Penance

PENANCE CHARLOTTE BARNES Copyright © 2023 Charlotte Barnes The right of Charlotte Barnes to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published in 2023 by Bloodhound Books. Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publisher or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency. All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. www.bloodhoundbooks.com Print ISBN: 978-1-5040-8552-6 CONTENTS Love best-selling fiction? Also by Charlotte Barnes Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 She Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Before Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Now Chapter 16 Chapter 17 She Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 She Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 She Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Now Chapter 35 Acknowledgements You will also enjoy: A note from the publisher Love best-selling fiction? LOVE BEST-SELLING FICTION? Sign up today to be the first to hear about new releases and exclusive offers, including free and discounted ebooks! Why not like us or follow us on social media to stay up to date with the latest news from your favourite authors? Facebook Twitter Instagram ALSO BY CHARLOTTE BARNES Suspense Thrillers: Intention All I See Is You Sincerely, Yours The Things I Didn’t Do Safe Word * * * Crime: The DI Melanie Watton Series The Copycat (book one) The Watcher (book two) The Cutter (book three) PROLOGUE Industrial buildings linger on the outskirts of every city now. Belfast is no different. From outside the structure looked like a cored office space. She had expected to find contents to match. Instead, the room she occupied looked long abandoned by lodgers and squatters. They’d left behind soiled mattresses and a cracked mirror over an ornate fireplace that had been engulfed by its own flames years ago. There was a red wall, pink in patches. When she scanned the space, she saw the open window with blades of sun falling through. The heat of it must have slowly taken the wall’s colour. The other walls had less character to them. Wallpaper had cracked and flecked, picked off like skin tags around poorly cared for cuticles. The plaster underneath looked damp, and the smell of the room was much the same. Though it was tinged with sweat, too, and when the wind CHAPTER ONE I dragged my case through the front door with a thud that was no rival for the music emanating from the kitchen. I paced through the familiar hallway and found my husband, Simon, rapping along to Eminem. In those seconds, I felt the familiar rush of home wash over me and I was embarrassingly happy to be back. People at work had told me to make the most of the break – ‘It’s a free trip away after all!’ – and I’d nodded along with a weak smile. But there was nowhere else I’d rather be than leaning against the doorway of a kitchen space that we owned outright, watching my husband pretend to have rhythm while cutting tomatoes into uneven slices. I left him in peace until the end of the track then, when I realised it was on repeat, I trod quietly into the space and hit the