Jax Miller - Freedom’s Child

Harper

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London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published by HarperCollins Publishers 2015

Copyright © Jax Miller 2015

Jax Miller asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

Cover layout design © HarperCollins Publishers 2015

Cover photographs © Jacket layout design © HarperColl‌insPublishers 2015

Cover design © www.headdesign.co.uk

Cover photographs © Anne Heine/Alamy (chapel in landscape); Stephen Mulcahey/Arcangel Images (female figure)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

This is a work of fiction. Any references to real people, living or dead, real events, businesses, organizations and localities are intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. All names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and their resemblance, if any, to real-life counterparts is entirely coincidental. The only exception to this are the characters Dean Scott, Syd Fraser, and Tony Wishart – who have given their express permission to be fictionalized in this volume – and Hector, the resident Banff Police Station ghost, who hasn’t. All behaviour, history, and character traits assigned to these individuals have been designed to serve the needs of the narrative and do not necessarily bear any resemblance to the real people. The Tarlair Outdoor Swimming Pool signage appears courtesy of Aberdeenshire Council.

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 e-books

Source ISBN: 9780007595914

Ebook Edition © June 2015 ISBN: 9780008132798

Version 2015-12-02

‘A terrific read from a powerful new voice’

Karin Slaughter

‘Original, compelling and seriously recommended’

Lee Child

‘Seldom has a literary creation bounced off the page with as much raw vitality … one of the standout debuts of the year’

Guardian

‘There’s a reckless power to Miller’s untamed prose … she’s just plain amazing’

New York Times

‘A relentless and fiercely compelling debut. Freedom’s Child will hold you captive until the very last page’

Richard Montanari

‘A propulsive, full-throttle tale of revenge and redemption’

Irish Times

‘ Freedom’s Child isn’t just a great debut, it’s a great book with one of the most angry, complex and compelling heroines this side of a certain girl with a certain tattoo’

Simon Toyne

‘I loved it. Such an original new voice’

Kate Medina

‘Brilliant’

Julia Crouch

‘ Freedom’s Child is a remarkable novel that is as emotionally gripping as it is pulse-pounding. Equally heartbreaking and hard-boiled, Jax Miller has delivered a sensational debut novel’

Ivy Pochoda

‘ Freedom’s Child is a page-turning tale of redemption that explores the complicated, intertwined bonds of motherhood and justice’

Elizabeth L. Silver

‘Horror, mistrust, deception and a cracker of a female protagonist. A top-notch, right rollicking read’

Writing.ie

‘A ferocious, witty, tough-as-nails debut’

The Times (South Africa)

‘Abounds with a charged rawness which is quite compelling to witness’

Jaffa Reads Too

‘This is a tense, absorbing read with a restless energy about it that appealed to me completely … I’m sticking with this author for life’

Liz Loves Books

For Babchi and the boss of the city.

And to Pat Raia, the Robin to my Gotham.

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Praise for Freedom’s Child

Dedication

Prologue

Part I

Chapter 1: Freedom and the Whippersnappers

Chapter 2: Mason and Violet

Chapter 3: The Cockroach

Chapter 4: Home to ma

Chapter 5: The Need to Know

Chapter 6: The Music of the Devil

Chapter 7: High School Sweetheart

Chapter 8: The Suicide Jar

Chapter 9: Freedom and Passion

Chapter 10: The Delaney House

Chapter 11: Copper

Chapter 12: The Firm and the Archangel

Chapter 13: On The Breast

Chapter 14: Mattley

Chapter 15: The Empty Womb

Chapter 16: Peter

Part II

Chapter 17: The Bluegrass

Chapter 18: Freedom in Jesus

Chapter 19: The Third-Day Adventists

Chapter 20: The Nose of a Viper

Chapter 21: A Favor

Chapter 22: The Land of Freedom

Chapter 23: Freedom and Sacrifice

Chapter 24: Freedom and the Road Less Traveled

Chapter 25: Cat’s Cradle

Chapter 26: The End of Autumn

Chapter 27: America the Beautiful

Chapter 28: Charmed

Chapter 29: The Legend of Freedom

Chapter 30: Cuckoo

Chapter 31: Sunset

Chapter 32: Run, Rebekah, Run

Chapter 33: Speak Udda Debble

Chapter 34: The Whipping Post

Chapter 35: Freedom and Discovery

Chapter 36: Retired

Chapter 37: Freedom and Surrender

Chapter 38: Freedom McFly

Chapter 39: The Shadows of the Phoenix

Chapter 40: The Skin of Butterfly Wings

Chapter 41: Sunrise

Part III

Chapter 42: Eggshells

Chapter 43: The General Store

Chapter 44: With Prejudice

Chapter 45: Stripped

Chapter 46: All Debts Are Paid

Chapter 47: When Life Gives You Lemons

Chapter 48: The Deacons

Chapter 49: Their Blood, Your Hands

Chapter 50: Cabin Fever

Chapter 51: A Parade of White

Chapter 52: Whistler’s Field

Chapter 53: A Parade of Black

Chapter 54: Sunday

Chapter 55: Painter

Chapter 56: Sovereign Shore

Acknowledgments

About the Author

About the Publisher

My name is Freedom Oliver and I killed my daughter. It’s surreal, honestly, and I’m not sure what feels more like a dream, her death or her existence. I’m guilty of both.

It wasn’t long ago that this field would ripple and rustle with a warm breeze, gold dancing under the blazes of a high noon sun. The Thoroughbreds, a staple of Goshen, would canter along the edges of Whistler’s Field. If you listen close enough, you can almost hear the laughter of farmers’ children still lace through the grain, a harvest full of innocent secrets of the youthful who needed an escape but didn’t have anywhere else to go. Like my Rebekah, my daughter. My God, she must have been beautiful.

But a couple weeks is a long time when you’re on a journey like mine. It could almost constitute something magnificent. Almost.

I catch my breath when I remember. Somewhere in this field, my daughter is scattered in pieces.