The Fear by C. L. Taylor

Author:C. L. Taylor [Taylor, C. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780008118105
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2018-02-02T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

Ben

Ben Feltham stares at his phone in disbelief. If it weren’t for the string of messages on the screen in front of him he’d swear he was dreaming. When Saskia Kennedy’s message had appeared in his Facebook messages folder on Wednesday morning he’d ignored it. It wasn’t the first time he’d been contacted by an ex’s friend after the relationship had ended and he was pretty certain it wouldn’t be the last.

How much did he know about Lou Wandsworth? Sod all apparently. She’d seemed so cool when they’d got talking in the pub – properly laid-back and up for a laugh. It was almost inevitable that they’d end up in bed together, the chemistry between them was so strong, but he’d been surprised by the way he felt the next morning. He wasn’t a love ’em and leave ’em type of guy but he disliked the weird vibe after a night of frantic shagging and, if the woman seemed to feel it too, he’d make the move home as soon as he could. It hadn’t been like that with Lou. He’d woken up feeling as comfortable with Lou as he had the night before. She’d seemed pretty chilled too.

Lou was great, he really liked her but, more than that, she intrigued him. Despite initially seeming like an open person she was actually quite guarded, especially about her childhood There was something she was repressing, that was for sure. He often woke in the night to find Lou’s side of the bed empty. Sometimes he’d find her sitting in a chair in another room, staring out of the window. Once he heard her crying in the bathroom. Nightmares, she said, but she wouldn’t go into any detail. Then there was the freak-out in Dover. He had no fucking idea what that was about. She’d seemed so agitated when she’d ended things and he had no clue why. He does now though.

He reads through the message exchange again and shakes his head. It wouldn’t be out of character for Lou to keep something so serious to herself, but dying? How long had she known? After she’d met him? Before? It might explain the move back to Malvern.

As a child he’d had a cat called Murphy who’d disappeared after he got ill and was found, dead, in a neighbour’s shed. Ben was distraught. He felt as though he’d let Murphy down by not being there when he took his final breath. His mother comforted him, telling him that sometimes animals just want to be alone when they die. Not that Lou could be compared to a cat, but it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that she’d want to get away from the noise and bustle of London and return to her childhood home.

He clicks onto Lou’s page and scans it for updates and messages. After what happened in Dover he’d combed it for clues to explain her strange behaviour. Was there someone else? Had she lost interest? He couldn’t find anything to explain her odd change of heart.

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