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The Split

Page 31

by Sharon Bolton


  ‘I’m going to give you a minute to appreciate the irony of that,’ Felicity replies.

  Joe laughs, although it is the last thing he feels like doing.

  ‘I’m better here,’ she says. ‘The others are quieter here. It’s as though they know this is my place, I have to lead the pack.’

  Joe has no arguments left. There are no criminal charges left for Felicity to answer. Neither he nor anyone else can force her to seek treatment before she is ready. And she may never be ready.

  ‘Do you have any sense,’ he asks, ‘of how many others there are? I mean we know about Shane, obviously, the one who looks after you, but—’

  Felicity shakes her head. ‘No, Bamber looks after me. She’s the street fighter. Shane is very troubled. He only hurts himself.’

  ‘If you know that, you’ve come a long way already.’

  ‘Bamber knows most of the others. She’s told me about the little girl, who’s always so afraid, and about a woman who’s quite old, who hates me. She sounds a bit like my grandmother.’

  ‘Did Granny write the diary?’ Joe asks.

  ‘Bamber thinks so.’ Felicity blushes and for a second can’t meet his eyes. ‘She and I talk to each other. I know, of course, that what’s really going on is I’m letting myself remember, but it’s easier to do it this way.’

  ‘Whatever works.’

  ‘I think the others emerge when I need them. When Freddie started writing to me from prison, I freaked out. On some level, I was terrified of him.’

  ‘This was in March last year.’ Joe has already worked this out for himself. Freddie’s reappearances in Felicity’s life, in her late teens, and a year ago, triggered her mental health problems.

  Felicity nods. ‘I couldn’t cope alone. So I fractured.’

  ‘Fractured suggests you’re broken,’ Joe says. ‘You’re not.’

  ‘Split?’ says Felicity. ‘Is that a better word?’

  He smiles. ‘Splits can be healed.’

  They set off again and the jetty rocks beneath their feet. Joe turns on impulse back to the administrative buildings and sees the cold blue eyes of Jack watching them from Nigel’s office. There are more reasons than one why he doesn’t want to leave her here. But time is no more forgiving than the tide and they have reached the boat.

  ‘My contract ends in fifteen months,’ Felicity says. ‘I’m coming back to England then.’

  ‘I’ll be waiting,’ Joe tells her.

  She steps forward and kisses him softly on the lips. He counts three, four seconds, then she pulls away. ‘Safe trip,’ she tells him, as Ralph starts the engine.

  ‘I met Bamber,’ Joe says. ‘The last night you were in Cambridge. She kissed me too.’

  Felicity steps back to let him board the launch. She is smiling and Joe realises that it is the first time, except in photographs, that he has seen her happy.

  ‘Well,’ she says, ‘that bitch and I have some talking to do.’

  Acknowledgements

  My sincere love and thanks to the following:

  Anna Valentine and her colleagues at Trapeze and Orion for their faith in me and my books, and their tireless efforts on my behalf; Phoebe Morgan, a great editor, whom it was a pleasure to get to know; Sam Eades and Rose, for regularly brightening my day with their Instagram posts.

  Anne Marie Doulton, my agent, who is extraordinary; and the Buckmans, who are pretty great too.

  My family, even the annoying ones.

  Credits

  Trapeze would like to thank everyone at Orion who worked on the publication of The Split in the UK.

  Editorial

  Sam Eades

  Phoebe Morgan

  Anna Valentine

  Sophie Wilson

  Izzy Everington

  Charlie Panayiotou

  Jane Hughes

  Alice Davis

  Copy-editor

  Rebecca Millar

  Proofreader

  Melissa Smith

  Audio

  Paul Stark

  Amber Bates

  Contracts

  Anne Goddard

  Paul Bulos

  Ellen Harber

  Design

  Black Sheep Designs

  Lucie Stericker

  Joanna Ridley

  Nick May

  Clare Sivell

  Helen Ewing

  Jan Bielecki

  Debbie Holmes

  Finance

  Naomi Mercer

  Jasdip Nandra

  Afeera Ahmed

  Elizabeth Beaumont

  Sue Baker

  Victor Falola

  Marketing

  Lucy Cameron

  Tom Noble

  Production

  Claire Keep

  Fiona Macintosh

  Katie Horrocks

  Publicity

  Alex Layt

  Leanne Oliver

  Sales

  Jen Wilson

  Esther Waters

  Rachael Hum

  Ellie Kyrke-Smith

  Viki Cheung

  Ben Goddard

  Mark Stay

  Georgina Cutler

  Tal Hart

  Andrew Taylor

  Barbara Ronan

  Andrew Hally

  Dominic Smith

  Maggy Park

  Elizabeth Bond

  Linda McGregor

  Rights

  Susan Howe

  Richard King

  Krystyna Kujawinska

  Jessica Purdue

  Hannah Stokes

  Operations

  Jo Jacobs

  Sharon Willis

  Lucy Tucker

  Lisa Pryde

  Also by Sharon Bolton

  Sacrifice

  Awakening

  Blood Harvest

  Now You See Me

  Dead Scared

  Lost

  A Dark and Twisted Tide

  Little Black Lies

  Daisy in Chains

  Dead Woman Walking

  The Craftsman

  About the Author

  SHARON BOLTON is a Mary Higgins Clark Award winner and an ITW Thriller Award, CWA Gold Dagger and Barry Award nominee. Her books included the Lacey Flint novels: Now You See Me, Dead Scared, Lost, and A Dark and Twisted Tide. She lives near London, England. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Part One. South Georgia

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Part Two. Cambridge, England

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapt
er 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Chapter 55

  Chapter 56

  Chapter 57

  Chapter 58

  Chapter 59

  Part Three. Cambridge, England

  Chapter 60

  Chapter 61

  Chapter 62

  Chapter 63

  Chapter 64

  Part Four. South Georgia

  Chapter 65

  Chapter 66

  Chapter 67

  Chapter 68

  Chapter 69

  Chapter 70

  Chapter 71

  Chapter 72

  Chapter 73

  Chapter 74

  Chapter 75

  Chapter 76

  Chapter 77

  Chapter 78

  Chapter 79

  Chapter 80

  Chapter 81

  Chapter 82

  Chapter 83

  Chapter 84

  Chapter 85

  Chapter 86

  Chapter 87

  Chapter 88

  Chapter 89

  Acknowledgements

  Credits

  Also by Sharon Bolton

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group

  THE SPLIT. Copyright © 2020 by Sharon Bolton. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.

  www.minotaurbooks.com

  Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.

  Originally published in Great Britain by Trapeze, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd, an Hachette UK company

  First U.S. Edition: April 2020

  eISBN 9781250300065

  First eBook edition: April 2020

 

 

 


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