What You Left Behind by Samantha Hayes Read Free Book Online

it.
    Instead, she put her hand back on her sister’s, noticing the lines of worry on her face. “But none of that means Freddie’s going to kill himself, OK?”

4

    “I’m going to Wellesbury this morning, would you like to come?” Jo asked.
    Lorraine was sitting at the kitchen table, drinking coffee. Freddie hadn’t emerged from his bedroom yet, and Stella was lazing in the garden with her book. The day was a pleasant one, but the pattern for the last week or so had been rainy, sometimes thundery, afternoons.
    “I’d love to,” she replied, sipping her drink. Jo always made it strong. “Errands to run?”
    “Kind of,” Jo said. “I promised Sonia Hawkeswell I’d pick up some leaflets from the homeless shelter in town. I said I’d hand them out.”
    Lorraine nodded slowly. She didn’t recall such a place, but she hadn’t been there in a while. As a young kid, Wellesbury was alwaysan exciting source of candy and toys for her and Jo, as well as trips to the market or the library with their mother. When she was a teenager, she saw it for what it was—a rather boring Midlands town with nowhere cool to hang out. But on the few occasions she’d visited as an adult she had found it charming, with its stone shop fronts, interesting boutiques, and cobbled pedestrian areas.
    “Sonia volunteers at the shelter,” Jo continued. “Actually, she virtually lives there. She works really hard. They’re having a fund-raising event, so I said I’d help promote it.”
    “That’s very commendable,” Lorraine said. “Of course I’ll come.” She was keen to meet Sonia Hawkeswell, to see if she could find out a bit more about the man who’d upset Stella yesterday.

    N EW H OPE H OMELESS Shelter was housed in an old church hall on the south side of town, only a short drive from Radcote. Lorraine stared up at it as they got out of the car, squinting at the austere building as it sparked a memory. They’d parked opposite, outside a fish-and-chips shop, which was just opening up; on the other side of the road was a dog-grooming business. The rest of the properties were small terraced houses.
    “God, I remember this place,” she said with a grin, eyeing the new sign above the door. “We did Girl Guides here for a while, didn’t we?”
    She linked her arm through her sister’s, giving her a squeeze.
    “We did indeed,” Jo said. “Until they kicked us out.”
    “That was your fault,” Lorraine said with a laugh.
    “It was not!” Jo said indignantly, but then fell quiet as they approached the steps of the church hall. She drew to a halt. “Look, before we go in, you should know something.”
    “Oh?”
    Lorraine put up her hand to shield her eyes from the sun. Jo appeared serious all of a sudden.
    “Sonia has devoted her life to this place since … well, since she lost Simon. It’s not only her time she gives, but money too. And by that, I don’t just mean all the fund-raising work she does. She’s donated a load of personal cash recently.”
    “That’s very kind of her,” Lorraine responded, wondering how anyone could possibly cope after losing a child in the way she had.
    “But it’s way more than a financial investment,” Jo continued, her voice low. She glanced at the door. “Sonia’s suffered no end, and she’s become very emotionally attached to all the lads who stay here. She told me once she sees a bit of Simon in each and every one of them. It’s really sad, like she’s trying to bring him back.” Jo paused, looking uncomfortable. “By working here, it’s as if she wants to … to make it up to him somehow. As if she blames herself. She can’t seem to let go.”
    Lorraine nodded her understanding. “Grief affects everyone differently.”
    They went inside the small entrance porch. Empty wooden crates were stacked neatly to one side as if they’d recently held bulk amounts of food—potatoes, bags of carrots, loaves of bread—and were waiting to be collected. The black-and-white