The Other Woman’s House Read online

  Praise for Sophie Hannah

  The Cradle in the Grave

  “Hannah merges her myriad story lines with practiced ease.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  “Hannah, who understands every neurotic twitch, blemish, and lie a person is capable of, is just the thing for those who followed the Casey Anthony murder trial.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “Sophie Hannah’s latest psychological thriller, The Cradle in the Grave, featuring Simon Waterhouse and Charlie Zailer, will haunt you long after the heart-stopping conclusion.”

  —Library Journal

  “The Cradle in the Grave concludes in a fashion that manages to be both surprising and, in retrospect, somewhat inevitable, which is further testament to Hannah’s storytelling prowess. The author has certainly chosen to work with a lot of ingredients here, and yet the subtlety with which she does so makes for a hearty literary meal—one in which each part feels as if it’s essential. If good books are those that entertain while simultaneously provoking thought, then this one certainly qualifies.”

  —The Hartford Examiner

  “Hannah…[writes] masterfully crafted psychological thrillers.”

  —Booklist

  “The twists and turns of The Cradle in the Grave come at the reader thick and fast.”

  —Suspense Magazine

  “The title really sells it. It’s creepy stuff, which Sophie’s things often are, quite necessarily.”

  —Tana French, author of In the Woods and Faithful Place

  “A perplexing thriller with intrigue and infanticide…It’s a given that nothing will be as it seems in the latest psychological thriller from Sophie Hannah, who marries complex plots with crisp, conversational prose.”

  —Marie Claire (London)

  “As Hannah sees it things are rarely clear-cut and it is this moral ambivalence that makes her fiction so provocative.”

  —Daily Express (London)

  “She writes beautifully, the narrative races along with the reader breathlessly trying to catch up and the subject matter is fascinating. This is her fifth psychological suspense thriller and, like the others, it’s destined for bestsellerdom.”

  —Carla McKay, Daily Mail (London)

  “Hannah takes domestic scenarios, adds disquieting touches, and turns up the suspense until you’re checking under the bed for murderers…it’s this real-life research that helps make it so convincing—and so unsettling.”

  —The Independent (London)

  “Hannah is a master of intense psychological thrillers.…Full of twists and turns, and terrifying, too.”

  —Heat

  “Sophie Hannah has quickly established herself as a doyenne of the ‘home horror’ school of psychological tension, taking domestic situations and wringing from them dark, gothic thrills.…Combining probability theory, poetry, and murder, this is a densely plotted suspenser with a coded puzzle that would grace a Golden Age mystery.”

  —Financial Times (UK)

  “Sophie Hannah has been rightly praised for intricate and accomplished psychological thrillers which dissect the dark side of human relationships, and her fifth novel…covers obsession, manipulation, meltdown, and all points in between.”

  —The Guardian (London)

  “Enthrallingly complex…A multistranded narrative that grips.”

  —The Sunday Times (London)

  “Intriguing, unnerving and engrossing…Hannah has timing down to an art. What she has created in [The Cradle in the Grave] is more than a murder mystery. It is the most adept of psychological thrillers, in which—as with Hannah’s other novels—the psychosis lying just below the surface of the human personality is exposed.…A remarkable novel, and an adventure to read.…Undoubtedly a first-class whodunit that will keep you reading long into the night.”

  —The Scotsman

  The Truth-Teller’s Lie

  “Meticulously plotted…so dark and shocking.”

  —Associated Press

  “Hannah takes pains to throw her readers off balance—and succeeds brilliantly.”

  —The Seattle Times

  “Sophie Hannah will leave you bleary eyed after nights of suspenseful page turning.”

  —Murder, Mystery & Mayhem.com

  “Hannah, who understands psychological mayhem as well as Ruth Rendell and maybe even Sigmund Freud, is best read with a crisis counselor on speed dial. The tight plotting and excruciatingly precise clues make for a superlatively uneasy read.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  The Dead Lie Down

  “A master of intricate plotting, Hannah seamlessly melds the police procedural with a gothic-inspired whodunit.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “Hannah deals brilliantly with the issues of artistic accomplishment and success, unrequited emotion, revenge, and retribution. This stunning psychological thriller from the author of the equally outstanding The Wrong Mother has the complexities of love at its core.”

  —Booklist (starred review)

  “A complex, unnerving study of relationships, with none more stressful than that of Sgt. Zailer and DC Waterhouse. Her exemplary skills put Hannah right up there with Ruth Rendell.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  “This utterly gripping thriller should establish Hannah as one of the great unmissables of this genre—intelligent, classy, and with a wonderfully gothic imagination.”

  —The Times (London)

  “Beautifully written and precision engineered to unsettle.”

