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To my parents, with love.
Published in Great Britain in 2018 by Canongate Books Ltd,
14 High Street, Edinburgh EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2018 by Canongate Books
Copyright © Catherine Chanter, 2018
The moral right of the author has been asserted
‘Nellie the Elephant’: words by Ralph Butler, music by Peter Hart © copyright 1956 Chester Music Limited trading as Dash Music Co. All rights reserved. International Copyright Secured. Used by permission of Chester Music Limited trading as Dash Music Co.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available on request from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 78689 126 6
eISBN 978 1 78689 125 9
Typeset in Dante MT by Palimpsest Book Production Ltd,
Falkirk, Stirlingshire
Contents
In rivers, the water that you touch is the last of what has passed and the first of that which comes; so with present time.
– Leonardo da Vinci
NARRATIVE VERDICT
INQUEST TOUCHING THE DEATH OF VALERIE STEADMAN
Inquest concluded July 2016
Valerie