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‘Wassup?’ Penn said, glancing her way in the darkness of the car.
‘Devon’s been called out.’
‘Is that unusual?’ Penn asked, knowing full well it wasn’t.
‘Nah, just inconvenient,’ she said, recovering. ‘Had a night planned is all.’
‘Maybe tomorrow,’ Penn suggested, focussing back on the road.
He was now just under a mile away from her empty flat. A place she didn’t relish being right at this minute.
She could text Devon back and ask her to come home. She could ask Penn if he wanted to come in for coffee. But both of these actions would invite curiosity and questions. Devon knew Stacey didn’t mind being home alone, and Penn had never been invited in for a coffee no matter how many times he’d dropped her off at the door.
Stacey couldn’t help her gaze darting all over the place as they approached her home.
Nothing.
She breathed a sigh of relief and forced herself to act as naturally as possible.
‘Thanks for the white-knuckle ride, Penn, as well as the entertaining night out. We must do it again some time.’
‘Thanks for helping, Stace,’ he said as she got out of the car.
She closed the passenger door and took one more look around before unlocking the door. She waited for the door to close and lock behind her before mounting the stairs up to the first floor.
She breathed a sigh of relief as she locked the front door behind her, not realising just how frightened she’d been of seeing Terence Birch hanging around somewhere.
Before putting on any lights, she padded to the bedroom and took a look out of the window.
The security light had activated and there were no dark shadows.
If she’d had a cat, she knew she would have been talking to it right now. She would have been reassuring it that there was nothing to worry about and that she’d been getting herself in a state over nothing.
She worked her way around the house closing all the curtains and putting on the lights. She put the television on to the news channel just to have some voices in the room.
As she stepped out of her work clothes, her phone dinged, startling her. She hoped it was Devon, saying it was a false alarm at work and she was on her way home. Her heart sank to see it was Alison, sending her some useful links following their earlier conversation.
She sat on the bed and clicked into the first article. It detailed the 2017 murder of thirty-two-year-old Kerri McAuley by her former boyfriend, having first been plagued with texts and calls.
Reading the article did nothing to help her feel more at ease, but she was compelled to open the next link.
The second article detailed the case of Stewart Taylor, aged thirty-three, who had been killed by his wife’s stalker. His wife had survived the attack but had been left with permanent injuries.
‘Jesus, thanks, Alison,’ Stacey said, choosing not to read any more. Her friend had no clue that the person she’d been concerned about was herself and that these articles were not particularly helpful.
She reached for a pair of jogging bottoms and a sweatshirt, resolving to have a shower later. Right now all she wanted to do was grab a blanket and a glass of wine, curl up on the sofa and wait for Devon to come home.
Her phone sounded another notification and Stacey reached for it. If that was her so-called best friend sending her more reading matter, she could bloody well keep it to herself and Stacey would find a way to tell her so.
She was surprised to see it wasn’t a text message but a notification from Facebook. She hit on the Messenger button and let out a cry. A message from Facebook User was staring at her. The person had set up a Facebook account to message her and had then deleted the account, making the post anonymous.
She couldn’t stop herself from clicking into it.
Hope you’re not lonely tonight!!!
She dropped the phone as though it might bite her. Perspiration suddenly broke out all over her body. Every time she thought she was in the clear, he did something to throw her world back into disarray. He was telling her that he wasn’t going away.
It took another second to realise that he knew she was at home and, more importantly, that she was alone.
