendra had felt a bit guilty when Jayne got thumped by Ruby, who had mistakenly blamed her for the messages. But, as Jayne herself had admitted, she’d deserved the punch for sharing the video in the first place. Kendra couldn’t help agreeing; as well as being grateful she herself wasn’t sporting such awful bruising, when she always had to look her best for Ben. Still, after her chat with Jayne, she had gone food shopping and almost bumped into Ruby as she came out of one of the fast food places in the main shopping area of Charlton. It had seemed serendipitous, so Kendra had snatched the opportunity to send the teenager a text about her outfit, knowing the thought of being stalked would put the fear of God into her. That would teach her to pick on Jayne. Ruby needed to learn that violence solved nothing.
When she had seen how annoyed Ben was about the scuffle between his daughter and Jayne, Kendra had known she was on the right track, so continued to add pressure on him and Ruby. Clearly not enough, though, because he had still clung to his wife.
She’d confronted Dominique, bullied Ben’s daughter, and desperation had even led her to pretend to be pregnant.
The website promoting Ruby as a prostitute had probably been a bridge too far, though.
But if Ben had only stopped mucking Kendra around and made a decision, things wouldn’t have got so out of control. She’d never have acted this way if Ben had been a bit more reasonable. Kendra hadn’t expected Ben to try to commit suicide – or that his daughter would get hold of a shotgun. The newspapers were at pains to paint the whole thing as a terrible accident; a domino chain of events that had tumbled to its tragic conclusion. Ruby faced no charge, and the police had even issued a statement explaining that forensic evidence had completely exonerated her. To accompany the article had been a photograph of her, leaning on her boyfriend, with her little sister, dad, and Fiona, them all gazing doe-eyed at Dominique’s headstone. Thanks to Dominique’s life insurance, those kids wouldn’t have to worry about money.
So, on the whole, things hadn’t worked out too badly for them, and the bad things weren’t really Kendra’s fault. But sometimes she did find herself feeling guilty for her part in everything.
Had Kendra pushed Ruby too far?
Just in case, she had thrown her old phone away and got a new one so she wasn’t linked to Ruby’s texts. But there was no reason why anyone would ever suspect her. She rubbed her hands over her face in relief as she thought, accidentally smearing ash over her cheeks. She turned the tap on, rinsing away the charred remains of Ben’s note, then splashing her face.
After all that upset, she had done a midnight flit from her Charlton flat and moved back to Edinburgh. That business with her previous boyfriend had died down, finally, and his family wouldn’t accuse her of being a stalker now if they bumped into her. Hopefully. She’d sold all of the jewellery Ben had given her, so she could afford a nice flat in the expensive New Town area, on the other side of the city from her family, and her ex. She had a plan to find herself a decent man, with some money, to settle down with. Someone who wouldn’t mess her around.
In fact, she already had her eye on someone, which was why she finally felt ready to get rid of Ben’s ‘suicide’ note.
She glanced at the clock – it was time to go. Her soon-to-be new man would be arriving at his favourite café soon, and she needed to ‘accidently’ bump into him.
She dried her face, then popped on a tiny bit of mascara and blusher. Perfect. Grabbing her coat, she sped towards the front door with a smile of excitement on her face. The future was looking rosy.
There was someone waiting on the other side of the door. His hand raised as though about to knock on the door.
Kendra’s heart stuttered.
‘Kendra Wilcox?’ the police officer checked. ‘I’m arresting you on charges of harassment against Ruby Thomas, contrary to section four of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997…’
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If you enjoyed the suspense and dark deeds in Her Last Secret, try Barbara Copperthwaite’s previous novel, The Darkest Lies, for a tale that will hook you until the very last twist…
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Get it here!
The Darkest Lies
A gripping psychological thriller with a shocking twist
‘Compelling, claustrophobic and horribly believable – a great read!’ B.A. Paris, author of Behind Closed Doors and The Breakdown
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Get it here!
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A mother desperate for the truth. A daughter hiding a terrible secret.
