Marnie Riches - The Girl Who Broke the Rules

MARNIE RICHES

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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2015

Copyright © Marnie Riches 2015

Cover design © Lizzie Gardner

Cover images © Shutterstock.com

Marnie Riches asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record 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 © August 2015 ISBN: 9780008138349

Version: 2018-01-24

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

PROLOGUE: Amsterdam, red light district, 16–17 January

CHAPTER 1: Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, UK, 17 January

CHAPTER 2: Amsterdam, the set of a porn film, then, Sloterdijkermeer allotments, later

CHAPTER 3: Soho, London, later

CHAPTER 4: Amsterdam, mortuary, later

CHAPTER 5: Soho, London, later

CHAPTER 6: Amsterdam, mortuary, later

CHAPTER 7: Amsterdam, private medical surgery, much later

CHAPTER 8: Amsterdam, police headquarters, 18 January

CHAPTER 9: Soho, London, Skin Flicks Media Group, later

CHAPTER 10: Amsterdam, Norderkerk, later, then, van den Bergen’s apartment

CHAPTER 11: South East London, very late

CHAPTER 12: Manhattan, New York, 1981

CHAPTER 13: Amsterdam, police headquarters, then, a building site, 19 January

CHAPTER 14: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 15: Amsterdam, Valeriusstraat building site, later

CHAPTER 16: Stansted Express, East London, later

CHAPTER 17: Amsterdam, Valeriusstraat building site, later

CHAPTER 18: Cambridge, St John’s College, later

CHAPTER 19: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 20: Amsterdam, 20 January

CHAPTER 21: Cambridge, Mill Road, later

CHAPTER 22: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 23: Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, later

CHAPTER 24: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 25: Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, later

CHAPTER 26: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 27: Amsterdam, mortuary, 21 January

CHAPTER 28: Amsterdam, red light district, later

CHAPTER 29: Amsterdam, van den Bergen’s car, later

CHAPTER 30: Amsterdam, later

CHAPTER 31: Amsterdam, mortuary, later

CHAPTER 32: Amsterdam, Ruud Ahlers’ apartment, later

CHAPTER 33: Amsterdam, van den Bergen’s car, then Ahlers’ apartment, moments later

CHAPTER 34: London, 1985

CHAPTER 35: Amsterdam, police headquarters, 22 January

CHAPTER 36: South East London, Aunty Sharon’s house, later

CHAPTER 37: Amsterdam, the Quick Bite Café, later

CHAPTER 38: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 39: Amsterdam, Ahlers’ private surgery, later

CHAPTER 40: Amsterdam, the Cracked Pot Coffee Shop, red light district, later

CHAPTER 41: Over the North Sea, 23 January

CHAPTER 42: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 43: Amsterdam, van den Bergen’s car, en route to Rotterdam, later

CHAPTER 44: Amsterdam, Ad’s apartment, later

CHAPTER 45: Rotterdam Port, later

CHAPTER 46: Amsterdam, police headquarters, 24 January

CHAPTER 47: Amsterdam, mortuary, later

CHAPTER 48: Amsterdam, van den Bergen’s apartment, 25 January

CHAPTER 49: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 50: Hamburg, Germany, 26 January

CHAPTER 51: Katwijk asylum seekers’ centre, Netherlands, later

CHAPTER 52: Rotterdam, Port Authority, later

CHAPTER 53: Amsterdam, Ad’s apartment, later still

CHAPTER 54: Berlin, Germany, 1989

CHAPTER 55: Over the North Sea, then, Ramsgate, England, 27 January

CHAPTER 56: Soho, London, later

CHAPTER 57: Ramsgate, later

CHAPTER 58: Soho, London, later

CHAPTER 59: Somewhere in Kent, an industrial estate, later

CHAPTER 60: Ramsgate, seafront B&B, 28 January

CHAPTER 61: Somewhere in Kent, a field, later

CHAPTER 62: Kent, on a train, then Amsterdam, mortuary, later

CHAPTER 63: South East London, later

CHAPTER 64: Amsterdam, police headquarters holding cell, later

CHAPTER 65: Ashford, Kent, later

CHAPTER 66: Cambodia, 1992

CHAPTER 67: Amsterdam, mortuary, 29 January

CHAPTER 68: South East London, mortuary, later

CHAPTER 69: Amsterdam, later

CHAPTER 70: Amsterdam, Nieuw West area, then, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 71: Amsterdam, Ad’s apartment, then NOS TV studios, then police headquarters, 30 January

CHAPTER 72: Amsterdam, police headquarters, later

CHAPTER 73: Amsterdam, hospital, 31 January

CHAPTER 74: Amsterdam, police headquarters

CHAPTER 75: South East London, 14 February

CHAPTER 76: Amsterdam, hospital, later

CHAPTER 77: Soho, London, later

CHAPTER 78: Laren, the Netherlands, 15 February

CHAPTER 79: Cambridge, St John’s College, later

CHAPTER 80: Laren, the Netherlands, 16 February

CHAPTER 81: Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, later

CHAPTER 82: A secret location near Laren, later

CHAPTER 83: Stansted airport, Essex, later

CHAPTER 84: Amsterdam, then Laren, later

CHAPTER 85: A secret location near Laren, later

CHAPTER 86: A secret location near Laren, moments later, then, the Laren house

CHAPTER 87: A secret location near Laren, later

CHAPTER 88: Amsterdam, hospital, 18 February

CHAPTER 89: Broadmoor Psychiatric Hospital, later

CHAPTER 90: Amsterdam, hospital, later

CHAPTER 91: Soho, London, later

CHAPTER 92: Berlin, Germany, 23 February

CHAPTER 93: Amsterdam, hospital, later

CHAPTER 94: Amsterdam, women’s prison, 28 February

CHAPTER 95: Amsterdam, the Cracked Pot Coffee Shop, then, the hospital, later

Keep Reading …

Acknowledgements

By the Same Author

About the Publisher

The jagged pain between her shoulder blades was fleeting. Magool flinched. Breathed in sharply at the unpleasant sensation. She loosened her seatbelt. Wriggled in the passenger seat to look behind her.

In the dark, there was nothing to see.

Then, she tried to reach behind to feel the leather. But her hands would not move. She stared down at them, bemused. They felt neither leaden nor numb. It was simply as if they no longer existed. And yet, there they sat, chapped from the cold, bitten nails, primly folded over her wringing-wet, jeans-clad thighs.

Frowning, aware of her accelerated heartbeat, she tried to lift her legs, move her feet, wiggle her toes. Nothing. Why was her body not obeying her brain? She looked askance at the driver.

‘I can’t move,’ she said in Dutch. ‘What’s going on?’