Picture of Innocence. TJ Stimson

      

      PICTURE OF INNOCENCE

      T J Stimson

       Copyright

      Published by AVON

      A Division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

       www.harpercollins.co.uk

      First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019

      Copyright © T J Stimson 2019

      Cover design © HarperCollins Publishers 2019

      Cover photograph © Tom Hogan/Plain Picture

      T J Stimson asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel 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 ebook on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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: 9780008298203

      Ebook Edition © [month] 2019 ISBN: 9780008298210

      Version: 2019-03-13

       Dedication

      For my nephews,

      George, Harry and Oliver.

      Your Daddy would be so proud of you.

      Charles Michael Francis Stimson

      1974–2015

       Epigraph

      Yet each man kills the thing he loves,

      By each let this be heard,

      Some do it with a bitter look,

      Some with a flattering word,

      The coward does it with a kiss,

      The brave man with a sword!

       The Ballad of Reading Gaol

      Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

      Contents

       Cover

       Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Epigraph

Now

Four weeks earlier

Chapter 1: Monday 11.00 p.m.

Chapter 2: Tuesday 7.20 a.m.

Chapter 3: Tuesday 10.00 a.m.

Lydia

Chapter 4: Wednesday 7.30 a.m.

Chapter 5: Wednesday 10.00 a.m.

Chapter 6: Friday 11.30 a.m.

Chapter 7: Saturday 2.00 a.m.

Chapter 8: Saturday 7.30 a.m.

Lydia

Chapter 9: Saturday 8.30 a.m.

Chapter 10: Saturday 10.00 a.m.

Chapter 11: Saturday 11.00 a.m.

Lydia

Chapter 12: Saturday noon

Chapter 13: Sunday 6.30 a.m.

       Chapter 14: Tuesday 2.00 p.m.

       Chapter 15: Wednesday 8.00 a.m.

       Lydia

       Chapter 16: Wednesday 11.30 a.m.

       Chapter 17: Wednesday 2.00 p.m.

       Chapter 18: Wednesday 4.30 p.m.

       Lydia

       Chapter 19: Thursday 9.00 a.m.

       Chapter 20: Thursday 10.00 a.m.

       Lydia