скачать книгу бесплатно
Mine: The hot new thriller of 2018 - sinister, gripping and dark with a breathtaking twist
J.L. Butler
‘Sinister, clever, with a dark twist coiled in its heart’ –S. K. Tremayne‘A gripping, thrill-a-minute ride through London’s dark side’– Erin Kelly‘Fiendishly plotted and perfectly paced’ -Caz FrearFatal Attraction meets Apple Tree Yard. This debut novel will be your new obsession.Francine Day is a high-flying lawyer about to apply for silk, ambitious and brilliant. She just needs one headline grabbing client to seal her place as Queen's Counsel … Martin Joy. The attraction is instant. Obsessive.They embark on a secret affair and Francine thinks she can hold it together. But then Martin's wife, Donna, goes missing. And Martin is the prime suspect.As the case unravels so does Francine, because the last person to see Donna Joy alive, was her.My client. My lover. My husband. My obsession.Set in the Inns of Court in London, where justice and corruption have played out for centuries, J L Butler’s taut, gripping legal drama brims with suspense and obsession, and only you can solve the case…
J.L. BUTLER
Copyright (#u6c233fb2-285b-5114-9e41-849662fb051d)
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
Copyright © J.L. Butler 2018
Cover design by Micaela Alcaino © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover photograph © Vanessa Ho/Arcangel Images (hallway), © Shutterstock.com (http://wwwwShutterstock.com) (woman)
J.L. Butler asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of 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, down-loaded, 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.
Source ISBN: 9780008262419
Ebook Edition © June 2018 ISBN: 9780008262426
Version: 2018-10-29
Dedication (#u6c233fb2-285b-5114-9e41-849662fb051d)
To JP
He wants his wife to disappear. So do you …
Table of Contents
Cover (#u3f2481ab-a8f4-57ce-9c5b-ada2519d37bf)
Title Page (#ued1c4f75-f8d1-5d6a-a17f-1cb0322049b7)
Copyright (#ue72bee8c-ad6f-5068-b497-fe338c8ae031)
Dedication (#uc320e51a-9151-5d8e-810d-b65251b9ae83)
Epigraph (#u06b89311-e60d-501a-b6b1-2a7462a7f680)
Prologue (#ua332a050-d3ca-51ac-9b7a-c73f59ced3ff)
Chapter 1 (#u78d021ed-5e21-5b3e-8a68-1c61a20d9177)
Chapter 2 (#uf21c4f98-ef3a-5d1e-9271-a4ca1d880e24)
Chapter 3 (#u6e3cf6dd-b365-58ec-9c0f-2e95bda5e834)
Chapter 4 (#ud2a9d43f-fc12-5316-a4d0-52190bcdecc1)
Chapter 5 (#u0a8010c5-6821-55ad-97d7-5c83ff9bf975)
Chapter 6 (#uaad1a61e-57cb-5bc5-958b-eb77e99f01e2)
Chapter 7 (#u46a2f679-0272-56d0-8298-e29ded8fafcf)
Chapter 8 (#u05831e28-3cf4-53c4-9bd4-dd6fe4587940)
Chapter 9 (#uc0f04a1a-0c66-5b50-ac3e-f39e589b4e0c)
Chapter 10 (#ufc58137d-9b43-5d5f-a490-3cf095dc2139)
Chapter 11 (#u7cee8c6d-8805-5331-89fe-b68bc7beaa3b)
Chapter 12 (#u031a45c3-2b08-50d4-be33-4706fddb0add)
Chapter 13 (#u4c303ac4-bf73-518e-bd8f-69218e3a85b0)
Chapter 14 (#ud39f9842-8cf4-5e49-9708-48d1d4c236d1)
Chapter 15 (#u44ebd237-4422-5bc0-8726-3adee53f6563)
Chapter 16 (#u8bd8cd05-5db7-5b71-8fe4-181b43dcdab0)
Chapter 17 (#ufed10a0b-7119-5918-ac60-2bbe4db0d1ed)
Chapter 18 (#u26b69392-a447-5a10-b03e-abe13a158257)
Chapter 19 (#ud0233ae3-b13a-5d16-9981-9010a9667c98)
Chapter 20 (#u332f2d0a-3d99-53b4-9b17-b64a45edf638)
Chapter 21 (#ud11b2f75-ca53-5697-a527-27ea11626dfe)
Chapter 22 (#u431e80b8-83fc-5b6b-be62-8b20d1c15201)
Chapter 23 (#u0d8ac86c-bf24-5c84-afad-714ead523379)
Chapter 24 (#udce28585-3a20-5316-8025-2a31bd7e5544)
Chapter 25 (#u2a722f0a-0137-516e-bdb6-3b2cca50b9cf)
Chapter 26 (#u966f58fa-5060-5286-9410-21e11cb73a45)
Chapter 27 (#u2f63d797-0917-54d9-bdd7-46dea8bb8d20)
Chapter 28 (#ud308412e-1400-5a13-9470-8e523fef0a0d)
Chapter 29 (#u41783287-cf13-5148-86aa-90ad7e592621)
Chapter 30 (#u48acb885-d6b6-5d47-899f-867bcbe4b167)
Chapter 31 (#ueda6a67d-0473-56ae-a1bb-8f41c583b87c)
Chapter 32 (#ue38b42b4-ac03-5936-9513-71fa08044f4e)
Chapter 33 (#uf3768f1c-57d8-5397-8f7a-75f6f15b1ce5)
Chapter 34 (#u2f309f96-1ec5-5dbb-b9f6-dd335cd67d0b)
Chapter 35 (#u5b7baccb-1838-592a-8b68-e94a8919c3b7)
Chapter 36 (#udb00e679-aa33-5ad6-b5d3-17f3644e722e)
Chapter 37 (#u169620a6-af0e-5f9c-b0a2-92c715b2891f)
Chapter 38 (#ue1eb8e8d-0e8f-5f17-bbce-6bfc99f58985)
Chapter 39 (#ub3ce8302-a883-5aa6-a127-4e7ba6a1f132)
Chapter 40 (#ufeade3b9-5dd7-570d-b1ce-6aaa192cb183)
Chapter 41 (#u06375dbd-20b1-599a-98f7-e014a09e01b2)
Chapter 42 (#u25318973-8dda-59a2-8a63-4eb90c740d6a)
