Dark Place to Hide (37 page)

You’re stroking the hairs on my arm. I know there’s something you want to say, but can’t. I’ve felt it ever since I brought you home from the hospital. Is it about the baby? About me resuming infertility treatment? About us trying again for a child? We sit together, holding hands silently, enveloped in a stalemate, even though there is so much love flooding between us. Perhaps, because of it. Neither of us wants to push or hurt the other after what we’ve been through.

Finally, you turn to me.

‘Ever since you rescued me, I’ve been wanting to ask you something…’ Your fingers go straight to your lips. This is hard for you.

‘I know.’

‘You do?’

‘I know you too well, Dee. I can see you’ve been carrying something around with you since the day I found you.’

You take a breath. ‘I miss Frank. I wondered if—?’

‘You’d like a dog? Our own Frank?’

You shift forward. ‘We both work full-time, so it wouldn’t be fair, as things stand…but maybe in the future?’

‘Right…’ I’d been bracing myself for something more momentous.

‘That’s not all, though,’ you say. Another silence, while you find the right words. ‘Okay. I’m just going to say it. Then you can either say something straight away or think about it. It’s a big request, so I’m not expecting an immediate response.’

You have me worried now. I hitch forward to the edge of the sofa, my shoulders riddled with tension. I don’t tell you that I, too, have a suggestion to make that I’ve been hanging on to for days. You press my hands together, your eyes wide with anticipation. Whatever you have to say, I can tell it’s going to be life changing.

‘When the time comes, if Marion agrees, I’d like us to…take Clara in…and be her legal guardians.’ You get up, stand back, your eyes glued to my face, not knowing what to expect. ‘There, I’ve said it.’

I’m speechless.

Because you’ve read my mind exactly.

I nod, tears making their way down my face. I nod again, vigorously, unable to say a word. I hold my arms open for you and you rush into them like a wave crashing to the shore.

~

I’m deeply grateful to my early readers: Mike Holmes, Helen Townsend and June for their invaluable insights. Thanks also to Helen Greathead, my super editor, for her excellent suggestions and attention to detail.

Gratitude in bucket-loads goes to Jo Dorrell, and my sister, Ruth Holmes, for constant encouragement and practical guidance in so many areas. Thanks also to other wonderful supporters: Anna Kiff and Kerry Jarrett for creative insights, constant interest and morale-boosting along the way. A special mention also to author, Daniel Clay, for always giving his time to listen and understand so well.

A big thank you to my Agent, Madeleine Milburn, and her team - I do appreciate all your hard work!

And my biggest thanks of all go to Matthew, my amazing husband, who is my first reader and always does such a terrific job of spotting all my blunders - and who supports me wholeheartedly, especially when the going gets tough.

AJ Waines was a Psychotherapist for fifteen years, during which time she worked with ex-offenders from high-security institutions, giving her a rare insight into abnormal psychology. She is now a full-time novelist with an Agent and has publishing deals in France and Germany (Random House). Both her debut novels,
The Evil Beneath
and
Girl on a Train
have been Number One in ‘Murder’ and ‘Psychological Thrillers’ in the UK Kindle Charts.
Girl on a Train
has also been a Number One Bestseller in the entire Australian Kindle Chart. In 2015, she was ranked in the Top 100 UK authors on Amazon KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing).

Alison has also written two self-help books:
The Self-Esteem Journal
and
Making Relationships Work
(Sheldon Press). She lives in Southampton, UK, with her husband.

Visit AJ’s
website
and
blog
and follow her on
Twitter
and
Facebook
- you can also sign up for her
Newsletter
.

There’s a body in the water - and she’s wearing your clothes…

Impulsive and intrepid psychotherapist, Juliet Grey, can’t resist responding to an anonymous text message telling her to go to Hammersmith Bridge at dawn. But it isn’t simply the dead body in the water that disturbs her, it’s the way something uniquely personal to Juliet has been left on the corpse.

Another obscure message - another London bridge - and Juliet finds herself caught up with a serial killer, who leaves personal mementos instead of collecting trophies.

Teaming up with local detective, DCI Brad Madison, Juliet strives to find out why she has been targeted and how it’s connected to the accident that killed her brother, nineteen years ago.

Can Juliet use her knowledge of the human psyche to get inside the mind of the killer, before another body is found under a bridge? And how long before Juliet herself becomes the next target?

‘Expertly woven together’
– e-thriller.com

Everything points to suicide - but I saw her face…

Headstrong Journalist, Anna Rothman knows what suicide looks like - her own husband killed himself five years earlier. When Elly Swift, an agitated passenger beside her on a train, leaves a locket in Anna’s bag before jumping onto the tracks, Anna starts asking awkward questions. But everything points to suicide and the police close the case.

Anna, however, believes Elly’s fears for Toby, her young nephew, missing since being snatched from St Stephen’s church six months ago, fail to explain the true reason behind Elly’s distress. Through a series of hidden messages Elly left behind, Anna embarks on a dangerous crusade to track down Toby and find Elly’s killer.

But nothing is as it seems and Anna opens a can of worms that throws into question even her own husband’s suicide - before the threads of the mystery converge in an astonishing conclusion.

‘Amazing twist!’
– Janet W Johnson

Coming soon from AJ Waines:

A chilling Psychological Thriller that will pull the rug from under you

Alice Flemming is deeply flattered to be invited to a remote cottage in Scotland by her old University friend, Karen Morley. Eager to please, she’s happy to be on hand to help Karen re-bond with her nine-month-old daughter, Melanie, who has just come out of hospital. But the idyllic scene is shattered when Alice wakes to find a stranger dead at the end of her bed.

Karen isn’t the warm-hearted friend she remembers and appears to have a hidden agenda. Trouble is – once Alice realises she’s in grave danger - it’s one woman’s word against another…