Mo Hayder: Poppet

‘The RV point is just beyond that clump of trees. This hillside is the last part of the search. We start here at eight tomorrow morning. Here.’ She holds out a pair of gloves. ‘You’re going to need them.’

Slowly, slowly, Caffery lowers his eyes to the holdall.

‘Yes,’ she says. ‘It is what you think it is.’

He stares at the holdall, not moving for a long, long time.

‘And by the way, Jack, the security at your house is shite – you need a dog. I walked in there this morning and spent an hour digging up your garden. No one stopped me. The clothes are in the bag too.’

He raises his eyes to her. If he ever suspected himself of being in love with this woman now he is one hundred per cent sure.

She shrugs. ‘Boxes,’ she says, although he hasn’t asked the question. ‘Keeping things in boxes. Being scared that if you open them to take one thing out everything else will come tumbling out too.’

‘Everything else?’

‘Yes. All the things that it’s easier not to think about. Like brothers and dead parents, and like …’

She trails off. Bites her lip, her eyes going over his face. Behind her the countryside stretches away – the winter landscape of Somerset. A line of smoke from a distant fire rises into the sky. Her face is lit by the dying sun.

‘And?’

She gives a tiny smile. As if something has made her shy and sad and hopeful all at once. ‘Oh nothing. Just “and”.’

Many people spend a lifetime building their knowledge and skill bases, only to have a fly-by-night novelist come along and steal it all to make into a story. Why they tolerate this daylight robbery I have no idea, I can only be grateful and humbled by their generosity. Those people include: Patrick Knowles, who filled in the details of the UK’s mental-health system; Hugh White, genius pathologist; Simon Gerard; DCI Gareth Bevan of Avon and Somerset MCIT (the real-life Jack Caffery); Inspector Zoe Chegwyn, who taught me what I needed to know about hostage situations. To you all – I apologize if I have skewed the truth you gave me for the purposes of fiction, but thank you, thank you, and thank you, again.

As always, the debt I owe to the wonderful folk at my publisher’s and agent’s offices is immeasurable. To you all, a huge hats-off for your hard work and patience. Also to Steve Bennett, for tolerating my adversity to social networking. It amazes me how you manage to run a website for someone who is so phobic about sharing.

Jonathan Keay – the real-life Jonathan Keay – made a large donation to the DeKalb Libraries in Atlanta, Georgia, and for that he has had a character named after him in Poppet . Jonathan, I know you are far more interesting in real life than you appear in this novel, nevertheless I thank you. And as for Karin Slaughter – who was in the background of this arrangement – you continue to outrage, inspire and amaze me. Keep it up, girl!

Lastly, I want to thank my dear friends and family – supportive and quiet and constant: Bob Randall; Margaret OWO Murphy; Mairi Hitomi; Lotte GQ; Sue and Donald Hollins. What would I do without you?

Mo Hayder’s first novel, Birdman , was hailed as ‘a first-class shocker’ by the Guardian , and her follow-up, The Treatment , was voted by The Times as ‘one of the top ten most scary thrillers ever written’. With the last Jack Caffery thriller, Gone , she won the prestigious Edgars Best Book Award. Poppet is the sixth novel to feature DI Jack Caffery, and the fourth in The Walking Man series.

For more information, see www.mohayder.net

Birdman

The Treatment

Tokyo

Pig Island

Ritual

Skin

Gone

Hanging Hill