Welcome to the Family

Prologue

The police officer’s gun is aimed at her chest. Her eyes dart between the weapon and the deep frown sliced in his brow.

She can’t breathe.

The small interrogation room is too hot. Too cramped. Filled with fear. Her legs shake as adrenaline zips across every tense muscle.

Another officer fires rapid Italian words in her direction.

She squeezes her clammy hands. Again and again.

Needing to feel something real to prove this is happening.

The movement brings a faint waft of the coconut aftersun she rubbed over her skin before she got dressed, reminding her how differently this day had started.

The holiday was never supposed to end like this.

Her eyes fall to the blood stains on her dress. The many rips in the delicate silk material. Once the colour of early-morning sunshine, now smeared with mud and splatters of deep crimson. If she tried to explain the past twenty-four hours, would they believe her? Where would she begin?

The officer’s unarmed colleague steps closer. He looms over her. His eyes are dark and expressionless. She needs to tell them what she knows, but her words escape her. Shock steals her sentences.

He clears his throat and begins again in English. ‘You are under arrest . . .’

A rush of nausea leaps in her stomach. She shakes her head, blinking rapidly.

‘Under arrest? For what?’

Her heart pounds with every second it takes for him to answer. When he speaks again, the world stops turning.

‘Murder.’