1995, Scotland. The prison of Cornton Vale.

Laura Brannigan is in jail for murder. For two years she's been battling for justic - insisting that she didn't kill her best friend, Jackie. Yet with her spirits at their lowest ebb, she receives a letter that takes her back to a different time and memory of an old love ...

Twenty years ago was a heady time for Laura: she'd escaped an abusive home and together with new best friend Jackie she'd made a fresh start. The pair had sworn to be sisters for ever. And Stuart had come into their lives - giving Laura a brilliant summer of love.

So what went wrong in the intervening years? And why is Stuart writing to Laura now? Does he have faith in her innocence? And can he help free Laura from prison - and her past?

Download and read the first chapter of Faith here

Extract from Faith by Lesley Pearse

‘Visitor for Brannigan!’

Laura started in surprise as the prison officer’s voice boomed out along the block. She had been longing for her name to be called, but from the moment she opened her eyes this morning, she’d felt sure Stuart wouldn’t come.  

The visiting room had not changed since the last time she had a visitor, and that was over a year ago. The walls were still drab, the same large tables which prevented close contact between visitor and inmate, and the usual display of chocolate, cake and biscuits stood by the tea urn.

What was new to her though was her ability to feel the tension in the air, to notice the anxious expressions on both prisoners’ and visitors’ faces as they clutched at one another’s hands over the tables. A few years ago she was aware of nothing but her own misery. 

But such thoughts vanished as she saw Stuart come into the room. Her pulse began to race and the palms of her hands were suddenly sweaty.

Laura hadn’t seen him as handsome when they first met, for he’d had the rawness of youth, his nose and mouth seemingly too large for his skinny frame and his mane of chestnut-brown hair obscured the beauty and gentleness of his grey eyes. She had been initially attracted by his ability to make anyone he spoke to feel important and valued. He really listened, he thought about what he said in reply, and cared. That wasn’t something she’d found in many other men.

But a few years later, he had filled out, his features in perfect proportion to his then muscular body, and though perhaps still not classically handsome, he was arresting. Jackie had often chuckled about how women always made a bee-line for him, saying that even the coldest, starchiest women would try to flirt with him. Laura had known exactly why, for she could recall the sight of his wide mouth curling into a heart-stopping smile, and she guessed that once ruggedness had replaced rawness, there would be an edge to him which would suggest a night with him would be unforgettable.

Her assumptions about how he had developed over the last twenty years were accurate, for every single woman in the visiting room was looking at him appraisingly.

He didn’t recognize her immediately, not until she fluttered her hand at him. 

The shock in his eyes cut her to the quick, but he moved swiftly over to her table and embraced her.  

Laura withdrew from his arms quickly and sat down. ‘You didn’t really think I’d still be a glamour girl?’ she said lightly, hiding her hurt. ‘But you, Stuart! You could have stepped out the pages of Hello!’

He hid his confusion by saying he’d been thrown by her new hair colour as he’d seen some press photographs of her and she’d been blonde; then he quickly changed the subject by telling her he’d brought her cigarettes, shower gel, some books and sweets. ‘If you still don’t smoke, I’m sure you can trade them for other things you need,’ he said in a low voice. ‘But tell me how you are.’

The concern in his voice brought a lump to her throat, and she steeled herself not to give way to tears.

‘As well as can be expected,’ she replied, not daring to look right into his grey eyes. ‘I could do with a few long walks in the sunshine, some healthy food and more stimulating company, but I dare say I’ll adjust to living without that in time.’

He looked shaken and she wished she’d simply said she was fine.

‘A half hour visit isn’t long enough when there’s so much ground to cover,’ he said, leaning closer to her across the table. ‘To speed things up I’ve done my homework and read up on the trial. But what I want to hear is your version of what happened the day Jackie died.’

Stuart had always been very direct, but it was a bit of a shock that he expected her to launch into her story without easing her into it gently by telling her his own reaction to the news, or even why he felt he had to visit her.

‘I didn’t kill her,’ she stated firmly. ‘She was already dead when I got over to Fife. I got a distressed phone call from her that morning and as I couldn’t get any real sense out of her I agreed I would go to her. Whoever did kill her, did it just a short while before I got there.’

Stuart nodded and opened a small note book to consult what he’d written in it. ‘Then a man called Michael Fenton arrived. In his evidence he said that he had received a call from Belle.’

He looked puzzled that Jackie’s younger sister was also living in Scotland.

‘Belle and Charles came up to live in Fife back in ’81,’ Laura explained. ‘They’ve got a guest house in Crail, just a few miles from Brodie Farm, Jackie’s place.’

‘Right!’ Stuart said, but he still looked confused that the two sisters both ran guest houses just a few miles from each other. ‘So Jackie phoned Belle that morning and sounded distressed. Belle couldn’t go over there herself so she rang Fenton to ask him to pop in instead.’ He paused for a moment, looking at her quizzically. ‘I can’t imagine Belle and Charles running a guest house!’

Laura understood his surprise for all his old memories of Belle and her husband Charles Howell must have been as sophisticated city dwellers. ‘I know it seems unlikely,’ she said. ‘I was amazed that they could leave London too. But I suppose Belle wanted to see more of Jackie, and it seemed like a good business opportunity. Also Charles has always been a golf fanatic, and with St Andrews so close by, that must have clinched it.’Stuart nodded. ‘Okay. So Fenton found you by Jackie’s body and it was he who called the police. Is that correct?’

Laura didn’t answer immediately, for she was mentally reliving the events of 12 May 1993.