Finding Jennifer Jones Read Online Free

Sal, thanks,” Kate said.
    “Where are you going?”
    Kate didn’t know. She just had to get out.
    “Not sure. Might meet up with some friends. See you later.”
    The door closed behind her. She felt lighter immediately. The smell of the sea was strong and she headed towards it.

Four
    Kate woke up the next morning. The room was in semi darkness. A single shaft of light split the gloom. She let her eyes travel along it. It took her a few moments to realise that her mouth was dry and her head felt heavy. The clock showed that it was 09:51. She pulled the pillow to the side to get comfortable and closed her eyes again. If she could just sleep for a couple more hours then she would feel fine, the effects of the booze would wear off. It always did.
    At her back she felt something move and her eyes shot open.
    She turned and saw that she wasn’t alone in the bed. She opened her eyes wide and looked around. The room was small and untidy. There was a rail alongside the bed crammed with clothes and the beam of light came from the door which was ajar. It wasn’t her bedroom.
    Where was she?
    She sat up. She was wearing just her pants and vest top. She rubbed her eyes and felt the crustiness of mascara that hadn’t been taken off before she went to bed. She looked at the shape under the duvet beside her.
    Who was it?
    The tall lad who worked behind the bar?
    The lad with the big earphones who bought that extra bottle of wine as the pub was closing? Or was it someone entirely different?
    She slipped out of the bed and pulled her skirt and top on. She picked up her bag from the floor and walked barefoot across the room to the door. She peeked out into a hallway. The room was on the ground floor. The sun blazed in through the glass front door and she felt its warmth as she tiptoed across the hall looking for the toilet. There were three steps down to a long kitchen. She went there and stood for a moment looking round. The work surface was littered with empty beer cans and polystyrene dishes with a few remnants of uneaten chips. There was a wok on the cooker, its spoon still resting on the side. Dirty bowls sat nearby close to a half-empty bottle of vodka.
    It was a student house. She’d seen enough of them.
    She turned the tap on and rinsed a glass. Then she filled it with water and drank most of it down.
    At the far end of the kitchen was a door and she pushed it open into a small bathroom. She used the toilet and stood at the sink to wash her hands. Looking at herself in the mirror she saw that her eye make-up was smudged underneath, making her look like a Goth. Most of her hair was still up in a ponytail but huge strands of it had fallen down at the sides and the back. She looked a wreck.
    She thought back to the evening before. Saturday night. Why had she got so drunk? Then it came to her. It was because of the drowned girl.
    When she headed out for the evening there had been a lot of police on the esplanade. It had unnerved her seeing the cars pulling up and screeching away, police officers walking with purpose, holding phones to their ears. Even though the child had gone missing at Sandy Bay the police seemed to be searching all the way along the seafront right up to the harbour and the ferry point. Dismayed, Kate had turned her back on it and hurried away, walking towards the outskirts of the town. There was a pub she’d gone to a few times over the last year. It had a garden and the booze was cheap. At the weekends it was always noisy and crowded and there were always lots of people to talk to and drink with.
    She’d spent most of the evening there and somehow she’d ended up here in some stranger’s house.
    A whole night had passed. She wondered if the child’s body had surfaced.
    She peeled off some toilet paper, wet it and tried to get the make-up off from under her eyes. Then she pulled the tie out of her hair and rummaged in her make-up bag to search for a comb. Instead she found the small packet of condoms that