Stolen by Rebecca Muddiman Read Free Book Online

at all?’
    She could feel her chest tighten, her breathing beginning to labour. She wondered if Gardner saw right through her.  If she told him, part of her felt like it would be for nothing. She knew Simon would never have done this; knew he wouldn’t have slashed her tyres. Abby felt the weight of Gardner’s stare and knew she had to make a decision. If she told him about Simon, that would be it. The truth would be out. She would lose Paul. But she needed to tell him. If it was a choice between Paul or Beth, she knew what she’d choose. 
    Tears began to form in her eyes again but she blinked them away, ignoring the pain, ignoring her throat constricting. She swallowed hard and met his gaze.
    ‘This is my fault,’ Abby said. She could feel Gardner watching her, waiting.
    ‘Why is it your fault?’ he asked.
    She shook her head, unable to say it.
    ‘Abby?’
    ‘Simon,’ she said.
    ‘Excuse me?’ Gardner glanced at Lawton and back to Abby.
    ‘Simon Abbott.’ Abby felt her voice catch in her throat and looked back down at her hands, pushing them under her thighs to stop them from shaking.
    ‘Who’s Simon Abbott?’
    Abby licked her lips. ‘He’s the man I had an affair with.’

Chapter Ten
    Gardner splashed his face with water. He gazed into the mirror as he dried off with a scratchy blue paper towel. God, he was tired. He couldn’t decide if this new information would make things more simple or more complicated. It certainly added a whole other layer of possibilities. Abby claimed the affair was over, had been for a long time, and yet they were still in contact. Simon Abbott told her he was going on a work trip tomorrow and yet his answerphone said he’d already left; Gardner had just tried it himself. He’d dispatched an officer to Abbott’s house to check just in case but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. The man could’ve left, paying someone to hurt Abby while he was gone. What better alibi than to be on a plane headed for New Zealand at the time of the attack?
    Abby had insisted he wouldn’t have been involved. He wasn’t that kind of man. That was a joke. No one was that kind of man until he was. And for now there was no one else, no other possible suspects, no one with any reason to hurt Abby. Abby denied that Simon and Jen knew each other, even knew about each other. There was no way Jen could’ve told him Abby was visiting.
    His initial feeling had been that Abby was genuine, that she had no involvement in her daughter’s disappearance, and he was sticking to that. For now anyway. But, the woman had had an affair. No, she didn’t deserve to be punished for that, certainly not like this, but what Annie had done to him still hurt. He didn’t think about her much these days, but when he did it brought back everything else that happened back in Blyth – the affair, Wallace, Wallace’s kid and her face as she watched the coffin being carried from the hearse. Maybe that was what really hurt. Gardner shook his head. He’d hated Annie for what she did, for everything that happened because of one stupid decision she’d made. You can’t imagine how much it’ll tear you apart until your own wife tells you she’s been sleeping with someone else. That’s when you realise what heartbreak really means. And now he had to go and face Abby Henshaw’s husband. He stared at himself in the mirror. According to Abby her husband had no idea about her affair. She’d begged him not to say anything. She’d lost her daughter; she didn’t want to lose her husband too. Gardner knew he’d find out eventually. It would be impossible to keep it from him. But for now he decided to withhold the information. Paul was the only person she had to lean on. He looked at himself in the mirror, let out a breath and walked back out into the corridor.
    ‘Lawton,’ he said and the young officer turned. ‘Any luck with Simon Abbott?’
    ‘PC Copeland’s been to his home address,’ she said. ‘No one there.