  —The Guardian (London)

  “A master class in plotting that adds twist after twist in a hectic finale.”

  —The Sunday Times (London)

  The Wrong Mother

  “Shockingly (and refreshingly) blunt riffs about the violent emotions of motherhood and the familial yearnings of men, along with chilling and darkly funny revelations about lust and loyalty, make this novel one of the season’s most absorbing reads.”

  —O, The Oprah Magazine

  “Paced like a ticking time bomb with flawlessly distinct characterization, this is a fiercely fresh and un-put-downable read.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  “Sophie Hannah just gets better and better. Her plots are brilliantly cunning and entirely unpredictable. The writing is brilliant and brings us uncomfortably close to the dark, ambivalent impulses experienced by the parents of difficult, demanding children.”

  —The Guardian (London)

  “Sophie Hannah’s ingenious, almost surreal mysteries are so intricately constructed that it’s impossible to guess how they will end.”

  —The Daily Telegraph (London)

  “The Wrong Mother is Hannah’s most accomplished novel yet. As the revelations tumble forth, the tension is screwed ever tighter until the final shocking outcome. Exemplary.”

  —Daily Express (London)

  Little Face

  “Dark psychological suspense…The power this novel packs derives from narrators that play fast and loose with what they know.…The solution is a stunner.”

  —The Boston Globe

  “Sophie Hannah…delves successfully into moral quandaries:What does motherhood mean? What should a mother do when she thinks her child is in danger—especially if her own family doesn’t agree?…It’s Alice’s choices and their consequences that make Little Face so compelling.”

  —The Washington Post

  “Few authors play with reality and perception as skillfully as Hannah does.…Riveting reading.”

  —Mystery Scene

  “Echoes of Gaslight and Rebecca…a tautly claustrophobic spiral of a story delivered with self-belief.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

 
“The author is a poet by trade and she brings a wealth of psychological and literary subtlety to bear in this impressive novel. Smart and disarmingly unnerving.”

  —Daily Mail (London)

  “A chilling thriller. I was left thinking about the book for days, and that’s usually a good thing.”

  —The Guardian (London)

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  THE OTHER WOMAN’S HOUSE

  Sophie Hannah is the author of the international bestsellers Little Face, The Wrong Mother, and The Dead Lie Down. In 2004 she won the Daphne Du Maurier Prize for Suspense Fiction, and she is also an awarding-winning poet. She lives in Cambridge, England, with her husband and two children.

  To access Penguin Readers Guides online, visit our

  Web site at www.penguin.com.

  SOPHIE

  HANNAH

  The Other Woman’s

  House

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  PENGUIN BOOKS

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd)

  Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd)

  Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India

  Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd)

  Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

  Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  First published in Great Britain as Lasting Damage by Hodder & Stoughton, a Hachette UK company 2011

  Published in Penguin Books 2012

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Copyright © Sophie Hannah, 2011

  All rights reserved

  LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA

  Hannah, Sophie, 1971–

  The other woman’s house / Sophie Hannah.

  p. cm.

  ISBN: 978-1-101-58687-7

  1. Women—Crimes against—Fiction. I. Title.

  PR6058.A5928084 2012

  823’.914—dc23 2012007389

  Printed in the United States of America

  Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  ALWAYS LEARNING

  PEARSON

  For 7GR

  11 Bentley Grove, Cambridge

  NOT TO SCALE: For guidance purposes only

  Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of the floor plans contained here, measurements of doors, windows and rooms are approximate and no responsibility is taken for any error, omission or mis-statement. These plans are for representation purposes only as defined by R1CS Code of Measuring Practice and should be used as such by any prospective purchaser, No services, systems or appliances have been tested, and no guarantee as to their operating ability or their efficiency can be given,

  11 Bentley Grove, Cambridge

  NOT TO SCALE: For guidance purposes only

  Whilst every attempt has been made to ensure the accuracy of the floor plans contained here, measuremenlS of doors, windows and rooms are approximate and no responsibility is taken for any error, omission or mis-statement. These plans are for representation purposes only as defined by R1CS Code of Measuring Practice and should be used as such by any prospective purchaser. No services, systems or appliances have been tested, and no guarantee as to their operating ability or their efficiency can be given.

