House of Lies

Barbara Sales

Description

Every family has secrets, the Stewarts are no exception. As their lives unfold, hidden secrets and shocking lies are exposed, with some more destructive than others. After Harry's death, Charlotte is left with nothing, and after coming to terms with his lies and deceit, starts to build a new life for herself and her daughter, Izzy. Years later, a chance meeting reawakens memories that Charlotte had suppressed. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she is led into a situation which exposes the lie that she's carried with her for years, deceiving those all around her.

Informations

• Publié par: Austin Macauley Publishers
• Date de parution: 31 mai 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528963374
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

A House of Lies
Barbara Sales
Austin Macauley Publishers
2019-05-31
A House of Lies About the Author About the Book Dedication Copyright Information Prologue Early 2016 Chapter One Eight Years Earlier, 2008 – Izzy Chapter Two Charlotte Chapter Three Harry Chapter Four Charlotte Chapter Five Izzy Chapter Six Harry Chapter Seven Charlotte Chapter Eight Harry Augustus Stewart – His Early Years Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Charlotte Joanna Stewart, (née Williams Smyth) – Her Early Years Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Elizabeth (Izzy) May Stewart – 2008 Chapter Thirteen Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Harry – 2008 Chapter Sixteen Elizabeth (Izzy) May Stewart – 2008 Chapter Seventeen Elizabeth (Izzy) May Stewart – Her Early Years Chapter Eighteen Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Nineteen Chapter Twenty Harry – 2008 Chapter Twenty-One Chapter Twenty-Two Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Twenty-Three Chapter Twenty-Four Chapter Twenty-Five Alexander Stewart Hunt – 2008 Chapter Twenty-Six Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Twenty-Seven Annabelle Sophia Hunt – 2007 Chapter Twenty-Eight Harry – 2000 Chapter Twenty-Nine Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Thirty Margaret Rose Stewart (née Hills) – The Early Years Chapter Thirty-One Margaret – 2008 Chapter Thirty-Two Percival Edward Stewart – The Early Years Chapter Thirty-Three Chapter Thirty-Four Chapter Thirty-Five Percival – 2000 Chapter Thirty-Six Annabelle – 2008 Chapter Thirty-Seven Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Thirty-Eight Chapter Thirty-Nine Chapter Forty Annabelle – 2008 Chapter Forty-One Chapter Forty-Two Izzy – 2008 Chapter Forty-Three Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Forty-Four Chapter Forty-Five Izzy – 2008 Chapter Forty-Six Chapter Forty-Seven Harry – 2008 Chapter Forty-Eight Harry – 1990 Chapter Forty-Nine Annabelle – 2008 Chapter Fifty Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Fifty-One Annabelle – 2008 Chapter Fifty-Two Alexander – 2008 Chapter Fifty-Three Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Fifty-Four Alexander – 2008 Chapter Fifty-Five Annabelle – 2008 Chapter Fifty-Six Charlotte – 2008 Chapter Fifty-Seven Chapter Fifty-Eight Chapter Fifty-Nine Chapter Sixty Charlotte – 2016 Chapter Sixty-One Izzy – 2016 Chapter Sixty-Two Annabelle – 2016 Chapter Sixty-Three Charlotte – 2016 Chapter Sixty-Four Chapter Sixty-Five Charlotte Chapter Sixty-Six Annabelle Chapter Sixty-Seven Chapter Sixty-Eight Chapter Sixty-Nine Charlotte Chapter Seventy Chapter Seventy-One Annabelle Chapter Seventy-Two Alexander Chapter Seventy-Three Charlotte Chapter Seventy-Four Alexander Chapter Seventy-Five Izzy – The Following Spring, 2017 Chapter Seventy-Six Later That Year
About the Author
Barbara and her husband live in Surrey. She has two grown-up children and one grandchild. Having been surrounded by books most of her life, she maintained the idea that one day she would write one of her own. She always believed in the saying that ‘Everyone has at least one book in them’.
Writing is now part of her life and being retired, she always manages to find time to pick up the laptop and immerses herself in her latest ideas.
About the Book
Every family has secrets, the Stewarts are no exception. As their lives unfold, hidden secrets and shocking lies are exposed, with some more destructive than others. After Harry's death, Charlotte is left with nothing, and after coming to terms with his lies and deceit, starts to build a new life for herself and her daughter, Izzy. Years later, a chance meeting reawakens memories that Charlotte had suppressed. Letting her curiosity get the better of her, she is led into a situation which exposes the lie that she's carried with her for years, deceiving those all around her.
Dedication
For my beautiful family
Copyright Information
Copyright © Barbara Sales (2019)
The right of Barbara Sales to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with section 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library.
ISBN 9781528921244 (Paperback)
ISBN 9781528963374 (ePub e-book)
www.austinmacauley.com
First Published (2019)
Austin Macauley Publishers Ltd
25 Canada Square
Canary Wharf
London
E14 5LQ
Prologue

