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Back Stalker Save as PDF
Chapters (66)
  1. Cover
  2. Dedication
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. 35
  38. 36
  39. 37
  40. 38
  41. 39
  42. 40
  43. 41
  44. 42
  45. 43
  46. 44
  47. 45
  48. 46
  49. 47
  50. 48
  51. 49
  52. 50
  53. 51
  54. 52
  55. 53
  56. 54
  57. 55
  58. 56
  59. 57
  60. 58
  61. 59
  62. EPILOGUE
  63. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  64. MORE FROM GEMMA ROGERS
  65. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  66. ABOUT BOLDWOOD BOOKS

‘I’ll come with you,’ Ben offered.

I turned around, sighing, and fixed him with a cold stare.

‘I’m not going to Jason’s. I’m signing up at a different gym.’

‘Oh, okay. Did something happen?’ He meant with Jason, but I didn’t answer and carried on out of the flat. Ben scampered after me. ‘She invited herself in. I didn’t ask her. She lives down the road. God, she’s been on my case all week!’ He rolled his eyes as though I was in on the joke.

‘It’s okay. Don’t worry about it,’ I called over my shoulder as I slammed the door behind me. I could imagine the scenario, Ben was too nice to refuse, but I didn’t want to get in to it. I had things to do.

25

SUNDAY 28 JANUARY 2018

‘He sent me a few texts the following week. You’ve got my phone, so you can look at them.’

‘Anything untoward?’ Detective Becker scowls, flicking back pages of her notebook. Her scrawl is unreadable, especially upside down. It’s of no use to me.

‘Just flirting. He had a nice time and wanted to see me again.’

‘And you felt the same way?’

I rub my forehead, eyes on the table.

‘Yes,’ my voice breaks.

Becker hands me a tissue. ‘I’m sorry, Eve, I know this is emotional, but we have to go over everything, so we can fully understand what happened.’

I nod, wishing she’d get to the point. They have my phone, so surely by now whatever is relevant has been taken off it. Do they have any idea what they’re doing? Perhaps there’s a Convictions for Dummies book at the front desk and I’m being tormented one chapter at a time.

‘Okay, so there were a few texts between you over the next week or so. The next time you saw him after that was last night?’

I nod, blowing my nose.

‘Miss Harding has nodded,’ Hicks says as he leans in towards the tape recorder. I catch a whiff of his coffee breath and wrinkle my nose. His shirt gapes, exposing doughy pale flesh dotted with dark hairs.

‘I saw him at the gym a couple of times actually.’ An image of dark red roses flashes before me.

‘Okay. We’ve requested CCTV, so we’ll be able to confirm that,’ Becker adds.

Go for it.

‘So how did last night come about?’ Hicks asks.

‘He asked me to go for dinner with him. He booked a table at La Casa, but we met for drinks first, at Mangos again.’

‘How did Ian seem?’

‘Fine, well, then anyway. Normal. He had a lot to drink. More than me.’ I engineered it that way. Everything was on track until Ben had turned up unexpectedly. Was he here, in the police station? Providing a statement right now and blowing it wide open? I pray he’ll stay quiet.

Sunday 29 October 2017