Her Last Breath: The new gripping summer page-turner from the No 1 bestseller

Now she felt clean by comparison, so clean she could almost smell the scorching bleach come off her.

Autumn pulled back, looking into Estelle’s eyes. ‘I just had a feeling when you called me yesterday, we’d see you before too long. Please, come in,’ Autumn said, beckoning her inside.

Estelle paused a moment before stepping over the threshold. The house seemed to reach out to her, pulling her towards it, and she felt a heady mixture of an intense need to get in there and a roaring desire to run away.

‘Max!’ Autumn shouted, her voice echoing around the large hallway and giving Estelle no choice but to step in as she gently led her inside.

Max appeared at the top of the stairs, looking the same too with his short white hair and sharp blue eyes.

‘Look who’s come for a visit,’ Autumn said.

Max peered closer at Estelle then shook his head in disbelief. ‘Is it really you, Stel?’ he asked, laughing his charming laugh. The sound of it took her right back in time. It was overwhelming. How had they barely aged? ‘Autumn’s been dreaming about this for years,’ he said, jogging down the luxuriously carpeted stairs. ‘You never call, you never visit,’ he joked, reaching out to Estelle. She walked towards him, letting him envelope her in his arms.

‘I’m sorry I left it so long,’ Estelle said, eventually extracting herself from his grip. ‘Life caught up with me.’

‘Stop with the apologies,’ Autumn said, stroking Estelle’s short hair. ‘You’re here now and that’s what counts. Look how different your hair is!’

‘It suits you,’ Max said. ‘Must’ve been a long journey. You’re in London now, right?’

Estelle nodded, taking in the vast hallway with dark wooden floors and walls adorned with various family photos – including one of Estelle, face calm as she looked out to sea, her long dark hair in a ponytail. Estelle looked at that girl, tried to find herself in her face. But all she could see was Poppy.

She’d looked just like Poppy. How could she not have seen that before? But then she didn’t have many photos from her childhood like other kids did; she’d left it all behind.

‘Look at this place,’ Estelle said, dragging her eyes away from the picture and feeling like that awe-filled teenager all over again. ‘It looks just as amazing as it did the first time I was here.’

‘Bet it’s bringing back some memories,’ Max said, his arm back around her shoulder.

Estelle nodded, stepping away from him. She should be used to the over-affectionate ways of the Garlands, but it all felt like too much now. That was the thing with them. Nothing by halves. All the emotion and the love thrown at you until you just found yourself wrapped up in it and rolling down a cliff so fast you forgot the old you was standing at the top, watching.

She supposed that’s how she felt all those years ago, standing in the very spot she was standing in now, peering up at the large balcony above and trying to reconcile it with the house she’d lived in as a child with her parents: the tiny cramped hallway with used nappies on the floor, dirty toys flung all over, empty wine bottles and discarded filthy scraps of foil, her mum weaving towards her, ash falling from her cigarette.

‘You must be starving,’ Autumn said, taking Estelle’s hand and leading her through the house. Estelle stopped as she reached the threshold of the kitchen, mouth dropping open. It looked just like her kitchen at Seb’s house. White floor-to-ceiling cupboards across the wall to the left with a line of low units dominated by a pale blue Aga cooker. Then, in the middle, a sleek wood-topped island with four chrome stools overlooking the stunning views outside.

Had she unwittingly moulded her kitchen design from memories of this place, without even realising?

She felt her eyes drawn towards the view through the vast windows. An endless sea, the white of the cliffs. How familiar a sight, one that used to greet her each morning.

She walked to the windows, taking it all in. This garden seemed so much smaller now too. Her teenage eyes must have magnified things in her memories.

‘The view still has that effect, doesn’t it?’ Autumn said, squeezing Estelle’s hand. ‘I still have to stare at it for ten minutes each morning when I wake up, just to convince myself it’s real. We are so lucky to live in a town like this.’

Estelle peered out towards the heart of Lillysands and hints of the white glimmer of sails from its marina. She wondered if Aiden were out there somewhere.

Behind her, Autumn went to the fridge. ‘So, what will it be? Pancakes and maple syrup? Poached eggs and muffins? Or the full shebang, the famous Garland fry-up?’

Estelle took in the contents of the bulging fridge freezer. Autumn was a food taster for high-street stores and always brought home boot-loads of food.

‘People have between two thousand and ten thousand taste buds,’ Estelle remembered Autumn telling her on her second day there. ‘I’m one of those with tens of thousands. Taste is everything, darling. Taste is the epicentre of what it means to be alive.’

‘I ate on the train,’ Estelle said now. ‘But thank you, I appreciate it.’

‘I’m hungry,’ Max said.

Autumn rolled her eyes. ‘Aren’t you always? Tea then,’ she said to Estelle. ‘Or coffee?’

Estelle reached into her bag, handing over some sachets of peppermint tea. ‘Tea would be good, thanks. I hope you don’t mind using these for mine?’

Autumn and Max exchanged a look. Then Autumn took the teabag, holding it with her fingertips as though it were poison before dropping it into a mug.

‘Honestly, it feels like we’ve gone back eighteen years,’ Autumn said, sighing contentedly as she slapped some bacon onto a pan. ‘Doesn’t it, Max, having our Stel back in this kitchen, sitting at that stool?’

‘Poor girl,’ Max said, shaking his head. ‘Still makes me ill thinking of the state you were in when you got here. We’ve all had our fair share of difficult childhoods but yours was particularly difficult. We soon changed that though, didn’t we? And now look at you,’ he said, smiling that magnetic smile of his. ‘Author, vlogger, Olympic advisor. I’m so proud of you, and so proud we played a part in that.’

‘Yes, we really are,’ Autumn said, leaning over and squeezing Estelle’s hand. ‘It’s good to be able to tell you that to your face, darling, how very proud we are.’

‘Thanks,’ Estelle said, feeling her face flush.

‘You’ll stay tonight?’ Max said.

‘Of course she will!’ Autumn exclaimed. ‘Your old room is ready and waiting for you, I’ll even add some chocolate to the pillows,’ she added with a wink

‘Oh, you really don’t have to; I was planning to find a hotel in town.’

The truth was, she wasn’t even sure she’d need to stay overnight. She just knew she needed to get to Aiden before the police did and try to get a sense of whether anyone else knew about Poppy here. She peered out over Lillysands. Someone out there must know something. She could feel it in her gut. But the police had no hope of squeezing any information out of the people here if they decided to ask questions. Only someone who was part of the community could – or someone who used to be part of the community, at least.

‘You will not stay in a hotel,’ Autumn said, pouting. ‘If you’re going to stay, I insist it’s here.’

Estelle smiled. ‘Okay, I’ll let you know. I take it you don’t have any foster kids staying?’ Estelle asked as she sat on the stool Max pulled out for her. ‘It’s very quiet.’

They both shook their heads sadly. ‘Just too busy now,’ Max replied.

‘With the property business?’ Estelle asked.

He nodded.

‘I’ve even gone part-time with the food tasting to help out,’ Autumn said.

‘That’s good news though,’ Estelle said. ‘Means it’s expanding.’

‘Very good news,’ Max said in a bright voice.

Estelle yawned.

‘Keeping you up, are we?’ he said with a laugh.

‘Sorry! I’ve just been on the go since five this morning.’

‘Five?’ Autumn and Max exclaimed.