  The Other Woman’s

  House

  Table of Contents

  Saturday 24 July 2010

  1 Saturday 17 July 2010

  2 17/07/10

  3 Saturday 17 July 2010

  4 17/07/10

  5 Saturday 17 July 2010

  6 19/07/2010

  7 Monday 19 July 2010

  8 17/07/2010

  9 Monday 19 July 2010

  10 19/07/2010

  11 Monday 19 July 2010

  12 19/7/2010

  13 Tuesday 20 July 2010

  14 20/7/2010

  15 Friday 23 July 2010

  16 23/7/2010

  17 Friday 23 July 2010

  18 23/7/2010

  19 Saturday 24 July 2010

  20 24/7/2010

  21 Saturday 24 July 2010

  22 24/7/2010

  23 Saturday 24 July 2010

  24 24/7/2010

  25 Saturday 24 July 2010

  26 24/7/2010

  27 Saturday 24 July 2010

  Friday 17 September 2010

  Acknowledgements

  Saturday 24 July 2010

  I’m going to be killed because of a family called the Gilpatricks.

  There are four of them: mother, father, son and daughter. Elise, Donal, Riordan and Tilly. Kit tells me their first names, as if I’m keen to dispense with the formalities and get to know them better, when all I want is to run screaming from the room. Riordan’s seven, he says. Tilly’s five.

  Shut up, I want to yell in his face, but I’m too scared to open my mouth. It’s as if someone’s clamped and locked it; no more words will come out, not ever.

  This is it. This is where and how and when and why I’m going to die. At least I understand the why, finally.

  Kit’s as frightened as I am. More. That’s why he keeps talking, because he knows, as all those who wait in terror know, that when silence and fear combine, they form a compound a thousand times more horrifying than the sum of its parts.

  The Gilpatricks, he says, tears streaking his face.

  I watch the door in the mirror above the fireplace. It looks smaller and further away than it would if I turned and looked at it directly. The mirror is shaped like a fat gravestone: three straight sides and an arch at the top.

  I didn’t believe in them. The name sounded made up. Kit laughs, chokes on a sob. All of him is shaking, even his voice. Gilpatrick’s the sort of name you’d make up if you were inventing a person. Mr Gilpatrick. If only I’d believed in him, none of this would have happened. We’d have been safe. If I’d only…

  He stops, backs away from the locked door. He hears the same footsteps I hear – rushing, a stampede. They’re here.

  One week earlier

  1

  Saturday 17 July 2010

  I lie on my back with my eyes closed, waiting for Kit’s breathing to change. I fake the deep, slow sleep-breaths I need to hear from him before I can get out of bed – in and hold, out and hold – and try to convince myself that it’s a harmless deception. Am I the only woman who has ever done this, or does it happen all the time in houses all over the world? If it does, then it must be for different reasons, more common ones than mine: a cheating wife or girlfriend wanting to text a lover undetected, or sneak one last guilty glass of wine on top of the five she’s had already. Normal things. Ordinary urgencies.

  No woman on earth has ever been in the situation I’m in now.

  You’re being ridiculous.
You’re not ‘in a situation’, apart from the one you’ve brewed in your imagination. Ingredients: coincidence and paranoia.

  Nothing I tell myself works. That’s why I need to check, to put my mind at rest. Checking isn’t crazy; missing the opportunity to check would be crazy. And once I’ve looked and found nothing, I’ll be able to forget about it and accept that it’s all in my head.

  Will you?

  It shouldn’t be too long before I can move. Kit’s usually dead to the world within seconds of the light going out. If I count to a hundred…but I can’t. Can’t make myself focus on something that doesn’t interest me. If I could, I’d be able to do the reverse: banish 11 Bentley Grove from my mind. Will I ever be able to do that?

  While I wait, I rehearse for the task ahead. What would this bedroom tell me about Kit and me, if I didn’t know us? Huge bed, cast-iron fireplace, identical alcoves on either side of the chimney breast where our two identical wardrobes stand. Kit likes symmetry. One of his reservations, when I proposed buying the biggest bed we could find to replace our ordinary double, was that it might not leave room for our matching bedside cabinets. When I said I’d be happy to lose mine, Kit looked at me as if I was an anarchist agitator plotting to demolish his well-ordered world. ‘You can’t have a cabinet on one side and not the other,’ he said. Both ended up going in the end; having first made me promise not to tell anyone, Kit admitted that, however inconvenient it was to have to lean down and put his book, watch, glasses and mobile phone under the bed, he would find it more irritating to have a bedroom that didn’t ‘look right’.

  ‘Are you sure you’re a genuine, bona fide heterosexual?’ I teased him.

  He grinned. ‘Either I am, or else I’m pretending to be in order to get my Christmas cards written and posted for me every year. I guess you’ll never know which is the truth.’

  Floor-length cream silk curtains. Kit wanted a Roman blind, but I overruled him. Silk curtains are something I’ve wanted since childhood, one of those ‘as soon as I have a home of my own’ pledges I made to myself. And curtains in a bedroom have to pool on the floor – that’s my look-right rule. I suppose everybody has at least one, and we all think our own are sensible and other people’s completely ridiculous.