Trust No One - Keri Beevis Page 0,2

Stop Us Now’ – glad she had swerved the work drinks and wondering if Roger and Jeremy were still out in the city bars. She suspected they would be. No doubt getting drunk somewhere on Prince of Wales Road or making their way to a strip club. She shuddered at the thought.

It was while cutting through Thorpe St Andrew that she first noticed the car behind her. She hadn’t spotted it initially (probably because she had been too busy with her singalong) and at first she didn’t really take any notice. It was almost comforting to not be the only car on the road. But as she headed out into the countryside, towards the Norfolk Broads village of Salhouse, she was aware of the headlights behind her, knew that she had taken half a dozen turns and the car was still on her tail.

Was she being followed?

Jesus, Liv. Get a grip.

It was a ridiculous thought and it was quite plausible that someone else might be taking this route home. The note was making her paranoid. Her attention went back to the implied threat.

A long, long time ago, you did a bad, bad thing.

How long ago was she supposed to have done this thing? When she was in her twenties or possibly even her teens? There was honestly not a single time she could remember wronging anyone.

Everyone’s past catches up with them eventually, including yours. Soon.

The last part of the note was definitely a threat. Did whoever wrote it plan to expose this thing that she had supposedly done? In which case, Olivia was intrigued to find out what it was she was being accused of.

Or were they planning on taking revenge? That was the bit she didn’t like. Did someone intend to hurt her?

She glanced again at the headlights behind her, aware she was tensing when she pulled off the main road and the car indicated, following her.

She was being stupid.

But what if the person who left the note was the same person who was behind her? What if they had waited for her to finish work before following her home?

Whoever had left the note knew her name. So did that mean they knew that she was home alone, that her lodger was away and her boyfriend was out of town?

She tried to calm her nerves, told herself to stop being ridiculous. This wasn’t some stupid movie.

Still, as she turned into the street where she lived, saw the headlights sweep by, she breathed a sigh of relief, annoyed at her overreaction.

The relief was tempered with apprehension when she realised she hadn’t left the outside light on. Eager to get inside, she bolted from the car then hotfooted it across the driveway to her front door, fumbling with the key. The quiet location where she lived had its perks, but it wasn’t the most welcoming place to return home to in the dark. A couple of years ago, when she had bought the house with her ex-boyfriend, Toby, she had appreciated the high hedgerow and how far apart it was from the other properties in the road; but now things had changed. In the winter, and especially if Molly, her lodger, was away with work, it was a little too secluded for her liking.

Once locked inside, she kicked off her shoes, groaning in relief as she stretched her toes and rubbed at the balls of her feet, quickly messaged her mum, then headed straight upstairs to shower and change into her PJs. Her cat, Luna, commandeered the centre of the bed and Olivia picked her up for a cuddle, before pulling back the duvet.

She was about to turn on the TV when her landline phone rang. The only person who ever used it was her mother, and fearing something had happened in the brief spell since she had left the restaurant, she snatched up the receiver.

‘Hello?’

There was silence on the line.

‘Mum, is that you?’

A noise – it sounded like scratching – then a low whisper. ‘A long, long time ago, you did a bad, bad thing. Everyone’s past catches up with them eventually, including yours. Soon.’

2

No one wanted to touch 8 Honington Lane.

The property had been added to the books of Dandridge & Son Estate Agents over eight months ago, and on Olivia’s day off, so she hadn’t been present when her colleague, Jeremy Fox, had slyly logged it under her name.

Roger hadn’t been happy, but Jeremy complained that Olivia had all of the easy properties to sell, accusing their boss