Читать книгу Miracle On 5th Avenue - Sarah Morgan - Страница 13

Five

One person’s dream is another person’s nightmare. It’s all a matter of perspective.

—Lucas

He felt stronger than he had in days. Maybe weeks. The dark images that had paralyzed him had faded, like clouds receding after a storm. He’d been drawn downstairs by the mouthwatering smells, but it wasn’t only the food that had replenished his energy, it was the conversation. There was something about Eva that fed his creativity. Every exchange, every conversation, unlocked another piece of the puzzle.

He had his murderer, and now he had her motivation.

She’d started her life full of hope, believing in true love and happy-ever-afters.

All that had been crushed when she’d met—

Michael?

Richard?

He frowned, trying to decide on a name for his murderer’s first victim. It was a small role, but crucial to the character motivation. Gradually life had chipped away at her relentless optimism, tarnishing her shiny vision of reality.

Her victims were the people who had disappointed her.

His mind wandered to Eva.

Most people are simply what they seem.

Did she really believe that? In his experience people were rarely as they seemed.

Take her, for example. Was she an innocent, or an opportunist who had taken advantage of his grandmother? Had she used her relationship with a vulnerable woman to extract information about him?

And what about the rest of her life?

He wondered what secrets she was hiding because if he knew one thing it was that everyone had secrets.

He sat down in front of his computer screen and the words started to flow.

He rarely based his characters on real people. Instead he preferred to use them as inspiration, taking traits and crafting his own fully formed individuals. But in his head, his main character was taking shape, and that shape was uncannily like Eva. He imagined how Eva might change if she met the wrong people, if life dealt her a different set of cards. Imagined the damage that life could do to someone like her.