‘I’m going to give you a minute to appreciate the irony of that,’ Felicity replies.
Joe laughs, although it is the last thing he feels like doing.
‘I’m better here,’ she says. ‘The others are quieter here. It’s as though they know this is my place, I have to lead the pack.’
Joe has no arguments left. There are no criminal charges left for Felicity to answer. Neither he nor anyone else can force her to seek treatment before she is ready. And she may never be ready.
‘Do you have any sense,’ he asks, ‘of how many others there are? I mean we know about Shane, obviously, the one who looks after you, but—’
Felicity shakes her head. ‘No, Bamber looks after me. She’s the street fighter. Shane is very troubled. He only hurts himself.’
‘If you know that, you’ve come a long way already.’
‘Bamber knows most of the others. She’s told me about the little girl, who’s always so afraid, and about a woman who’s quite old, who hates me. She sounds a bit like my grandmother.’
‘Did Granny write the diary?’ Joe asks.
‘Bamber thinks so.’ Felicity blushes and for a second can’t meet his eyes. ‘She and I talk to each other. I know, of course, that what’s really going on is I’m letting myself remember, but it’s easier to do it this way.’
‘Whatever works.’
‘I think the others emerge when I need them. When Freddie started writing to me from prison, I freaked out. On some level, I was terrified of him.’
‘This was in March last year.’ Joe has already worked this out for himself. Freddie’s reappearances in Felicity’s life, in her late teens, and a year ago, triggered her mental health problems.
Felicity nods. ‘I couldn’t cope alone. So I fractured.’
‘Fractured suggests you’re broken,’ Joe says. ‘You’re not.’
‘Split?’ says Felicity. ‘Is that a better word?’
He smiles. ‘Splits can be healed.’
They set off again and the jetty rocks beneath their feet. Joe turns on impulse back to the administrative buildings and sees the cold blue eyes of Jack watching them from Nigel’s office. There are more reasons than one why he doesn’t want to leave her here. But time is no more forgiving than the tide and they have reached the boat.
‘My contract ends in fifteen months,’ Felicity says. ‘I’m coming back to England then.’
‘I’ll be waiting,’ Joe tells her.
She steps forward and kisses him softly on the lips. He counts three, four seconds, then she pulls away. ‘Safe trip,’ she tells him, as Ralph starts the engine.
‘I met Bamber,’ Joe says. ‘The last night you were in Cambridge. She kissed me too.’
Felicity steps back to let him board the launch. She is smiling and Joe realises that it is the first time, except in photographs, that he has seen her happy.
‘Well,’ she says, ‘that bitch and I have some talking to do.’
Acknowledgements
My sincere love and thanks to the following:
Anna Valentine and her colleagues at Trapeze and Orion for their faith in me and my books, and their tireless efforts on my behalf; Phoebe Morgan, a great editor, whom it was a pleasure to get to know; Sam Eades and Rose, for regularly brightening my day with their Instagram posts.
Anne Marie Doulton, my agent, who is extraordinary; and the Buckmans, who are pretty great too.
My family, even the annoying ones.
Credits
Trapeze would like to thank everyone at Orion who worked on the publication of The Split in the UK.
Editorial
Sam Eades
Phoebe Morgan
Anna Valentine
Sophie Wilson
Izzy Everington
Charlie Panayiotou
Jane Hughes
Alice Davis
Copy-editor
Rebecca Millar
Proofreader
Melissa Smith
Audio
Paul Stark
Amber Bates
Contracts
Anne Goddard
Paul Bulos
Ellen Harber
Design
Black Sheep Designs
Lucie Stericker
Joanna Ridley
Nick May
Clare Sivell
Helen Ewing
Jan Bielecki
Debbie Holmes
Finance
Jasdip Nandra
Afeera Ahmed
Elizabeth Beaumont
Sue Baker
Victor Falola
Marketing
Lucy Cameron
Tom Noble
Production
Claire Keep
Fiona Macintosh
Katie Horrocks
Publicity
Alex Layt
Leanne Oliver
Sales
Jen Wilson
Esther Waters
Rachael Hum
Ellie Kyrke-Smith
Viki Cheung
Ben Goddard
Mark Stay
Georgina Cutler
Tal Hart
Andrew Taylor
Barbara Ronan
Andrew Hally
Dominic Smith
Maggy Park
Elizabeth Bond
Linda McGregor
Rights
Susan Howe
Richard King
Krystyna Kujawinska
Jessica Purdue
Hannah Stokes
Operations
Jo Jacobs
Sharon Willis
Lucy Tucker
Lisa Pryde
Also by Sharon Bolton
Sacrifice
Awakening
Blood Harvest
Now You See Me
Dead Scared
Lost
A Dark and Twisted Tide
Little Black Lies
Daisy in Chains
Dead Woman Walking
The Craftsman
About the Author
SHARON BOLTON is a Mary Higgins Clark Award winner and an ITW Thriller Award, CWA Gold Dagger and Barry Award nominee. Her books included the Lacey Flint novels: Now You See Me, Dead Scared, Lost, and A Dark and Twisted Tide. She lives near London, England. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Part One. South Georgia
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Part Two. Cambridge, England
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapt
er 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Part Three. Cambridge, England
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Part Four. South Georgia
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Chapter 67
Chapter 68
Chapter 69
Chapter 70
Chapter 71
Chapter 72
Chapter 73
Chapter 74
Chapter 75
Chapter 76
Chapter 77
Chapter 78
Chapter 79
Chapter 80
Chapter 81
Chapter 82
Chapter 83
Chapter 84
Chapter 85
Chapter 86
Chapter 87
Chapter 88
Chapter 89
Acknowledgements
Credits
Also by Sharon Bolton
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
First published in the United States by Minotaur Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Publishing Group
THE SPLIT. Copyright © 2020 by Sharon Bolton. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 120 Broadway, New York, NY 10271.
www.minotaurbooks.com
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Originally published in Great Britain by Trapeze, an imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd, an Hachette UK company
First U.S. Edition: April 2020
eISBN 9781250300065
First eBook edition: April 2020