The Reservoir Tapes. Jon McGregor

      

      

       Copyright

      4th Estate

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.4thEstate.co.uk

      This eBook first published in Great Britain by 4th Estate in 2017

      Copyright © 2017 Jon McGregor

      Cover photographs © Shutterstock.com

      Jon McGregor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      This collection is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008235635

      Ebook Edition © December 2017 ISBN: 9780008235642

      Version: 2021-03-24

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

       Copyright

       1: Charlotte

       2: Vicky

       3: Deepak

       4: Graham

       5: Liam

       6: Claire

       7: Clive

       8: Martin

       9: Stephanie

       10: Donna

       11: Ian

       12: Irene

       13: Ginny

       14: Jess

       15: Joe

       Acknowledgements

       Also by Jon McGregor

       About the Author

       About the Publisher

       1: Charlotte

      Could you

      I’d like to hear about that day, before anything happened.

      Just, from the beginning.

      You’d been staying in the village for how long?

      And you’d come back because the previous visit had gone so well, last summer?

      And you knew the Hunter family. You got on with them.

      So it was an easy decision, to come back for a winter break.

      Was it warm enough, in the cottage? I mean, the weather had been wet.

      It’s quite small, isn’t it, the cottage. Lovely. But small.

      Sorry, barn conversion.

      Had you been on any excursions? Had you gone for any walks?

      So you were maybe starting to feel a bit cooped up.

      Tell me about that morning.

      Did you all have breakfast together? Who was up first?

      This might sound trivial, but what would Becky have had, if she was eating breakfast alone?

      I know

      But these details. They help to build a picture.

      If you could

      Okay. And then did you come downstairs before she finished her breakfast?

      And was that when the idea of going for a walk was discussed?

      It would be fair to say that Becky’s response wasn’t positive, would it?

      Is it okay if I call her Becky?

      She wasn’t enthusiastic about the walk. And the weather wasn’t great, at that point.

      So you let the matter rest for the time being. To avoid a conflict.

      And then the two of you had your breakfast together, you and your husband? Something more elaborate, because you were on holiday, because you wanted to treat yourselves?

      But this wasn’t a special occasion. Other than being a holiday morning. You weren’t celebrating anything.

      No.

      You made a start on your breakfast, you made some coffee – maybe you read the paper? You were having the newspapers delivered while you were staying in the cottage, is that right?

      Barn conversion.

      Which newspaper?

      And Becky – she’ll