The Shining Skull by Kate Ellis Read Free Book Online

supper if you like,’ said Wesley with just a hint of martyrdom.
    ‘Already done. It’ll be ready in five minutes.’
    Wesley kissed his wife again before making for the living room to entertain his children who greeted him enthusiastically
     – almost as though he’d been away for months.
    It wasn’t until the supper had been eaten and the children tucked up in bed that Wesley made his dreadful confession with
     the wary guilt of a man confessing to an affair. He would have to go the Bentham Arms for an hour or so to talk to a retired
     DCI about the Fallbrook kidnapping case but he’d be back as soon as he could. By the time he’d finished his speech, he was
     aware that he was grovelling like some Victorian servant. But he felt a little grovelling was just what was called for.
    He found himself promising that he would find ex-DCI Houldsworth, arrange a meeting at a more congenial time and come straight
     home. It would only take half an hour. No problem.
    ‘You’re not bloody drinking again. Give that to me.’ Leah Wakefield’s mother snatched the bottle of champagne from her daughter’s
     hands and marched off into the kitchen as the bubble-filled girl sprawled on the white leather sofa emitted a loud burp.
    Suzy Wakefield, being naturally thrifty due to an upbringing in which money was in short supply and luxuries like champagne
     as rare as snow in the Sahara, put a stopper in the champagne bottle and stood it up carefully in the door of the massive
     American style fridge.
    As the fridge door closed with a discreet whisper of rubber meeting rubber, Suzy heard footsteps behind her on the slatefloor. She swung round and saw Leah standing there, swaying slightly and reaching for the nearest granite worktop to steady
     herself.
    ‘Give me that bottle, you old cow.’ Leah’s words were slurred. ‘You’ve no right . . . ’
    ‘I’ve every right. It’s not good for you all this drinking.’ She had a sudden flash of inspiration. ‘It’s not good for your
     voice . . . your career . . . ’
    ‘Fuck my career. I want a fucking drink. You’re treating me like some fucking kid. I’ve got a platinum fucking disc.’
    Suzy took a step back as the girl came towards her. ‘And if you carry on like this you’ll end up in the gutter.’
    Leah stopped in her tracks and a malicious smile spread across her painted lips. ‘Well, you’d know all about the gutter. That’s
     where you belong, you old slag. That’s why Dad left you.’
    It was an automatic reaction. Suzy raised her right hand and slapped her daughter across the face, the sound echoing like
     a gunshot off the tiled walls.
    Leah held her cheek, half bent in theatrical agony, her eyes ablaze with spite. ‘You’ll regret that, you jealous old bitch.
     If you think you’re getting one more penny of my money . . . And you can get out of this house. My house. It was bought with
     my money. The money I earned.’
    Suzy squared up to her, more confident now. ‘Until you’re twenty-one everything needs my signature . . . and your Dad’s. You
     can’t do anything without my say so.’
    She looked the girl in the eye. Her daughter. The little girl she’d taken to singing and dancing lessons in spite of her husband,
     Darren – now her ex-husband – telling her it was a waste of their hard-earned money. The little girl she’d pushed and encouraged.
     The little girl on whose behalf she’d even slept with men of influence to make the right connections in the business. The
     little girl for whom she’d sacrificed her dignity and her marriage so that she could reach the top.
    Her combination of fierce maternal love and overarching ambition had been a potent one. But now it had turned sour. She had
     created a monster. One look at Leah’s sneering face, at her glazed, drunken eyes, told her that. She felt warm tears trickle
     down her cheeks.
    ‘I’m calling Brad.’
    Leah laughed. ‘My wonderful bloody manager. Good in bed, is he?’
    Suzy