Page 43 of One Step Behind
My heartbeat quickens. I scroll through more photos of Rachel. Some of the photos are zoomed in on her face and others are more focused on the background and the busy street, but it’s definitely her. Does she know you? Are you friends with Rachel? I turn the question in my thoughts, trying to see how someone like you, a monster, can be friends with a school mum. It doesn’t fit, but then what does that mean? Are you stalking her too? Is she the next woman you’re lining up to prey on?
There’s a sudden change in the air around me. A tickling of hair on the back of my neck. My eyes drag upwards from your phone to your arm, your shoulder, the graze. Your eyes are still closed but your face is pinched in concentration and when I look at the monitor I see your pulse is racing as fast as mine now.
Oh God. You’re waking up. Even as the thought looms in my head, your hand shoots out from the side of the bed and grabs my wrist.
I gasp and try to shout but fear has stolen my voice. I twist my arm away but your grip is an iron vice.
I look up and your eyes stare straight into mine – two piercing black holes of hate.
Chapter 23
Jenna
You make a noise, a low, gargling dog-like growl that chills me to my core.
The phone drops from my hand, hitting the floor by my feet. I yank my arm again and this time your grip loosens and I shrug myself free. I hold my wrist close to my body and lean back out of reach.
‘What do you want from me?’ I ask suddenly, finding a voice I didn’t know I had.
Your eyelids flutter. Your arm flops back to your side and your pulse slows.
I drag in a ragged breath, trying to process what just happened. I leap out of my chair, suddenly aware that you might wake up again, and glance quickly around me. The nurse is still busy taking observations and I pick up your phone. I don’t know what to do now. All the evidence the police need to convict you is right here.
Should I hand it to DS Church myself? Or leave it for them to find?
You groan as though you’re in pain and the soundmakes me want to scream. I wipe my fingerprints from your phone and stuff it back into your backpack. Better DS Church doesn’t know I’ve had it.
I glare at you a final time before I leave. You’re lying there like nothing happened. But it did. I touch my fingers to the red welts appearing on my wrist as if proving it to myself. At the last second I dig out my own phone from my bag and snap a photo of you.
My body is cloaked in a film of sweat as I stagger from the bay. The nurse gives me a cheery ‘See ya’, and I manage a wave, but inside the panic is still raging.
I call DS Church the moment I’m out of the ward. The tremor in my hands travels to my body, and as the phone starts to ring in my ear I sink down and sit on the top step of the stairwell. I’m so tired.
DS Church answers with a brusque ‘Hello’.
‘DS Church, it’s Jenna Lawson.’
‘Hello, Jenna. How can I help you?’
I realize I’m stuck. I can’t tell her what you just did to me. She’ll ask why I was visiting you. I can’t tell her about the photos on your phone either. My knowledge of police procedures stems from watching old episodes ofThe Billwith Nathan when we were kids, and the occasional TV drama, but I’m sure that if DS Church discovers I’ve had your phone in my possession for two days it would make any evidence on it inadmissible, and I can’t let that happen.
‘Jenna?’ the detective prompts.
‘Sorry. I … I thought you should know – Matthew Dover – my stalker, he’s awake. I was visiting another patient in intensive care.’ I tack on the lie but by the silence that follows I’m sure the detective sees straight through it. I shouldn’t have called.
‘Right. Well, thank you for letting me know,’ she says. ‘We are liaising very closely with the hospital staff and the moment Mr Dover is well enough to be questioned we will visit him.’
‘What about his belongings? The last time I saw him he was taking photos of me. There might be evidence on his phone that will prove he’s been stalking me.’
‘And when was the last time you saw him? Before the hospital, I mean,’ she says.
‘Oh …’ I think for a moment. So much has happened and I don’t have time to rake through it all. I should be collecting the kids and taking them home for dinner. ‘On my way to school with the kids on … what day was it?’ I’ve lost all track of time. ‘Wednesday. I logged it with the station like you told me to. Have you found his phone?’ I ask again.
‘I visited Mr Dover this morning. As I’m sure you’re aware, he was in no state to be questioned. We’re still looking for his phone. It wasn’t with his belongings when I looked this morning. We’ll be following up with local businesses to see if anyone has handed one in.’
It was with him, I want to shout,but I had it.
‘I saw it in his backpack,’ I splutter. ‘Just now.’
