The Dead Dog Day Read Online Free PDF Page A

hell indeed, she thought.
    It was all a little hard to process. She’d been feeling dreadful enough today after spending most of her weekend in tears, thanks to Justin. And now Jeanette was dead. Not just dead either, if the rumours racing round the newsroom were to be believed, but murdered . She’d never been a popular woman – well, if we’re being honest here, she was probably the most unpopular person I know, Cora thought. But still – murder?
    She snuggled deeper under the crisp white duvet on her hotel room bed and shut her eyes. It was only 6 p.m., but she was desperately tired, and she had to be back in work at 3.30 tomorrow morning. It had been quite a day. Quite a few days, in fact. Yes, today had been awful. But – Friday. Friday had quite possibly been one of the worst days of her life.
    She’d made it quite a long way after Justin’s phone call – all the way along the A39 in fact, fists clenching the steering wheel so tightly they ached, eyes fixed unblinking on the road ahead, her stomach contracting.
    It wasn’t until she’d reached the motorway that the crying had started, and she’d had more than one curious look from overtaking drivers as she crawled along in the slow lane sobbing, mascara streaking down her cheeks, the tears blurring her vision until she decided the only sane thing to do was just to stop. Pulling up in the furthest corner of the busy Sedgemoor services car park, away from prying eyes, she had howled until her throat hurt. Justin had dumped her. He had, in fact, already moved out. It was all over.
    â€˜I just didn’t see it. I didn’t see it coming! Why didn’t I see it?’ Cora had cried out loud, banging both hands on the dashboard.
    She’d sniffed again and pulled another fresh tissue from the pack in her glove compartment. OK, so they hadn’t seen much of each other recently, and she wasn’t a particularly easy person to be involved with, she knew that – her work always came first for her, and she was always so tired …
    But she and Justin had been together for two years, ever since they had fallen lustfully into each other’s arms at a mutual friend’s wedding in Oxford. She had been instantly smitten by this tall, clever, creative man with his hard rugby player’s body, and he had fallen equally quickly for her, the pretty brunette he had been watching on morning TV for months. They had lived together for nearly a year, for goodness’ sake! They were going to have that big party after Christmas to celebrate! Fresh tears had come to Cora’s eyes and she’d wiped them away viciously.
    They had seemed so right for each other. Justin worked almost as hard as she did, commuting daily to a big Birmingham design studio and, like her, wanted to get to the top of his profession, maybe retire early, travel, have a couple of properties abroad. No children, that had always been the plan. It was one of the things she had been so awed by when they first met – the fact that, unlike every one of her previous boyfriends, who all, when pushed, admitted a desire to procreate somewhere down the line, this one genuinely seemed to want the life she did. Just the two of them, in love, happy together, needing nobody else. And now he had landed this on her.
    â€˜It’s partly that I just never see you, but it’s also the kids thing, Cora,’ he had said, as she sat in stunned silence listening to his farewell speech. ‘I want them. I know I said I didn’t, but I do. I just haven’t admitted it to myself until now. I’m going to be 40 in a couple of years, and I want kids. I want kids, and a wife who’s at home with them. I know it sounds old-fashioned, but I think deep down that’s what I’ve always really wanted.
    â€˜The big plans, the making our fortune, the homes in the sun, it all sounded great, and for a while I thought, yes, that’s the life