Stranger Child (41 page)

He had seemed so sad since those dreadful few days. She knew he had a girlfriend; he had mentioned her briefly when she visited his house. But when she asked Tom if he would like to bring her round some time, he said, ‘Not at the moment,’ and she hadn’t been able to get anything more out of him.

Every night Emma went to sleep thinking of Jack and of what might have been. She relived the moment when he’d touched her, the feel of his body as it pressed against hers in the vault. She had been terrified, and yet there was a heat coming from him that communicated with her at some level. Even before she realised who he was, she had felt electricity fire through her. Then she had seen his eyes, and she was lost again.

Her nights were taken care of, checking on Ollie and dreaming of Jack. But there was something else that she and Ollie did, and would continue to do for as long as it took.

Each morning as they came downstairs, Emma had a quiet word with the portrait, still hanging in the hall.

‘I’m not giving up, Caroline,’ she said.

Then, most days of the week, Emma and Ollie took the car and drove into Manchester or Stockport – changing the times and the venues as often as they could.

Emma then found the most crowded place and put an upturned plastic box on the ground next to Ollie’s pushchair and climbed up on it. People always turned to stare, and that’s when she started shouting.

‘Tasha! Natasha Joseph! Come home, Tasha.’ Ollie joined in. ‘Tassa,’ he shouted.

She chose places that were busy with shoppers, thinking that small-time crooks – the kind of people that Tasha might know – would be out and about picking pockets, stealing mobiles. She stopped every child that was on the street when they should have been in school and showed them Natasha’s photograph. She took fresh sandwiches and cakes to give to the homeless – all they had to do in return was take the picture of Natasha and show it to as many people as possible. She printed thousands of posters, and gave handfuls to anybody who looked as if they might be living the same life as Natasha – or whatever she was calling herself now – asking them to find the girl in the photo and give her the poster.

More often than not, the posters would be dumped as soon as Emma had walked on – sometimes in a bin, but usually dropped indifferently onto the pavement. That was okay, because on the poster was more than just a photo of Natasha. There was a picture of a smiling Ollie with a message in a speech bubble, and the more posters floating around the windy alleyways, settling against greasy walls, lying in the dusty streets, the more chance that somehow it would reach its target and she would read the message.

Natasha Joseph – please come home to your family

Your baby brother misses you

***

About the Author

Rachel Abbott was born and raised in Manchester. She trained as a systems analyst before launching her own interactive media company in the early 1980s. After selling her company in 2000, she moved to the Le Marche region of Italy.

When six-foot snowdrifts prevented her from leaving the house for a couple of weeks, she started writing and found she couldn’t stop. Since then her debut thriller
Only the Innocent
has become an international bestseller, reaching the number one position in the Amazon charts both in the UK and US. This was followed by the number one bestselling novels
The Back Road
and
Sleep Tight
.

Rachel Abbott now lives in Alderney and writes full-time.
Stranger Child
is her fourth novel.

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Acknowledgements

As with every book I have written, the help and advice so willingly given by so many people has made a huge difference, and I can’t thank them all enough.

I had a new advisor on the police procedural aspects of this book, Mark Gray, who steered me through some very tricky sections, only holding back when I strayed into confidential areas. His response to each query was so detailed that my mind frequently strayed onto new paths and I genuinely couldn’t have written
Stranger Child
without him. Of course, there were times when I had to dispense with the real-life efficiency that the police would have employed and allow some personal creativity to sneak into the procedures in the interests of increased tension. So any and all mistakes are entirely mine. But thank you Mark – you have been truly inspirational.

Stranger Child
introduces a new kind of specialist – the forensic linguist. I would like to thank my good friend Dr Isabel Picornell for inspiring me with the types of enquiries that might call on her unique form of expertise. She has filled me with ideas for future stories, and was rigorous with her checking of my words in the appropriate sections of
Stranger Child
. Who knew that a woman’s style of writing was so different from a man’s?

As always, there were many people who offered small nuggets of information on everything from Swiss bank accounts to how container storage bases work. I didn’t necessarily use all this information, but my thanks go to Nick, Patrick, Alan and Sheila for offering their help.

My early readers have – as always - been fantastic, providing excellent feedback and suggestions – in some cases throughout the whole writing process. Thank you Kath, Judith, Ann, John, Ruth, Barry, and Andria.