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Melanie Oak appeared to have the perfect life. Married to her childhood sweetheart, Jacob, the couple live with their beautiful, loving, teenage daughter, Beth, in a pretty village.
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Nothing can shake her happiness - until the day that Beth goes missing and is discovered beaten almost to the point of death, her broken body lying in a freezing creek on the marshes near their home.
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Consumed with grief, Melanie is determined to find her daughter’s attacker. Someone in the village must have seen something. Why won’t they talk?
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As Melanie tries to piece together what happened to Beth, she discovers that her innocent teenager has been harbouring some dark secrets of her own. The truth may lie closer to home and put Melanie’s life in terrible danger…
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A completely gripping psychological thriller with a twist you won’t see coming. Fans of The Girl on the Train, The Sister and Before I Let You In will be captivated.
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Out now!!
Hear More From Barbara
I want to say a huge thank you for choosing to read Her Last Secret. If you did enjoy it, 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.
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Also by Barbara Copperthwaite:
The Darkest Lies
Flowers for the Dead
Invisible
A Letter from Barbara
Thank you for taking the time to read Her Last Secret. If you did enjoy it, 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!
Poor, wounded Ruby, lashing out at those she loves, sprang into my mind whole, along with her dysfunctional family. They are not perfect, they are not likeable, but I love them for their imperfections. And in some ways that is what this story is about: loving people as much in spite of themselves as because of them. As the saying goes, you can choose your friends, but you can’t choose your family.
I hope you have enjoyed reading Her Last Secret as much as I enjoyed writing it. I’d love to hear your thoughts on the book – and if you have the time to leave a review it would be very much appreciated.
If you want to get in touch
, or find out the latest on what I’m up to, there are lots of ways: Facebook, Twitter, my blog, and website, as well as Goodreads. I’d love to hear from you!
Thank you for your continuing support and enthusiasm.
Barbara Copperthwaite
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Blog
www.barbaracopperthwaite.com
Acknowledgements
As Her Last Secret is about a family falling apart, it seems only right that my biggest thanks should go to my supportive family. While I’m busy writing, my partner, Paul, is running round keeping me and the house going. I couldn’t do this without his practical and emotional help. My mum listens to me as I plot murder and mayhem. And my sisters, Rona and Ellen, and brother Rory, encourage me to keep going whenever they see me. I’m particularly grateful to Ellen, to whom this book is dedicated.
I’m no businesswoman, so I needed help when it came to plotting Benjamin’s financial shenanigans. Without the incredible input of Peter, a former tax inspector who gave me brilliant insider knowledge, Benjamin would not have been anywhere near as artful.
Anne Henshaw, Dr Carol Cooper, and Kim Pocklington lent me their medical knowledge.
Anyone who would like to know more about Parkinson’s can find information and support at www.parkinsons.org.uk
Massive thanks, too, to Facebook’s THE Book Club, who put me in touch with Anne and Carol, and whose members are so enthusiastic about my work, along with Crime Book Club, Crime Fiction Addict, and UK Crime Book Club. Last but by no means least on Facebook is Book Connectors, which is so supportive and utterly brilliant.
Police expertise came in the form of fabulous consultant Stuart Gibbon, who was kind enough to share his thirty-two years of experience as a senior-level detective with me. Thank you, Stuart, for your patience even when I was asking the most basic of questions! You’ve been such a great help.
As always, the Bookouture team have been amazing, and I can’t thank them enough. My editor, Keshini, is so talented and easy to work with, and I count my lucky stars to have her by my side. The tireless Kim also deserves special mention for all her incredible publicity work.
Finally, a big thank you to all of my readers for continuing to enjoy my books. One such reader, Margaret Dudgeon, won a competition to have her name in this book. Margaret, I hope you enjoyed seeing your name in print as Ruby’s headteacher.
Published by Bookouture
An imprint of StoryFire Ltd.
Carmelite House
50 Victoria Embankment
London EC4Y 0DZ
www.bookouture.com
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Copyright © Barbara Copperthwaite, 2017
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Barbara Copperthwaite has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work.
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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.
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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.
ISBN: 978-1-78681-259-9