About the Author
Amanda Brittany lives in Hertfordshire with her husband and two dogs. When she’s not writing, she loves spending time with family, travelling, walking, reading and sunny days. Her debut novel Her Last Lie reached the Kindle top 100 in the US and Australia and was a #1 Bestseller in the UK. It has also been optioned for film. Her second psychological thriller Tell The Truth reached the Kindle top 100 in the US & was a #1 Bestseller in the US. All her ebook royalties for Her Last Lie are being donated to Cancer Research UK, in memory of her sister who lost her battle with cancer in July 2017. It has so far raised over £7,500.
Readers LOVE Amanda Brittany
“Amanda Brittany is a superb writer”
“Totally gripping”
“I had to keep turning the pages – I couldn’t guess the ending, and I had to know!”
“5 out of 5 stars. A real page turner with a brilliantly executed twist”
“Yet another 5* thriller from Amanda Brittany”
“Brittany is a superb writer, highly skilled at keeping you gripped, staying up late to uncover the secrets.”
Also by Amanda Brittany
Her Last Lie
Tell the Truth
Traces of Her
I Lie In Wait
AMANDA BRITTANY
HQ
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2020
Copyright © Amanda Brittany
Amanda Brittany asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
E-book Edition © August 2020 ISBN: 9780008362874
Version: 2020-8-03
Table of Contents
Cover
About the Author
Readers LOVE Amanda Brittany
Also by Amanda Brittany
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Prologue: Present Day
Chapter 1: Present Day
Chapter 2: Present Day
Chapter 3: Present Day
Chapter 4: Present Day
Chapter 5: A Year Ago
Chapter 6: A Year Ago
Chapter 7: A Year Ago
Chapter 8: Present Day
Chapter 9: Present Day
Chapter 10: Present Day
Chapter 11: A Year Ago
Chapter 12: A Year Ago
Chapter 13: A Year Ago
Chapter 14: A Year Ago
Chapter 15: Present Day
Chapter 16: Present Day
Chapter 17: Present Day
Chapter 18: A Year Ago
Chapter 19: A Year Ago
Chapter 20: A Year Ago
Chapter 21: A Year Ago
Chapter 22: Present Day
Chapter 23: Present Day
Chapter 24: Present Day
Chapter 25: Present Day
Chapter 26: Present Day
Chapter 27: Present Day
Chapter 28: A Year Ago
Chapter 29: Present Day
Chapter 30: Present Day
Chapter 31: Present Day
Chapter 32: A Year Ago
Chapter 33: Present Day
Chapter 34: Present Day
Chapter 35: A Year Ago
Chapter 36: Present Day
Chapter 37: Present Day
Chapter 38: Present Day
Chapter 39: Present Day
Chapter 40: A Year Ago
Chapter 41: A Year Ago
Chapter 42: Present Day
Chapter 43: Present Day
Chapter 44: Present Day
Chapter 45: Present Day
Chapter 46: Present Day
Chapter 47: Present Day
Chapter 48: Present Day
Chapter 49: Present Day
Chapter 50: Present Day
Chapter 51: Present Day
Chapter 52: Present Day
Chapter 53: Present Day
Chapter 54: Present Day
Epilogue: Three months later
Acknowledgements
Extract
Dear Reader …
Keep Reading …
About the Publisher
For Kev, with love.
Prologue
Present Day
Me
‘Maddie? Maddie, is that you?’ It is. I know her voice. She’s in the next room. ‘Maddie! Maddie, please help me!’ I tug at the chain trapping my wrist to the bedstead. It cuts into my flesh. Makes fresh wounds.
‘We’re heading back to Drummondale House on Friday,’ she’s saying. ‘It’s the anniversary of Lark and Jackson’s disappearance.’
‘Maddie, please!’ I yell. Why can’t she hear me?
‘Robert feels there may be something we missed that night. I’m not sure what to think, but I’ll keep you updated. Wish us luck!’
‘You’re wasting your time, Maddie,’ you say. And of course, you are right.
The sound of your laptop snapping closed brings me back to reality. Maddie isn’t there at all. You were listening to her vlog.
I close my eyes, fatigue washing over me, my usual thoughts carrying me to nightmares: How did I let this happen? How could I have been so stupid?
*
I have no idea how long I’ve slept, but I’m now alone, and the place is in darkness. I shuffle up the bed, ears pricked on alert for the sound of tyres rolling over the ice-packed ground. My sore, watery eyes pinned on the window, waiting for a glimpse of your car’s headlights to cut across the grubby glass. But it’s silent, and I wonder if you’ve gone back there – back to Drummondale House.
Chapter 1
Present Day
Amelia
He took her. Jackson Cromwell – my mother’s lover. He took my teenage sister. He took Lark from us. I know he did. And sometimes, looking back – eyes wide open – I wonder if I should have reacted when I saw the way he looked at her, the way he flirted.
It’s the anniversary of her disappearance this Friday. Twelve long months of not knowing where Lark is – whether she’s alive or dead.
My ex-partner William couldn’t cope with my outpourings of grief following my sister’s disappearance. It couldn’t have been easy for him listening to me repeat the same tragic words, desperate to explore my feelings, desperate to cope with what had happened. I went from numb to feeling too much, to numb again, all with the aid of too much wine.
In fact, I still hadn’t come to terms with her loss when, seven months later, my mum died. Imagine a car wreck – well that was me in human form.
But a few weeks after her funeral, life took an upward turn. I discovered I was pregnant. For three months a tiny baby had been growing inside me and I’d been too swept away
