What had got into him? Whatever it was, it was upsetting her more than a little and she was afraid in a way she’d never experienced before. A couple of times she had been woken in the middle of the night by a clanking dustbin lid or a poor imitation of a cat yowling. When she looked out of her bedroom window, she was pretty sure the figure she saw in the car park of the flats, staring up at her flat and once even waving, was Darren.

Everywhere she went, whatever she did, fear seemed to hover beside her or creep up behind her. Sometimes she’d spin round thinking he was nearby, but see nothing untoward.

Her workmates kept asking why she was so jumpy and she was too ashamed to explain, so made an excuse about not sleeping properly.

Then she heard of a job through a friend who knew what was going on in her life. Lou had spoken to the guy, who was called Ellis, and told him about Stacy’s problems and why she would prefer not to give references from the place where she was currently working. Ellis had offered to hold the job until he could speak to her about it.

Stacy hugged her friend.

‘No time like the present.’ Lou got out her iPad and contacted Ellis.

Ellis questioned Stacy in detail about her experience, and she thought she managed to show a sound understanding of the tasks involved. She must have done all right because he offered her the job on the spot.

‘You clearly know your stuff, Stacy, and I trust my cousin Lou’s judgement about people.’

When they’d switched off, she hugged Lou again and shed a few tears of sheer relief. ‘You won’t tell anyone where I’m going, will you?’

‘Of course not.’

The job was in Swindon and as it was on a contract that would last about four months, Stacy felt it would give her time to decide whether she wanted to settle in that part of the country permanently.

It would also be long enough to see if Darren managed to trace her. She’d heard it was a beautiful rural county and she’d never visited it before, so had no connections there. Surely that would make it safer?

When she gave in her notice, she told the HR people about her ex stalking her, so that they’d not give him any information. But she didn’t tell them where she was going; instead she told them she was going overseas and asked them to forward any mail to her parents.

There was another bonus to this job. She didn’t even have to look for somewhere to live. Her new employer happened to know a man who really was going overseas and wanted to rent out his flat for a few months only. He was looking for a trustworthy tenant through personal recommendation.

It all seemed meant to be.

The only major problem left was how to get to Swindon without Darren knowing where she’d gone. She lay awake worrying about that.