The Fall

PRAISE FOR LOUISE JENSEN‘The term pageturner was made for books like this’Andrea Mara‘Packed with suspense and tension’Alice Hunter‘A gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller you won’t want to stop reading!’Lauren North‘This book has it all! I was desperate to know how it was going to end’J.L. Blackhurst‘Creepy and compelling’B.A. Paris‘Twisted and suspenseful’Woman’s Weekly‘A galloping pulse-pounder’HeatREADERS ARE GIVING THE FALL FIVE STARS!‘Louise Jensen is the queen of thrillers!’‘Kept me on the edge right to the end’‘An excellent read’‘Absolutely brilliant! This book contained everything I look for’‘The plot was woven together masterfully’‘Louise Jensen has yet again shown us what a brilliant storyteller she is’ Also by Louise JensenAll For YouThe Stolen SistersThe FamilyThe GiftThe SisterThe SurrogateThe DateWriting as Amelia HenleyFrom Now OnThe Art of Loving YouThe Life We Almost Had LOUISE JENSEN has sold in excess of a million English language copies of her international No. 1 psychological thrillers The Sister, The Gift, The Surrogate, The Date, The Family, The Stolen Sisters and All For You. Her novels have also been translated into twenty-five languages and are for sale in over thirty territories. Louise’s books have been featured on the USA Today and Wall Street Journal Bestseller List and have been optioned for TV and film.Louise’s books have been nominated for various awards including the Goodreads Debut Award, The Guardian’s Not the Booker prize and best Polish thriller of 2018. She has also been listed for two CWA Dagger Awards.When Louise isn’t writing thrillers, she turns her hand to penning love stories under the name Amelia Henley. Her first two novels, The Life We Almost Had and The Art of Loving You have both been international bestsellers. From Now On is out now.Louise also writes short stories which have been featured in various publications including The Sun, Best, Candis and Hello magazine. She has a monthly fictional column in My Weekly. COPYRIGHTAn imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd1 London Bridge StreetLondon SE1 9GFwww.harpercollins.co.ukHarperCollinsPublishersMacken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper,Dublin 1, D01 C9W8, IrelandThis edition 20231First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2023Copyright © Louise Jensen 2023Louise Jensen asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.Source ISBN: 9780008508500Ebook Edition © APRIL 2023 ISBN: 9780008508524Version 2023-03-21 NOTE TO READERSThis ebook contains the following accessibility features which, if supported by your device, can be accessed via your ereader/accessibility settings: Change of font size and line heightChange of background and font coloursChange of fontChange justificationText to speechPage numbers taken from the following print edition: ISBN 9780008508500 For my cousins, Tori, Mark, Lee, Dean and Paul, whoshaped my childhood with the hide-and-seek-den-buildingadventures that we shared. CONTENTSCoverPraiseAbout the AuthorBooklistTitle PageCopyrightNote to ReadersDedicationProloguePart OneChapter One: KateChapter Two: KateChapter Three: BethChapter Four: KateChapter Five: MattChapter Six: KateChapter Seven: CailyChapter Eight: KateChapter Nine: MattChapter Ten: CailyChapter Eleven: BethChapter TwelveChapter Thirteen: BethChapter Fourteen: KateChapter Fifteen: CailyChapter Sixteen: BethChapter Seventeen: CailyChapter EighteenChapter Nineteen: MattChapter Twenty: KateChapter Twenty-One: CailyChapter Twenty-Two: KateChapter Twenty-Three: BethChapter Twenty-FourChapter Twenty-Five: CailyChapter Twenty-Six: KateChapter Twenty-Seven: MattChapter Twenty-Eight: CailyChapter Twenty-NineChapter Thirty: MattChapter Thirty-One: CailyChapter Thirty-Two: KateChapter Thirty-Three: CailyChapter Thirty-Four: BethChapter Thirty-Five: MattChapter Thirty-Six: BethChapter Thirty-Seven: KateChapter Thirty-Eight: BethChapter Thirty-Nine: KateChapter Forty: BethChapter Forty-One: KateChapter Forty-Two: BethChapter Forty-ThreeChapter Forty-Four: KateChapter Forty-Five: BethChapter Forty-Six: MattChapter Forty-Seven: KateChapter Forty-Eight: MattChapter Forty-Nine: KateChapter Fifty: MattChapter Fifty-One: KateChapter Fifty-Two: BethChapter Fifty-Three: KateChapter Fifty-Four: BethChapter Fifty-Five: KateChapter Fifty-Six: BethChapter Fifty-Seven: MattChapter Fifty-Eight: BethChapter Fifty-Nine: MattChapter Sixty: KateChapter Sixty-One: MattChapter Sixty-Two: KateChapter Sixty-Three: BethChapter Sixty-Four: MattChapter Sixty-Five: KateChapter Sixty-Six: BethChapter Sixty-Seven: MattChapter Sixty-Eight: BethChapter Sixty-Nine: KateChapter Seventy: BethChapter Seventy-One: MattChapter Seventy-Two: BethChapter Seventy-ThreeChapter Seventy-Four: CailyChapter Seventy-Five: KateChapter Seventy-SixChapter Seventy-Seven: CailyChapter Seventy-Eight: KatePart TwoChapter Seventy-NineChapter Eighty: NowChapter Eighty-One: BethChapter Eighty-Two: MattChapter Eighty-Three: CailyChapter Eighty-Four: TeganChapter Eighty-Five: BethChapter Eighty-Six: CailyChapter Eighty-Seven: TeganChapter Eighty-Eight: KateChapter Eighty-Nine: MaryChapter Ninety: CailyChapter Ninety-One: MaryChapter Ninety-Two: KateChapter Ninety-Three: MaryChapter Ninety-Four: MaryChapter Ninety-Five: KateChapter Ninety-Six: MaryChapter Ninety-Seven: BethChapter Ninety-Eight: MaryChapter Ninety-Nine: BethChapter One Hundred: KateChapter One Hundred and PROLOGUEThe darkness is absolute.A ragged breath.The wait excruciating.A whimper.Light floods the stage.Two little girls stand shoulder to shoulder, hands anxiously fiddling with their tutus, pink tulle stiff, before their fingers find each other, linking together.The audience collectively sighs, hearts melting, as the girls edge forward, ballet shoes shuffling, chubby legs clad in cream tights. The hall smells like every other primary school – poster paints and lemon cleaner – but tonight it has been transformed into a theatre. Rows of grey plastic chairs stripe the shiny parquet flooring.The girls look at each other for reassurance, so similar with their bright blue eyes and blonde, tightly wound buns that they could be mistaken for twins instead of the cousins they are.They’re the best of friends.From the speakers, the first strains of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. From the wings the frantic whisper of their teacher.‘Come on. Everyone’s waiting.’The lower lip on one of the girls juts out before it begins to tremble, her eyes filling with tears. On the front row, her mother grabs the arm of her sister.The desire to go and rescue the girls is immense.‘Shall we go up there and—’‘Give them a minute,’ her sister says in a low voice. Although she’s concerned about