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Little Girl Gone: A gripping crime thriller full of twists and turns
Stephen Edger
A tense psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat!Perfect for fans of Carol Wyer, Louise Jensen and K.L. Slater.Will she ever see her daughter again?It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. Alex Granger only turned her back for a moment – but a moment was all it took for her world to be destroyed. Her two-year-old daughter Carol-Anne has vanished into thin air.Alex’s husband Ray is a detective, so he’s used to dealing with horrific cases. But nothing could have prepared him for this. Forbidden from aiding the inquiry, he is forced to confront the fact that he might never see his daughter again.With no suspects, no DNA evidence and no promising leads, the investigation stalls. Then Alex receives a note, telling her exactly what to do if she wants to see her daughter again… And Alex must ask herself, is she really prepared to do anything to save her child?
Little Girl Gone
STEPHEN EDGER
A division of HarperCollinsPublishers
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
KillerReads
an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
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www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Copyright © Stephen Edger 2018
Cover design © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com (https://www.shutterstock.com)
Stephen Edger 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.
Ebook Edition © November 2018 ISBN: 9780008320607
Version: 2018-11-29
For Hannah, Emily, and Ethan, my world
Table of Contents
Cover (#u4a6f9f3a-4385-5429-8157-7e3ae154f475)
Title Page (#u93c0c554-25e0-5120-bf60-deef6c64e5c7)
Copyright (#u6135685b-b72d-5a34-8ae2-d35562e0baad)
Dedication (#u00ba762c-b956-5d97-96d0-8dfef0326be4)
Chapter 1 (#u01e39441-e3a7-5941-9a31-1d5b3a5548a9)
Chapter 2 (#u9fd59647-55e0-5d24-ba26-b35d2a10b870)
Chapter 3 (#u8f15d0a6-f78a-5a46-a00f-d6f1f6c485f7)
Chapter 4 (#u2fd3f61d-f9c7-56f9-abe3-e44d596d5003)
Chapter 5 (#u4c155be1-716f-57bd-a40c-f34731c1046e)
Chapter 6 (#u9e4cd744-404a-5abf-b17b-5743072722e1)
Chapter 7 (#ub0937b7c-95e4-5bae-b8a4-fc08eb7b36f7)
Chapter 8 (#u7db227a1-49eb-554c-96ef-3d0800c69a91)
Chapter 9 (#ud12ffff5-5b9b-541a-bdb3-3437187b0827)
Chapter 10 (#u6b46f5f5-6ba4-5eb3-980c-831f3cad1e91)
Chapter 11 (#ub514ffbf-4d48-54b4-9348-765c921d56bd)
Chapter 12 (#u24600b08-044f-5a40-9c6d-f1d0241ceffc)
Chapter 13 (#u496f7a79-a957-542d-8057-891e6bd942fc)
Chapter 14 (#u4db025b9-e853-5f4c-b20f-c792db10bcf6)
Chapter 15 (#ubaa49a19-a669-5e3e-beef-421e653e87a2)
Chapter 16 (#ue14edfc2-ebc4-532f-a647-6d8784cbddcd)
Chapter 17 (#u03e77752-3732-5176-a89f-7fc31c6ab99d)
Chapter 18 (#u51e054c8-0089-503d-a6aa-bfccbfdee7e6)
Chapter 19 (#u1cf675af-7bac-5550-82fe-270de4f51a64)
Chapter 20 (#u9099712b-2069-541e-9c33-68e949af5acb)
Chapter 21 (#u40068d6a-28a4-590f-99b5-0ccdc339760b)
Chapter 22 (#ue62bf609-be91-5df2-a87a-dabdf400ffd2)
Chapter 23 (#ud817b3e0-d1cf-5b4a-b102-125b0d89401b)
Chapter 24 (#u1aad105b-8c1d-592f-942f-53c73b13635b)
Chapter 25 (#u0c683aea-00b8-5775-a1ba-ab31fdb613ad)
Chapter 26 (#uf14da399-8886-5036-808d-6a4550f813ad)
Chapter 27 (#u4b2b16e0-4054-5797-a21f-f29e18aec78e)
Chapter 28 (#u7d0d56f7-998f-50cf-9ec2-299a3aa8b13c)
