Scared to Death by Rachel Amphlett

Author:Rachel Amphlett [Amphlett, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Thrillers, Crime, k'12
ISBN: 9780994433763
Google: 1CARvgAACAAJ
Publisher: Saxon Publishing
Published: 2016-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

Thirty-One

Emma Thomas teetered on her too-high heels and stepped back in shock as the taxi splashed past her, the light on its roof flickering off.

‘Dammit.’

She slicked back her hair from her face and shivered, then hitched her bag back up onto her shoulder, hugged her arms around her chest, and stepped off the kerb.

She’d managed to slip from the house three hours before, unseen.

The moment her mother’s voice had become muted, and the bass tones of her stepfather’s response quietened, she counted the minutes until she heard the sound of his steady snoring filter through their closed bedroom door.

Tanya’s parents were away in Ibiza for a cheap last-minute break, and the girls had planned a night out clubbing in Maidstone.

‘It’ll cheer you up,’ insisted Tanya.

Emma had taken a few seconds to consider the idea, and then agreed. What better way to forget her grief for a while than a dance, a drink, and maybe some harmless flirting?

Now, she rued her recklessness.

Tanya had tumbled into a car with a twenty-year-old she’d been having an on-off relationship with for the past three months and some friends of his, thrown Emma a cheery wave over her shoulder as she landed, giggling, on top of him in the back seat, and then the car door had slammed shut and the vehicle took off.

She’d stood at the top of Gabriel’s Hill trying to avoid the leers from the groups of men who wobbled their way past her before disappearing along the High Street, and then cursed as the first large drops of rain began to pelt the pavement at her feet.

She’d waited for a taxi for another half an hour, but it was no use – the town was simply too busy at that time of night with all the clubs emptying at the same time.

At that point, she’d had enough of waiting, the rain had started to fall harder, and so she’d begun to walk back towards Bearsted, the clack-clack of her heels soon slowing as her feet grew sore.

Emma had made it as far as the railway bridge that crossed over the Ashford Road before blisters had started to form on her heels and toes.

She’d wrenched the shoes from her feet, and now stood with the straps looped over one wrist while she padded barefoot along the pavement, miserable.

She sniffed, and wiped the back of her hand across her nose.

She raised her eyes from the pavement at the sound of a vehicle approaching. A dark-coloured car flashed by, its rear lights receding as it rounded the bend, a resounding splash in its wake at the same time as a puddle of water exploded over the footpath in front of her.

She cowered away from the fresh onslaught.

‘Bastard,’ she slurred.

In her drunken state, her thoughts returned to Melanie, and she shivered.

She’d never considered Yvonne Richards to be rich, but then what did she know? The woman lived in a suburb of the town a couple of miles from where Emma lived, and she and her

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