Читать книгу At Your Door - J. P. Carter - Страница 11

For the second time in as many days Sophie Cameron had the uncomfortable feeling that she was being watched.

She’d felt it yesterday when she strolled from her flat to the mini-mart on the corner. By the time she got there the familiar tingling sensation in her neck had spread through her body.

Now, as she walked briskly along Shoreditch High Street, she felt it again. But just as before it didn’t appear as though she had seized the attention of any of her fellow pedestrians.

She kept stopping to look back along the street and across the road. There were quite a few dubious-looking characters, both men and women, but none of them seemed interested in her.

That didn’t mean she was imagining it, though. She knew from bitter experience that her instincts were sometimes spot on, especially when it came to Him.

He had managed to track her down twice before, so had he done it again? Had he somehow located her in a city of nearly nine million people?

The only person who knew that she was living and working in this part of East London was Lisa. And there was no way her best friend would ever tell anyone. Besides, even Lisa didn’t know her address or where exactly she worked. And whenever they met for a drink, which was about once a month, Lisa always took care to make sure she was never followed.

Sophie stopped again to look behind her, but it was so sudden that a large woman clutching a carrier bag bumped into her.

‘I’m so sorry,’ Sophie said. ‘I didn’t mean …’

‘You should be more careful,’ the woman snapped. ‘In case you haven’t noticed you’re not the only person on the pavement.’

The woman pushed past her and hurried on ahead, one of hundreds of people on the High Street who were anxious to get wherever they were going.

It was the tail-end of the evening rush hour so the main artery through Shoreditch was at its busiest. As Sophie scanned the unfamiliar faces of those who swept past her, she was forced to concede that even if she was being watched or followed, she probably wouldn’t be able to spot her stalker.

She just had to hope that it was indeed all in her mind, an unfounded bout of paranoia fuelled yet again by the fear that she hadn’t seen the last of the demon from her past.

She needed a distraction so she fumbled in her handbag for her phone and earplugs. Then she started listening to her favourite Ed Sheeran tracks as she set off again. It was still only six-forty-five so at least she wasn’t going to be late.

The dental clinic was around the next corner. On Thursday evenings she did the cleaning after the place closed for business. It was one of several private jobs she did to supplement the income from the company that employed her on a part-time basis. The clinic paid her £30 to clean the floors, polish all the surfaces and wipe the insides of the windows. It was easy money and came in handy.

The clinic had already been closed for half an hour by the time Sophie got there. But as usual Claudia Myers, the young manager, was only just preparing to leave.

‘Hi there, Miss Cameron,’ she said with her usual bright smile. ‘How are you today?’

‘I’m fine, thank you, Claudia.’

At twenty-three, Claudia was half Sophie’s age but twice her size. The girl blamed her obesity on the fact that she had type 2 diabetes. But if it bothered her she never showed it and she always struck Sophie as one of the happiest people she had ever come across.

‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ Claudia asked, a frown tugging her eyebrows together. ‘You look flustered.’

Sophie shrugged. ‘That’s because it’s still pretty warm out there and I’ve been walking fast.’

Actually the truth is I’ve got myself in a state because I think someone has been following me.

‘Well, you’ll be glad to know that we finished earlier than usual today,’ Claudia said. ‘So I’ve done quite a bit of tidying up myself. I even managed to go round with the hoover so you only need to mop the floors.’

‘You shouldn’t have,’ Sophie said. ‘That’s what you pay me for.’

‘I know, but I had to hang around because I’m meeting a friend in the pub across the road. It gave me something to do. And speaking of pay, I’ve left your money in the usual place.’

Claudia picked up her shoulder bag and headed for the door. But before stepping outside, she turned back to Sophie and said, ‘By the way, how is that girl of yours? You told me last week that she wasn’t very well.’

‘Oh, she’s absolutely fine,’ Sophie said. ‘It was just a tummy bug and it only lasted a few days. I’ve left her at home watching one of the latest teen movies.’

‘Well, be sure to give her my regards.’

‘I will.’

After Claudia had gone, Sophie set to work. She went to the utility cupboard and took out what she needed. It wasn’t a big clinic. There were two treatment rooms, a small office, a unisex toilet, a waiting room and a carpeted reception area.

It took Sophie an hour to get through it and she finished up back in reception where she sat on the leather sofa to drink a glass of water from the cooler.

A bunch of magazines and a copy of the Evening Standard were spread haphazardly across the coffee table in front of her. It looked untidy so Sophie put the magazines in a neat pile and checked the date on the newspaper. It was a day old so she picked it up to put in the bin with the other rubbish she’d collected.

But as she did so the paper fell open at a page dominated by three large photographs of a man, a woman and a toddler in a high chair. It was the photo of the man that jumped out at her.

‘Oh, dear God, it can’t be,’ Sophie gasped out loud.

But a moment later, after checking the caption beneath the photo, the cold reality of what she was looking at caused a wave of panic to wash over her. And even before she began to read the words on the page, she knew that her life was about to implode yet again.