I would struggle to keep my head above water without my two excellent virtual assistants – Ceri Chaudhry and Alexandra Amor. Who would have thought that VAs in Hertfordshire and Canada could work so well? But both, with their own unique style, have solved so many of the day-to-day problems of being an independently published author, and I don’t know what I would do without them.

Alan Carpenter, my long-suffering designer, has produced yet another wonderful cover and this time there was no need to change the design numerous times. Thanks to great photography from Rick, and a fantastic model in Alicia (a really happy, smiley girl – and a
good actress), we knew we had the cover we wanted almost immediately, and Alan turned it into something that we really hope will stand out.

Some new members of the team have been helping with
Stranger Child
and my particular thanks go to Lucy Ramsay for being so enthusiastic about helping to publicise the book. Helen Hart and her team at SilverWood Books also did an amazing job preparing the paperback advance review copies in such a very short time.

Finally, as always, I cannot say thank you enough to my agent, Lizzy Kremer – the best there is. She has been a wonderful source of support and guidance, as have the rest of the team at David Higham Associates – especially Laura and Harriet. I don’t know how many times Lizzy and Harriet read the manuscript for
Stranger Child
, but their help and direction, together with input from editors, Clare Bowron, Lizzie Dipple, and David Watson have made this a far better book than it might otherwise have been.

It really has been a terrific team effort, and I count myself lucky to be surrounded by the best group of professionals, friends and family there is.

Only the Innocent

A man is dead. The killer is a woman. But what secrets lie beneath the surface - so dark that a man has to die?

When Laura Fletcher approaches her home in Oxfordshire to find hordes of photographers crowding the gates, she knows there is something terribly wrong. She is faced with the shocking news that her husband is dead - brutally murdered - and according to Chief Inspector Tom Douglas, there is little doubt that the murderer is a woman.

In a marriage that has taken her from the glamorous five star luxury of London, Venice and Positano to a bleak and draughty manor house in rural Oxfordshire, Laura has learned to guard her secrets well. She is not alone. It would appear that
all
the women in her husband's life have something to hide.

But there is one secret that she has never shared, and when the investigation reaches its dramatic and horrific climax, she realises that she has no choice. She has to give Tom Douglas the final piece of the puzzle. And this changes everything, leaving Douglas with a terrible dilemma: whether to punish the guilty, or protect the innocent.

Only the Innocent
is a spellbinding psychological thriller that will leave you breathless!

Praise for Only the Innocent

“Rachel Abbott’s Only the Innocent is not your average whodunit murder mystery. The question that drives this thriller is not who did it, but why. Abbott carefully constructed a world of mystery, depravity, sex, violence, manipulation and intrigue on so many different levels that I can honestly say you truly have to read until the last page to understand and appreciate the complexity of the story.”

“It’s a long time since I read a book that occupies my mind constantly and is all consuming. When I was reading this one, or when I was not, I could think of little else.”

“I could not put this book down – it was a completely addictive page-turner – so much so that I read until 3 am finishing it.”

Download a sample of
Only the Innocent
from
Amazon

The Back Road

A girl lies close to death in a dark, deserted lane
.

A driver drags her body to the side of the road
.

A shadowy figure hides in the trees, watching and waiting
.

The small community of Little Melham is in shock.

For Ellie Saunders, last night’s hit and run on the back road could destroy everything she has. She was out that night, but if she reveals where she was and why, her family will be torn apart. She is living on a knife-edge, knowing that her every move is being observed.

Ellie’s new neighbour, former Detective Chief Inspector Tom Douglas has moved to the village for some well-deserved peace and quiet, but as he is drawn into the web of deceit his every instinct tells him that what happened that night was more than a tragic accident.

As past and present collide, best-kept secrets are revealed and lives are devastated. Only one person knows the whole story. And that person will protect the truth no matter what the cost.

The Back Road
is an electrifying thriller that will keep you guessing to the very end.

Praise for The Back Road

“It is one of those books that holds you hostage and is hard to put down until the end”
Confessions of a Reader

“An absorbing mystery of love, deceit, secrets, and murder…truly a spellbinding novel of suspense.”
Mysterious Reviews

“One of Best Mystery Suspense Novels Read This Year!”
Amazon Vine Voice

“Pure Genius: A Masterclass in the Perfect Thriller!!”
Love Books

“A clever psychological crime and mystery novel.”
Little Reader Library

“There are red herrings galore in this well scripted plot and even when you think you have the story sussed, Abbott throws a spanner into the works.”
Crime Fiction Lover blog

Download a sample of The Back Road from
Amazon

SLEEP TIGHT