The Safe Place by Scarrow Alex

Author:Scarrow, Alex [Scarrow, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery, Crime
Amazon: B09HM7TZK5
Goodreads: 59414763
Publisher: GrrBooks
Published: 2022-01-17T08:00:00+00:00

34

Boyd surreptitiously watched Charlotte as she threw the tennis ball, for both dogs, down the shingle beach towards the retreating surf. Mia pursued it only ankle-deep into the freezing cold water, while Ozzie plunged the rest of the way in rather than let the sea, his evil roaring nemesis, claim the prize.

‘You know I’m not doubting you saw someone…’ Boyd said.

Charlotte smiled. ‘The poor young lady has simply lost her mind,’ she pronounced in the style of Maggie Smith.

‘But…’

She looked at him. ‘There it is… the but.’

‘But there’s nothing to verify it was your ex out there. I mean… you know there’s a handy spyhole in the fence at the end?’

She looked at him. Apparently she hadn’t known.

‘Charlotte, you can see into the kitchen, up the hall to the front door. And up into the bathroom.’

Her eyes rounded. ‘Thank God that window’s frosted glass!’

‘Well, that’s something. But... and I’m not sure this is something you’d want to hear, but it could simply be that you have a neighbourhood perv.’

She raised her brows at the simply.

‘Sorry, that came out sounding flippant. What I’m saying is this: stalkers tend to want to let their victims know that they’re being stalked. That’s half the buzz for them. The fear they can inflict, the sense of control.’

Ozzie deposited the ball back at his feet, slimy and wet. Boyd tossed it back down the beach and continued: ‘You haven’t received any anonymous texts? Had any letters or notes posted through your door?’

She shook her head.

‘And nothing at work?’

She shook her head again. ‘The thing is, Bill, Ewan wasn’t – isn’t – your average stalker, if there’s such a thing. There was something –’ she paused – ‘almost destroying his mind from the inside. Maybe from his past. I don’t know.’

‘You can’t excuse what he did like that,’ replied Boyd.

‘He was sick,’ Charlotte said. ‘Collapsing mentally. At first, when I started to go out to work, I was worried I’d come home to find he’d done himself in. Then… as things got worse, I started worrying that he’d want to take me down with him. So that’s when I left him.’ She sighed. ‘I… We separated. I wish I could say that one day I’d had enough and told him to his face I was leaving. But I didn’t. One day I went to work and just didn’t go home.’

Boyd said, placing his hand on her back, ‘Where did you go?’

‘I went to stay with a female colleague. I couldn’t stay with my parents or my grandparents. And it was lucky that I didn’t. Ewan went round to their homes looking for me. My friend helped me to hide from him. It was…’ Her voice faltered. ‘Terrifying. I really thought he was going to end us both…’

She waved a hand at Boyd to indicate that she’d talked enough. ‘Change of subject, please.’ She cleared her throat. ‘Let me just say thank you,’ she said firmly, recomposing her face but unable to hide the tremor in her voice.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.