Suddenly the things around her seemed intensely beautiful; the scuff marks inflicted on the chair legs by the boys' shoes, the dishcloth, a crayoned drawing hanging haphazardly from the refrigerator door.

Names formed in her mind… Angel, Marc, Dawn, Alex, Bryony, Ronnie… A chain of lives damaged or destroyed by Karl Arrowood's actions… ending with her own child. And yet… Of all those affected, only she had kept what was most precious to her.

The water boiled, the steam rose from the pot, and Gemma sat down to wait for her family.

About the Author

DEBORAH CROMBIE was born and educated in Texas and has lived in both England and Scotland. Her Kincaid and James novels have received Edgar^®, Agatha, and Macavity Award nominations, and her fifth novel, Dreaming of the Bones, was named a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and selected as one of the 100 Best Crime Novels of the Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers of America. She is a bestselling author in Germany, and her novels are also published in Japan, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, France, the Czech Republic, and the United Kingdom. Crombie travels to England several times a year and has been a featured speaker at St. Hilda’s College, Oxford. She lives in a small North Texas town, sharing a turn-of-the-century house with her husband, three cats, and a German shepherd.