Early 2016
Friday morning had started the same as any other for Izzy. Her alarm had gone off at the same time as the day before, and like every other day, she would follow the same routine until she walked out of her rented one-bedroom attic studio. She knew, before she had even looked out of her window, that she would walk to the end of the road to wait for her bus in the now freezing February chill. This was usually the point where no day would ever be the same as the last or the next, as there were so many parameters that changed on a daily basis. The bus could be late, the bus could be full, the traffic could be atrocious, it could be raining, snowing, hot or cold, the variations were endless. But this day was deemed to be a day like no other that had come before or would follow.
Before she had even had time to shower away the sleep that was still clouding her mind, her intercom buzzed into life. She jumped as her heart skipped a beat, its shrill tone echoing in her ears. She cursed the little plastic box that clung to the wall in her hallway, exclaiming, ‘What the, who the hell…?’
Not finishing each statement, she swung her legs out from under her cosy duvet and while putting on her grey fleecy dressing gown she continued to mumble to herself, trying to think who would be wanting her at this hour. Wandering out from her bedroom into the tiny square area that her landlord called a hallway, Izzy felt chilled and tiptoed across the cold tiles which sent shivers up through her bare feet.
‘Who the bloody hell wants me at this time in the morning?’ Izzy asked herself.
It couldn’t be Reg, her landlord, she thought, as she knew her rent was up to date and he would never just arrive on her doorstep without calling first, plus it was far too early for him. It wouldn’t be her mother, and it certainly wouldn’t be her best mate Sophie as she would never be up at this ungodly hour.
Izzy glanced at her watch as she pressed the button on the intercom to talk to whoever was outside on the street waiting for her to answer their request.
‘Do you realise what bloody time it is!’ she exclaimed and before they could answer, she carried on, ‘It’s five thirty in the morning, what the hell do you want?’
‘Am I speaking to Miss Elizabeth Stewart?’ a female asked.
‘Yes,’ she replied.
‘Miss Stewart, my name is PC Louise Humphries. I have another officer with me Inspector Elliott Chambers. May we come up? It’s very important we talk to you, Miss Stewart.’
Izzy’s stomach was doing somersaults. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she was beginning to feel rather nauseous.
What the hell do they want to talk to me about? she thought, without physically asking the question.
Eventually, after what seemed like minutes rather than seconds, she asked, ‘Am I in trouble?’
On hearing the male officer telling her that it would not be appropriate to discuss the matter over the intercom, Izzy huffed loudly. He went on to say that they needed to speak to her in person as the circumstances were of a delicate nature. This statement made her feel worse and sent her into utter confusion. Trying desperately to think of a logical reason for their presence, Izzy surmised that it must have something do with the argument she had gotten into the other night in her local pub, and maybe the person Sophie had hit had made a complaint. It had just been a misunderstanding that had got out of hand. Eloise had stirred things up and made matters worse by joking that Izzy was eyeing up the other girl’s fella and the other “silly tart”, as Izzy had called her, had taken it seriously and lashed out at her. Sophie had stepped in trying to take control of the situation by defending her pal but in the process had split the girl’s lip. Deep down, she knew that would not be the reason why they wanted to talk to her at this time in the morning.
Izzy heard her name again, ‘Miss Stewart, are you hearing me, are you still there?’
‘Yes, I’m still here. Okay give me a minute, I need to get downstairs to open the door.’
Izzy took her time walking down the stairs and crossing the small foyer before reaching the glass panelled outside door, as she needed time to collect her thoughts and prepare herself for what these two officers were about to tell her. She had a terrible feeling it was going to be something bad.
On reaching the door Izzy called out, ‘Okay, I’m here but can you come closer to the door so I can see you. Can you show me your identification cards please?’
As she peered into the dimly lit street, she watched as the two officers stepped towards her. They obliged and held up their identification cards so that Izzy could compare the images in the small rectangular photo to the faces at which she was struggling to get a good look. Once she was satisfied, she gingerly opened the door.
The silence was unbearable as Izzy led the officers back up to her flat. By the time PC Humphries and Inspector Chambers entered her home, Izzy was trembling from head to toe. She knew it was going to be bad for she had experienced the same feeling of foreboding when she had opened the door to police officers that wretched night eight years ago when the news came about her father.
PC Humphries asked her in a soft empathic tone, ‘Miss Stewart, are you here alone?’
‘Yes,’ Izzy replied.
‘I am afraid we have some bad news,’ Inspector Chambers continued.
Izzy felt the blo