My Girl by Jack Jordan Read Free Book Online Page B

candles, Paige was smiling and genuinely happy, sitting beside a man without a face.
    How will I remember what he looks like?
    However angry she was at Ryan, she wouldn’t do this – she wouldn’t go this far, however much she drank. She grabbed her mobile and called DI Graham Balding.
    ‘Balding,’ he said.
    ‘Graham, it’s Paige Dawson.’
    ‘Oh, hi,’ he said, sounding distracted. ‘Everything all right?’
    ‘No, it isn’t. Someone has come into my house and cut Ryan’s face out of all our photographs.’ She waited eagerly for his response, for him to finally believe her.
    ‘You drove into your husband’s gravestone the other night, Paige. It wouldn’t surprise me if you did this too. I told you – you need to stop drinking.’
    ‘I didn’t do this, I swear…’
    ‘Are there signs of breaking and entering?’
    ‘No, but…’
    ‘Are you still drinking?’
    ‘This isn’t happening because of my damn drinking!’
    ‘Paige, go to therapy and put down the bottle, and then these things will stop. Trust me.’
    ‘Graham, I didn’t do this! I promise you, I didn’t!’
    ‘Who else could have done it?’
    ‘That’s why I’m calling you, I don’t know!’
    ‘You’re angry with your husband for committing suicide. You’re so angry that you drove into his gravestone. Now you’ve done this. I’m sorry Paige, but I can’t have you calling me every time you drink too much and screw up. I have real cases to solve.’
    ‘Well, I hope you don’t have any missing girls relying on you. Your track record isn’t too good, is it?’
    She sat on the floor, staring at her faceless husband as the dialling tone rang in her ear.

ELEVEN
    Paige was drunk when the doorbell rang. She opened the door to find Greta on the other side. Without a word, Paige went back to the sofa and Greta came inside.
    The destroyed photo albums lay strewn across the carpet. An empty wine bottle sat on the coffee table beside another half-full bottle and a freshly poured glass. Greta stared at the mess.
    ‘I didn’t do it,’ Paige said, before taking a gulp of wine. ‘You won’t believe me. No one else does.’
    Greta stared at her, lost for words.
    ‘I thought you hated me,’ Paige said.
    ‘I could never hate you.’
    ‘I’d hate me.’
    Greta took the empty bottle of wine and went into the kitchen. Paige heard the bottle fall into the bin and a cupboard open and close. Greta came back into the living room with a wine glass and filled it with wine from the bottle on the table. She sat on the opposite sofa and took a sip. Paige hadn’t seen her drink before.
    ‘I’m not going to hold what happened against you. You’re a broken woman, Paige. You have poor judgement, a skewed outlook on the world, but you’re not malicious. I know that.’ She took another sip. ‘I’ve been hard on you and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t scold you for grieving differently from me.’
    Greta looked down at the photo albums and sighed.
    She thinks I’m mad, just like everybody else.
    ‘With Chloe and Ryan gone, there is nothing to keep our bond but memories. I don’t want to lose you from this family. You might not be blood, but you’ve been a part of our lives for twenty years. I’m not going to lose you now.’
    ‘Does Richard think that, too?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘I doubt that, after what I did.’
    ‘We’ve talked about it. We all grieve differently, he sees that now.’
    They sat in silence for a moment, sipping at wine in the house full of memories.
    ‘Do you still want to be a part of this family?’
    ‘Yes.’
    ‘I’m glad.’
    ‘You can have your key back.’
    It sat among the mess on the coffee table. Greta picked it up.
    ‘Thank you.’
    Greta looked at the wine in her glass.
    ‘Are you eating?’
    Paige tried to remember the last time she ate. Had it really been the day she returned from the police station? She had to have eaten since then.
    ‘I’ll make you something.’
    Paige looked at her watch.
    ‘I have to