The Missing Heirloom: An Anna Stone Mystery by Katherine Black

Author:Katherine Black [Black, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Best Book Editions
Published: 2024-04-17T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 29

Anna’s routine, which usually had a calming effect on her, didn’t help as she tried to settle her nerves with an early bath. The mysterious packages, and the impending half-seven rendezvous, left her frightened, prompting an accelerated shift in her evening ritual. She needed to be dressed before the car arrived.

As the water covered her, she tried to meditate into a relaxed state, but as she closed her eyes, she imagined hands coming out of nowhere and pushing on her shoulders to submerge her in the bath. Tension clung to her like a mud-coloured shade of foreboding. The steamy bathroom made visibility poor and did nothing to settle her fear. The worry of the unknown visitor coming to her house clawed at her composure.

Rather than soaking, when the meditation didn’t work, she got out of the bath. The room had one small window, but she worried that a face might appear in the frosted glass. Or that somebody in black clothing and a balaclava would burst into the room to—what? Oh God.

September nights had drawn in and it was pitch black outside. Pike’s dire warnings had felt absurd in the daylight—but now she was here, alone and frightened, they looked very different.

With wet hair clinging to her shoulders, she towelled herself without taking the time to properly dry off. Naked, she was exposed and vulnerable. Instead of her usual pyjamas and dressing gown when she was staying in for the evening, she had to be dressed. She grabbed sweatpants and a thick top. Even the comfortable ritual of preparing a meal had transformed into a hurried affair.

Instead of a healthy dinner, she opted for a can of soup and a slice of bread. She couldn’t even raise a smile at the thought of her mother telling her off for not eating properly, and existing on ‘bread-based meals’. The metallic drone of the tin opener set her nerves on edge. She’d locked all the doors before going for her bath and she checked them again when she came down, but she still kept looking out of the window at the darkness. She saw a bright kitchen identical to hers and a terrified woman heating soup.

Her stomach was knotted with anxiety and it rebelled against the food. Eating was difficult. The taste of the tomato and basil soup was drowned out by the acrid flavour of fear. Anna cursed Pike under her breath, resenting the way he’d frightened her into being scared in her home.

And then she cursed her stalker because it should have been a routine evening.

Stalker? She couldn’t laugh at herself for being dramatic, because she did feel stalked.

By seven o’clock, she was pacing the living room. She picked things up and put them down without knowing she’d done it. She put on her playlist, easy-listening female country, but it did nothing to still her frayed nerves and might as well have been a grating jazz set. As the minutes ticked away like an eternity, uncertainty bore down on her.

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