Chapter 29 (#uc1157a0e-3d1e-5ad7-b276-2ac30f04b851)
Chapter 30 (#u5bba820a-9b6a-5a72-ade3-58848c89a854)
Chapter 31 (#uf80ae273-f64a-58fa-a9f5-edb436a11618)
Chapter 32 (#uca972632-bf19-568b-a64a-21aac8c0a1c5)
Chapter 33 (#u5301ff00-f9ac-5fae-a61b-67f71ec1dae7)
Chapter 34 (#u90f7f8ea-a5f5-5b78-8a5c-3dd85f190dd3)
Chapter 35 (#u309a3b43-f4ca-524c-9a69-f469f02cb000)
Chapter 36 (#u02dccf9b-5526-5834-a308-b349f7057a10)
Chapter 37 (#u53966fcd-0e9d-534e-9b40-835b5302654d)
Chapter 38 (#u95325d37-3b4a-552a-8494-5da33350ebc9)
Chapter 39 (#u6cf93beb-4529-57b8-b885-8ee3fa26e830)
Chapter 40 (#u60a13c5c-905e-5062-897f-b61fd887cbda)
Chapter 41 (#u394ff9d7-a515-524f-b91f-44efb1d1d3ee)
Chapter 42 (#ucf35ec49-09ac-5cef-aa17-452ed48df559)
Chapter 43 (#u3871fe03-138e-5e89-ad52-6fa1d74adf11)
Chapter 44 (#u6df03bf1-0304-5404-9d7c-bdc8374638d4)
Chapter 45 (#ue25b36d3-fdc3-56bd-b944-fbbc14f1c6b9)
Chapter 46 (#ua00f437b-7667-5a02-86d1-289eab9ac8ca)
Chapter 47 (#u229d585d-b2d1-588b-baf1-d3c6b747cf8e)
Chapter 48 (#uf63f26d2-fd77-5e67-95ec-9d446784053b)
Chapter 49 (#ub3993f56-4b67-56b1-b1a5-255382057900)
Chapter 50 (#ub5232c19-bb9c-55fb-b94e-b00ed4fce774)
Chapter 51 (#u8e1f0bf3-6ff4-57b0-b7e6-dcb650305a6e)
Chapter 52 (#uc5a4b343-b2f3-584c-b644-52129b0195f6)
Chapter 53 (#u1dbfbc84-ebf1-551d-a001-3931b88a2928)
Chapter 54 (#u2051c2cc-9146-5211-ad8e-3b21417ebcc5)
Chapter 55 (#ue41c32cb-fd05-585a-86bf-cc713255810f)
Chapter 56 (#u4e2884eb-136a-588e-92b9-ef82e8d1f9ed)
Chapter 57 (#u85d2edc2-c9bf-5628-a405-674750d7d682)
Chapter 58 (#u91c45daa-03f9-5a01-aff7-ced9f018f445)
Chapter 59 (#ubc70ea1a-017b-56da-9e33-44c99138c526)
Chapter 60 (#uc38a1ff8-2025-5ba4-81c4-4b498a1bc325)
Epilogue (#u7962570c-b09f-5a53-ad2a-4b22939afba2)
A Message From Stephen (#ud994fa80-70ae-56e4-8741-4323b592e089)
Keep Reading
Acknowledgements (#u74c9abee-7bc8-5fb2-a090-981848aa8dbd)
Also by Stephen Edger (#u5b623b03-2a19-5c07-87bb-d3d9063ebeb9)
About the Author (#u4706a2d3-b149-52d2-90c8-746d5db28250)
About the Publisher (#uf121c044-f46c-5489-882d-6da20423ca8f)
1 (#u0bbb7904-edb9-5f05-bd0e-5b04c63e25c4)
The wipers squawked as they battled to keep the windscreen clear.
‘I’m going to be late,’ Alex Granger muttered to herself, as she strained to see through the gap in the condensation rapidly rising in front of her. Glancing down momentarily she switched the blower to full, the sound of the rushing warm air drowning out the radio.
A giggle from the back seat caused Alex to look up at the rear-view mirror. ‘At least you’re happy enough,’ she said, adding a smile as her eyes met the blonde girl grinning back at her.
A car horn sounded from behind, the driver gesticulating that the traffic lights had finally turned green. Raising her hand in acknowledgement, Alex lowered the handbrake and moved forward, looking left and right for the name of the road where the car park was located. And as if her prayers had been answered, she spotted a large blue ‘P’ on the next street sign, and indicated to the right. The driver behind gave a second blast of his horn as he swerved around her.
‘What’s the hurry, arsehole?’ Alex shouted at the window, suddenly realizing that Carol-Anne could hear. Looking back at the reflection of her two-year-old daughter, Alex quickly apologized. ‘Just ignore Mummy’s crazy words.’