Chapter 43 (#u12ed80ed-ea08-5f7b-86cd-5733df122cca)
Chapter 44 (#u1bef3aa5-44c9-560d-bee3-954edca0b34a)
Chapter 45 (#u4ad29454-c8b3-5621-840a-73bf2a2518c2)
Chapter 46 (#u38602fd3-82f0-5573-ab9b-ab95182be4bc)
Chapter 47 (#u3a604317-bc8e-5251-aaed-7aa9e9ffddf0)
Chapter 48 (#u8328a506-8b1f-54f7-aee2-f5d8b34ec3e1)
Chapter 49 (#u6bd01f1d-f557-5dc8-97cb-f8aa4cbf8429)
Acknowledgements (#u1f894e6d-2719-58e4-8d43-a42f57184400)
About the Author (#udd39b407-0739-5600-bae4-67aadbaba61b)
About the Publisher (#u8c2755a9-cf6e-5032-8cdd-f267b0d02e0e)
Prologue (#u6c233fb2-285b-5114-9e41-849662fb051d)
I don’t remember much about the night I was meant to die. It’s funny how the mind can block out the memories it no longer wants to store, you must know that. But if I close my eyes, I can still hear the sounds of that night in May. The howl of an unseasonably cold wind, the rattle of the bedroom window, the rasp of the sea against shingle in the distance.
It was also raining. I remember that much, because the thin scratch of water against glass is still vivid in my head. For a minute it was hypnotic. For a minute it disguised the sound of his footsteps outside: tap, tap, tap, soles against flagstone in slow determined steps.
I knew he was coming and I knew what I had to do.
Lying under the duvet on the iron bed, I willed myself to keep calm. A faint glow from the string of bulbs on the coastal path leaked into the room. Usually this spectral darkness soothed me, but tonight it made me feel more alone, as if I were floating in space without a tether.
I balled my fist, hoping, praying that the comforting twilight of the new day would present itself at the window. But even without looking at the clock, I knew that this was at least four or five hours away and I didn’t need to tell myself that it would be too late. The footsteps were right outside the house now, and the faint metallic grumble of a key being pushed into the lock echoed up the stairs. It was hard to disguise sounds in the big, old building, it was too tired and weary for that …
How had I let myself get into this? I had gone to London for a better life, to improve myself and meet a more interesting set of people. To fall in love. And now here I was: a cautionary tale.
I heard the front door creak open. Chilled air seeped through the cracks in the window pane and pinched my nostrils shut. It was as cold as a mortuary; a macabrely apt simile. I was even lying like a mummy, arms by my sides, trembling fingers tucked under my thighs, as heavy and immobile as if they were dead weights, anchoring me to the bed.
As the footsteps reached the top of the stairs, I pulled my hands out from the warmth and settled them on top of the cool cotton duvet cover. My fingers were clenched, nails pressing against my palms, but at least I was ready to fight. I suppose that was the lawyer in me.
He hesitated outside the bedroom door, and the moment seemed to compress into a cold, suspended silence. Coming here had not been a good idea. Closing my eyes, I willed the single tear not to weep on to my cheek.
A soft push of wood against carpet as the door opened. Every instinct in my body told me to leap out of the bed and run, but I had to wait and see if he would, if he could, do this. My heart was hammering out of my chest, my limbs felt frozen with fear. I kept my eyes shut, but I could feel him looming over me now, my body retreating into a menacing shadow. I could even hear his breathing.
A hand pressed against my mouth, its touch cold and alien against my dry, puckered lips. My eyes opened, and I could see a face only inches from mine. I was desperate to read his expression, desperate to know what he was thinking. I forced my lips apart, ready to scream, and then I waited for things to run their course.
Chapter 1 (#u6c233fb2-285b-5114-9e41-849662fb051d)
Three months earlier
I had only been back in chambers five minutes when I felt a presence at the door of my office.
‘Come on, put your coat back on. We’re going out,’ said a voice I recognized without even having to look up.
I carried on writing, concentrating on the sound of my fountain pen scratching across the paper, an old-world sound in the digital age, and hoped that he would go away.
‘Chop-chop,’ he said, demanding my attention.
I glanced at our senior clerk and gave him a grudging smile.
