future when he would have money. Patrick was smart and ambitious, and she knew that one day he would be successful. That he happened to marry a rich woman was simply a bonus. She shouldn’t have been surprised – he wasn’t that different from her. He was every bit as much of an opportunist as she is. He just had better luck. Well, until his luck ran out.
She’d bided her time until Stephanie had come into her money. And then she executed her plan. It didn’t go as expected, because Stephanie had been stubborn and unwilling to pay.
But it can all still work out nicely, Erica tells herself, now that Stephanie has killed Patrick. She has no doubts about that at all.
In the meantime, she has other things on the go. Niall has been avoiding her calls. He’s proved more slippery than she expected. But she’ll talk to him eventually, and when she does, he’s not going to like what she has to say.
And she’s got the Mannings wrapped around her little finger. They’ll do anything to protect that boy from the truth.
Nancy stares out her living-room window, hiding behind the curtains. She and Niall are freaking out.
Erica has tried to call Niall again; she even showed up at the office, but Kerri was instructed to say that he was out. It worked, but only because he’s stopped driving his Tesla to work, so Erica can’t tell when he’s there. Niall’s using Uber a lot these days. But it’s a short-term solution.
Erica has them living in fear, and they hate it; in this they are united.
Nancy is aware that keeping Erica from Niall at work makes them more of a target at home. Erica knows where they live. She’s already been here. It’s just a matter of time before she shows up again. Nancy spends much of her day watching out the window like this.
The only upside – Nancy doesn’t think her husband will be straying again anytime soon.
They both perceive Erica’s hovering presence as a serious threat. They can’t live in fear for ever. Something must be done.
Gary Manning sits quietly in his car – a leased Lexus – in the underground parking lot beneath the office tower in downtown Denver where he works. It’s already dark out. He’s putting off going home. It will be another late night of tears and histrionics in the basement and he doesn’t know how much more he can take.
He loves Cheryl and he loves Devin. He’s their boy. He’s a fine boy, and they’re not going to let his birth mother fuck him up by telling him things he doesn’t need to hear.
Gary thinks about watching Devin on the soccer field the other day – how proud he made him feel. He couldn’t be more proud of him even if Devin was his own flesh and blood.
And now this godawful mess. Erica demanding more money to keep her mouth shut. He’d like to go to the police, but he can’t. Imagine the effect of the publicity on his business. They paid her a hundred grand to get Devin. They’d made a deal with the devil all those years ago. Erica knows they’re not going to go to the police.
Gary hates to see Cheryl so upset all the time, but he understands it. She’s terrified that they will lose Devin, that contact with his birth mother – and learning the truth about his birth parents – will traumatize him. It might even turn him against them. She’s probably not wrong. Gary can’t bear to lose the little family that took them so much time and effort to build. And Devin knows something’s up; yesterday he’d asked him why everyone’s acting so weird lately. He’s a smart kid.
Gary’s had trouble getting the money together. He can do it, it will just be difficult. But his family comes first.
If only Erica Voss were dead, all his problems would be solved.
Epilogue
The Aylesford Record,
November 9, 2018
Authorities have determined the identity of a woman whose body was pulled from the Hudson River early this morning. The deceased woman is 31-year-old Erica Voss, of Newburgh, New York.
Orange County police recovered the body earlier today near the Newburgh–Beacon Bridge, after receiving a call just before 7 a.m. from a jogger who noticed the body floating in the river.
Ms Voss was in the news recently when she gave evidence at the inquest into the death of Lindsey Kilgour, in Colorado in 2009.
The cause of death has not yet been determined.
Acknowledgements
I will always be eternally grateful to my British, American and Canadian publishers, who took a chance on me five books ago and have never looked back. Once again, and from the bottom of my heart, thank you to Larry Finlay, Bill Scott-Kerr, Frankie Gray, Tom Hill, and the rest of the outstanding team at Transworld in the UK; to Brian Tart, Pamela Dorman, Jeramie Orton, Ben Petrone, and the rest of the brilliant team at Viking Penguin in the US; and to Kristin Cochrane, Amy Black, Bhavna Chauhan, Emma Ingram, and the entire dedicated team at Doubleday in Canada. I must also thank the many other publishers around the world who do such an excellent job bringing my books to readers in so many different languages.
Huge thanks again to Helen Heller – the best agent a thriller-a-year writer could ever have. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you. Thank you once again to Camilla and Jemma and everyone at the Marsh Agency for continuing to do a superb job representing me worldwide.
I continue to be amazed that I’m where I am today, and it really is all down to all of you.
Special thanks, again, to Jane Cavolina for being an exceptional copyeditor.
Thanks once again to my adviser on all forensic matters, Mike Illes, M.Sc., of the Forensic Science program at Trent University. I’m very grateful for your help, Mike!
Thank you to Aurora Lydia Dominguez, who won the right to have her name used as a character in this book, in support of the Broward Public Library Foundation.
As always, any mistakes in the manuscript are entirely mine. I have taken some small liberties with the procedural aspects of inquests for the sake of the story.
I’d also like to thank all the readers, booksellers, bloggers, librarians, and the enthusiastic people who tirelessly put on festivals – thanks to all of you for supporting writers and books and reading. Crime writers are the most supportive and the most fun writers of all, and I’m so happy to be part of this community.
And lastly, thanks to my husband, my kids and the cat – I couldn’t do this without you. Special thanks to Julia for being an insightful early reader. Manuel – thank you for the flowers on my desk in that last writing stretch – you are the best.
THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING
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First published in Great Britain in 2020 by Bantam Press
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