AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘It’s okay. There’s nothing else around. Do it again but don’t panic when the car moves. You’re in control. See my hand?’
Stacey looked to the gap between then.
‘I’ll stay in control of the handbrake and if I think there’s a problem, I’ll pull it up, okay?’
Stacey nodded without speaking and repeated the process.
When the car started to move, she gripped the steering wheel hard and kept her foot in place.
‘That’s it. Just focus on the steering for now. Add weight to the pedal whenever you’re comfortable to increase the five miles per hour you’re currently doing.’
Stacey was perfectly happy at the speed she was moving. She resolved to increase pressure once she’d steered around the bend.
An hour later, feeling euphoric that she had mastered the gear change from first to second, she undid her seat belt as Devon parked the car outside their flat.
‘Well done, babe,’ Devon said, holding up her hand for a high five.
Stacey got out of the passenger side as Devon turned off the engine. In spite of herself, she was pleased with what she’d done. It was a small step but a step all the same.
She jumped back as a shadow moved at the side of the house.
‘Dee,’ she said as Devon came around the car.
‘Wassup?’
‘There,’ Stacey said, pointing. ‘I think there’s someone behind that bush.’
They started moving towards it. Stacey’s heart was hammering in her chest.
She heard a crunch before a shape came hurtling from behind and knocked them both to the ground.
‘Jesus Christ,’ Devon said, stunned.
‘You okay?’ Stacey asked, hearing the sound of shoes on pavement as the figure ran away. She pushed herself to her feet but knew there was no point giving chase.
‘What the hell was that about?’ Devon asked as Stacey helped her to a standing position.
She had a sneaky suspicion she knew but for once she hoped to God she was wrong.
NINETEEN
Barney wasted no time in jumping up beside Kim on the sofa once he’d finished crunching his supper treat of a carrot.
‘Not the easiest thing to read, boy,’ she said, absently stroking his head.
Since getting home, she’d thrown the ball for him outside before giving him his tea. They’d returned from their night walk at just after twelve, and he knew that the carrot meant wind-down time.
With plenty of coffee in the pot, she was ready to try and decode Sandra’s system. She already had the colour coding sorted. Personal was red, business was black. She couldn’t help noticing the ones marked as ‘date night’ with little hearts and the notes of anniversaries, theatre trips and dinner parties they were attending. Those entries made her smile. The couple had clearly still been very much in love. Other red entries were spa days or shopping trips with an N next to them. It didn’t take much working out that the N was for Nicola. She guessed they were bonding trips, opportunities for the two of them to get to know each other. Many were crossed out, cancelled she guessed, wondering who had pulled out.
Sandra’s whole life was contained in this book and Kim had the feeling that her murderer was hiding in here somewhere.
She started at the beginning and worked through by process of elimination, waiting for something to jump out at her.
About two weeks in she found it. On 14 January was a blue pen mark; neither business nor personal. It was a capital M in a circle but with a cross-out line.
She continued leafing through the weeks, still looking for anything unusual but also hunting for more blue Ms. A few weeks later she found another one. Again with a line going through it.
Another one three weeks later, again with the line.
