Читать книгу Bad Sister: ‘Tense, convincing… kept me guessing’ Caz Frear, bestselling author of Sweet Little Lies - Sam Carrington, Sam Carrington - Страница 26

Despite attempting to clear her mind, Connie struggled to fully concentrate on her last client of the day – thoughts, questions about Steph’s story periodically pierced through and she found herself lost at times, having to ask Paul to repeat himself. She’d annoyed him, his tutting following each request to ‘say that again’, giving away his irritation.

She was relieved when the session was over. It was only four thirty, but she didn’t want to catch her usual train. She’d get the later one, at six. Be unpredictable. Just in case. Connie made herself a cafetière of coffee, then, enveloped by the peace of her room, sat and allowed the questions she’d been trying to repress flood her mind. How could Steph’s family – her brother, dead dad – be unknown to the witness protection team? It was their job to know everything, to ensure their witnesses’ safety. How could it be possible that Miles didn’t know about Brett? Had they merely concentrated on the gang and Steph’s boyfriend when carrying out risk assessments? But surely background info was key to covering every base, ensuring no one knew of Steph’s new identity, her new home. There should be no loose ends.

Something wasn’t right. Had they screwed up? Perhaps in their eagerness to get Steph to testify, they’d missed vital background checks. Although why Steph hadn’t just told Miles about her brother was strange.

Connie let her head drop into her cupped hands. These questions forced her in another direction, and her thoughts drifted to her own brother. To the memory stick she’d been handed. Hadn’t she spent the last twenty-two years burying the memory of Luke’s death? She didn’t talk about him. Her brother dying when she’d only just turned fifteen impacted on her more than any of her family ever realised. More than she’d let on. Even to herself. The only people she ever spoke his name to were her parents. And even then, it was sporadic: his birthday, the anniversary of his death. She didn’t like to bring him up in case she upset her mum.

Someone wanted her to remember him though – the article and the document had suddenly thrust his life, his death, in her face. Where she had to take notice of it. She and Steph seemed to have that in common: a lost brother. Very different circumstances, and Brett was still alive physically, but still – they’d both suffered, both experienced the grieving process. They both had unresolved issues about it.

But how could Connie guide Steph through her anxiety, her problems, when she’d never got her head around the event that changed her own life? After Luke died, her father had moved them to the other side of Manchester. But not content with upending them all once, her parents had then dragged Connie away from big, bad Manchester to the idyllic coastal town in Devon, peeled her away from her friends, her support network. Just like Steph. The similarities had gone unnoticed until now. Until the memory stick had found its way into Connie’s hands, she’d buried her past. Buried Luke. But, like Steph, the past was now forcing its way into the present.

It had been a random attack, they’d said. He’d died quickly, they’d said. Wrong place, wrong time. As simple as that.

But then why had someone gone to the trouble of searching her past to bring it all up again now?