Something Terrible Happened Last Night

For Sarah Webb.For everything.And for the best advice I was ever given:‘Just keep writing’. CONTENTSCoverTitle PageDedicationKatie’s HousePrologueChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 7Chapter 8Chapter 9Chapter 10Chapter 11Chapter 12Chapter 13Chapter 14Chapter 15Chapter 16Chapter 17Chapter 18Chapter 19Chapter 20Chapter 21Chapter 22Chapter 23Chapter 24Chapter 25Chapter 26Chapter 27Chapter 28Chapter 29Chapter 30Chapter 31Chapter 32Chapter 33Chapter 34Chapter 35Chapter 36Chapter 37Chapter 38Chapter 39Chapter 40Chapter 41Chapter 42Chapter 43Chapter 44Chapter 45Chapter 46Chapter 47Chapter 48Chapter 49Chapter 50Chapter 51Chapter 52Chapter 53Chapter 54Chapter 55Chapter 56Chapter 57EpilogueAcknowledgementsCopyrightAbout the AuthorAbout Gill Books PROLOGUESitting at the bottom of the stairs in Katie’s black-and-white-tiled hallway, Frankie put her head in her hands and tried to shut out the chaos that was unfolding around her. She could feel the tears coming again, hot on her cheeks. Even with her eyes shut, the blue strobes of the ambulance and Garda cars outside were imprinting themselves on her brain. Bursts of garbled radio conversation came to her from the living room, together with the low voices of the paramedics.She felt a hand on her shoulder and Jess bumped down to sit beside her. Unspeaking, she pulled Frankie into a hug. They’d only known each other a few weeks, but after tonight Frankie felt like they would be bonded forever. She still couldn’t believe how an evening which had started so well had ended like this. She needed the hug. There were no words for right now.‘Miss, was it you who called the Guards?’A male voice cut through her thoughts. Frankie opened her eyes and looked up at the man. He had a notebook in his hand and a radio clipped to his navy bomber jacket. He was about the same age as her dad, his hat blocking out the light from the chandelier above them. All the LEDs had been turned off earlier and now the house was flooded by the main lights.Frankie wished Ollie would get here quickly. She still had his sweatshirt on. It came down almost to the hem of her dress and she hugged it to her now, even though it was warm in the house. She pulled her hands inside the sleeves and crossed her arms, glancing back up the stairs at her cousin Sorcha and then at Jess as she answered.‘Yes, that was me. Frankie O’Sullivan, Francesca. I live at the Berwick Castle Hotel. My mum and dad run it.’‘Ah, you’re Ollie’s sister?’She sighed. One day she was going to be able to introduce herself in this town without someone saying, ‘Oh, you’re Ollie’s sister.’ Frankie didn’t know if it was because he was the oldest of the five of them, or because his band was the only vaguely decent one in Kilmurray Point, or because he was spending his ‘gap year’ – you had to do the rabbit ear thing because it was turning into almost two years at this stage – working behind the bar at the hotel. There didn’t seem to be anyone in town who hadn’t been in their bar.‘And this is?’Frankie turned to look at Jess. The light was catching the diamond stud in her nose and making it gleam. Frankie wondered for a split second if she could capture its sparkle somehow, put it in a bottle to take home and uncork a bit of magic that would bring everything back to normal, to how it was before the party.Right now, she didn’t know if she’d ever be able to sparkle again.‘I’m Jessica McKenna – Jess.’ Her English accent sounded strong after the Guard’s soft country vowels.‘She wasn’t here for the party.’ Frankie rubbed her eyes. ‘And that’s my cousin Sorcha – she wasn’t here either. They just came to help clear up.’ Frankie turned to indicate the dark-haired girl curled up at the top of the stairs, where the staircase swung around in a big arc. Sorcha was tiny, and with her knees drawn up to her chin and her huge eyes dark in a very pale face, she looked even more pixie-like than normal. ‘Ollie dropped us off, before …’ She couldn’t say it.The Guard nodded like he was taking it all in, then made a note on his pad.‘So, what happened, love, can you tell me?’Suddenly Frankie was back in the living room with the dogs yapping and running in circuits around the enormous beige leather sofa by the kitchen door. Katie had pushed it back to make space for dancing. It had been like the dogs couldn’t cope with the change in the furniture and all the party smells.At that point, Frankie had really had enough drama. First the fight, then trying to make sure everyone got home safely. Then coming back to Katie’s house to help her clear up and finding bottles and cans and spilled drink everywhere, the living room stinking of weed and the patio furniture floating in the pool. They all needed some calm to just plough through the clear-up and get the place straight before Katie’s parents got back. The dogs’ yapping had started to set her teeth on edge.Then Frankie had glanced up and realised Katie wasn’t looking at the dogs. Instead, she was standing by the door that led into the kitchen and staring at the floor behind the sofa, her face totally drained of colour. Putting one hand on the door frame to steady herself, Katie had started trembling, the other hand moving towards her mouth in what felt to Frankie, like slow motion.Sorcha had noticed Katie shaking at the exact same moment as Frankie, and as their eyes met, fear ricocheted between them like a basketball, hitting them both hard in the stomach as they turned to look across the devastated room at their friend. But Katie just continued to stare, like she was caught in some sort of alien ray beam and couldn’t speak.They’d both known something was wrong straightaway. Really super wrong. As if the whole party-chaos-house-smashed-Katie-grounded-forever thing wasn’t bad enough.The two dogs were going wild, barking and running around the sofa. The smaller one had something red all over her curly