Кара Хантер - Close to Home

‘Nobody else would’ve believed me,’ whispers the little girl. ‘No one except you.’

Kate’s eyes fill with tears. ‘I know, darling. It makes me so sad you had no one else you could talk to – no one to love you like you deserve. But that’s all over now. You’ve been so brave, and so clever. Taking those gloves, saving the tooth you lost – I would never have thought of any of that.’

She takes the child in her arms again and holds her, tighter now. ‘I promise you they will never find you. I will never let you go. You won’t forget that, will you?’

She feels the little girl shake her head. ‘So,’ she says, wiping her eyes and taking the little girl’s hand, ‘shall we say a last goodbye to England?’

They go to stand by the railing, in the sunshine. The little girl is round-eyed with excitement now, pointing, laughing, waving to the ferry that chugs past them going the other way.

A few feet along the deck, an elderly lady is sitting in her wheelchair, blankets tucked round her knees. She looks kindly at the little girl. ‘You’re having a nice time, so you are.’

The child looks across at her and nods vigorously, and Kate smiles. ‘We’re on our way to Galway,’ she says gaily. ‘I’ve got a new job there. Sabrina has been looking forward to this ferry trip for months.’

‘Sabrina?’ says the woman. ‘Now that’s a pretty name, so it is. It has a nice meanin’ too. I always say it’s good to have a name that means somethin’. Did your mammy tell you what it means?’

The little girl nods again. ‘I love it. It’s like a secret. I like secrets.’

And then she smiles. A charming gap-toothed smile.

Oxford must be one of the most fictionalized cities in the world, so you can imagine my trepidation in daring to add to the number of novels – and specifically crime novels – written about the place I’m lucky enough to live in. I hope the Oxford of Close to Home will ring true to anyone who knows it, and my readers will certainly be able to find many of the roads and buildings I mention on a map of the city – though it is also worth noting that many of the side streets and other specific locations are my own invention. And, of course, any resemblance to the real people who live here is entirely coincidental. Twitter usernames have been created with sixteen or more characters to prevent any accidental identification with real accounts. If there is any similarity to real individuals’ usernames, this is not intentional.

—

A few words of thanks to the people who have helped to make this book happen. First to my amazing agent, Anna Power, and my delightful editors at Penguin, Katy Loftus in the UK and Sarah Stein in the US, and also to my eagle-eyed copy-editor, Karen Whitlock. To my husband, Simon, for saying ‘Why don’t you write a crime book?’ on that beach in the Caribbean. And to my dear friend Stephen for being, as always, one of my first readers.

As for the professionals, I’d like to thank Inspector Andy Thompson for his hugely helpful observations and advice, and Joey Giddings, my very own and very knowledgeable ‘CSI’. I’ve learned so much from both of them, and Close to Home is a much better book as a result.

I would also like to thank Nicholas Syfret, QC, who was a mine of information on court procedure and the legal elements of the story.

Thanks also to Professor David Hills for his help with the technical aspects of engineering construction, and to Dr Oli Rahman for answering my medical questions so patiently (if he will forgive the pun). Needless to say, if any errors remain they are down to me, and not to the people who’ve been kind enough to help me.