New Book - Trust by Margaret Leroy (Pages 1 - 169)

 First Published: 1999

SPOILERS!!!

The book starts with a man and woman come to talk to Chloe Langdon. She is very nervous, and when she is asked if she knows Daniel Whitmore, she says she does.

The novel then takes us to the past, and in Chloe's narration we get to know how Chloe and Dan met. Chloe is divorced and is mother to two girls: twelve-year-old Alice and five-year-old Lucy. On Lucy's birthday party one child, Fred, remained behind, and she got a call, saying that his parents were stuck in traffic due to a car accident, and his uncle would pick him. The uncle was Dan, and Chloe felt an instant attraction to him.

Dan is a child psychologist, and Chloe works part-time as a social worker, so they have that in common as they work for the council in child protection. After they meet, Chloe hesitates to call him as he is married. Yet, she eventually does, and they start a very torrid affair. Chloe is deeply affected by this man, and she can't get enough. Dan eventually leaves his wife, and moves to a poky flat, but Chloe is reluctant to ask him to move in with her. Dan, though, spends a lot of time with her and the girls.

Then something terrible happens. One of the children that Dan supervises claims that Dan abused her sexually, so he is suspended. Chloe can't believe that, and at first, she is supportive of him even though there is always the shadow of a doubt. However, the policewoman Vicky Grigg comes to see her and shows her some of the pictures they rescued from Dan's camera. These photographs show the day he spends the day with her and the girls in the summer. There is nothing untoward about them, but then she comes to the last photograph, which shows her bathroom and Alice's naked back. Chloe then knows that she can't go on with Dan.

Dan asks to talk to Chloe but she refuses to see or talk to him. Yet, she can't help being affected. Curious about the situation, she decides to find out more, so she goes to see the social worker who represents the girl, Carly. Philippa tells her (witouth knowing Chloe's connection to Dan) that Carly told her mother and her mother went to the police. It seems that the girl didn't give names and she wasn't force to, but from the description it was obvious that it was Dan. The report is not conclusive about the attack. 

I have to say that I am curious to know if the accusation is right or not. From the last conversation with the social worker there is clearly scope to doubt. What if Carly's description refers to someone else? And about the photograph of Alice... maybe it was Lucy who borrowed the camera and took the photograph??? If Dan is innocent, he has already been harmed and I think his life won't be the same again. He is ruined whether he is innocent or not.