Her New Best Friend

Contents Title PageCopyrightPraise forDedicationPart One: Audrey~1~~2~~3~~4~~5~~6~~7~~8~~9~~10~~11~~12~~13~~14~Part Two: Claire~15~~16~~17~~18~~19~~20~~21~~22~~23~~24~~25~~26~~27~~28~~29~Questions for Book ClubsAcknowledgementsMy Perfect SisterAbout the AuthorAbout Embla Books First published in Great Britain in 2023 byBonnier Books UK Limited4th Floor, Victoria House, Bloomsbury Square, London, WC1B 4DAOwned by Bonnier BooksSveavägen 56, Stockholm, SwedenCopyright © Penny Batchelor, 2023All rights reserved.No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.The right of Penny Batchelor to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988This is a work of fiction. Names, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.ISBN: 9781471414770This book is typeset using Atomik ePublisherEmbla Books is an imprint of Bonnier Books UKwww.bonnierbooks.co.uk Praise for Her New Best Friend‘A twisty and pacey thriller with an original cast of characters, and stakes and jeopardy that build right to the end’ Philippa East‘Her New Best Friend is a slow burn with a hot finish … An intriguing read’ Jane Lythell‘Riveting, twisty and tense, Her New Best Friend will keep you guessing until the last sentence! A page-turning psychological thriller’ E.C. Scullion‘A twisty look at obsession and motherhood. You’re in for a treat!’ Louise Mumford‘A twisty and engrossing story of motherhood, friendship and betrayal. A great read for lovers of domestic thrillers’ A.J. Campbell‘This is the perfect blend of beautifully written, taut psychological drama. Suspicion and anxiety build until you find yourself turning the light off at dawn. Fabulous!’ Victoria Dowd‘A fast-paced thriller looking at obsession, whether you can trust your own instincts, and how the past can come back to haunt you when you least expect it. Compelling’ Catherine CooperPraise for My Perfect Sister‘Claustrophobic and thrilling – a true page-turner in which no one can be trusted’ Catherine Cooper‘Pacey and entertaining and I whizzed through it. Great for anyone (like me) who loves to be hooked into a psychological thriller’ Philippa East Reader reviews‘This is a brilliant first novel. A fascinating story of family dynamics and secrets’‘A wonderful twisty thriller. A truly fantastic debut novel’‘This is a fabulous book! An incredibly gripping story with a host of intriguing and sensitively drawn characters’‘A truly engaging read from start to finish. A triumph of a first book from a really promising new author’‘I really enjoyed My Perfect Sister; from the outset it sweeps you along and keeps you guessing, and there’s a smart twist too!‘This is a great read for anyone who likes a bit of a mystery, I read it over a weekend and couldn’t wait to find out if my hunch on what happened was right – it wasn’t!’‘Really captivating story. An excellent debut novel and an ending with lots of twists and turns’‘A great lockdown read … had me gripped and guessing right until the end’‘A good story with a twist at the end. A page-turner and refreshing to see a disabled character as one of the main characters’‘A fantastic thriller, with plenty of twists and turns. A real page-turner. Now I need more books from this author’‘I loved reading this book! It is well written with believable characters and plot. It has lots of twist and turns right up to the end. Kept me guessing! An excellent book’ For Chris, who shielded by my side whilst I wrote this novel Part OneAudrey ~1~I didn’t turn my back on the pram for much longer than a snatched handful of seconds, a few heartbeats, but that was all the time it took for my five-year-old daughter, Antonia, to turn on her heel and dash after the fluttering wings of a yellow-breasted great tit in the local park.Seconds. Ordinary passages of time which, on a regular day, we don’t think twice about the passing of or maybe even long to pass by more quickly. A few of them, however, as every mother knows and fears, is all it takes.‘Antonia!’ I anxiously call out. ‘Don’t run off!’ I let go of the pram’s handles and try to walk as fast as I can to reach my daughter who is heading in the direction of the trees, following her quarry. ‘Come back!’It has felt like such a long day, as if twenty-four hours have passed before 3.30 p.m. My voice cracks slightly when I try to prevent my usual singsong mummy tone from turning into barbed impatience. Having short legs seems to make it more difficult today for me to catch up with my child on whom my husband James and I always impress the importance of staying close by when venturing outside the home. Easy to say isn’t it, but not so simple for easily distracted children to do when something has caught their eye.Antonia turns when she hears her name and I see the expression on her little flushed face betray her internal debate on whether to continue her wild bird chase or come back to me. I win. Antonia starts to do as she’s told and run back to me when we both hear a shout coming from near the pond at the centre of the municipal park. Instinctively I turn back to the pram.It’s not there.My heart beats ferociously and I sense the acrid taste of adrenaline in my mouth. For a split second I’m frozen. I stare down towards the bottom of the path the three of us walk on nearly every day. A soggy, small blonde figure is pulling a pram out of the shallow area of the pond. My pram.Time freezes into an icy shock until I scream ‘Wilfred!’ in fear. I reach for Antonia’s gloved hand and pull her as quickly as I can towards the pond. Most of the water is surrounded by a low concrete wall adorned with the usual detritus of crisp packets