Page 58 of Her Hidden Shadow

He smirked. ‘Or what?’

She reached into her pocket and pressed the off button on her phone. ‘I will kill you. You won’t know when it’s coming or how, but that is a promise. No one and I mean no one threatens my daughter.’

He burst into laughter.

She kicked his shin under the table. She’d barely caught him but still, it must have hurt a little.

The couple with the toddler glanced over at his reddening face. ‘What the hell? What is wrong with you, you insane bitch?’ They quickly turned back to their little one.

‘Stay away from me and stay away from my daughter.’

He shook his head and frowned.

The table slid. He jumped back and walked out of the café. She hurried, chasing him out onto the car park. ‘You hear me, stay away from us. I meant everything I said.’

He stopped and walked right back towards her, his nose almost touching hers. ‘There’s a camera there. You hit me now and the police will be involved, and I will get you down for assault this time. Okay, I’m done with playing this game. Looks like you’ve royally pissed someone else off. I can see why someone would want to attack you. Good on them. I hope they succeed in killing you next time. Don’t contact me again or I’ll call the police and tell them that you’re harassing me. I never want to see you again.’ He turned to walk away.

‘So, you’ve never been to my house?’ she shouted.

‘Why would I?’

‘How about the messages you sent to my phone over the past few days?’

He shrugged. ‘Not me. Not me at all. Believe me, if I did attack you or sent you some creepo messages, I’d be thrilled to tell you. I’d wear that moment like a badge of honour. Just go back to your sad little life and your stupid bimbo daughter and stop harassing me. I’ll see you at the next demo. Bloody loony lefty.’

With that, he jumped into his battered Land Rover and drove off, sticking two fingers up as he passed her. She ran over to her car and searched underneath the back bumper. She lay on the floor. What had he been doing by her car? Planting a tracker. Had he done something to make it dangerous? She wondered if she’d crash as soon as she turned onto the main road. She grabbed her hair with both hands and her body began to shake as she reran the last few minutes in her mind. Yes, she’d held her nerve and she’d managed to get her message across, but she could prove nothing. He’d toyed with her and denied everything, and the worst thing was, she believed he was telling the truth.

She walked around to the back of the car and then she saw what he’d done. The word bitch was scrawled in the dirt on her back window. Using her index finger, she rubbed it away and wiped her hand on her jeans.

Her phone beeped. Another message.

Revenge is the sweetest thing. I hope you liked my parting words.

She replied to his message.

Consider yourself blocked, Preston.

She hit the block button. He could no longer taunt her with messages. With jellied legs, she got into her car and started the engine. Her phone beeped again with another message. She sighed and grabbed it.

Mum, I’ve just called a taxi. I’m going to visit Tiff. Something’s happened. She needs me. Fifi is fine. I’ve fed her and she’s been out. X

She called Lauren and her daughter answered. ‘What, Mum?’

‘I’m on my way back. Please don’t go, love. You should stay in. It’s not safe, not with the killer out there. I’m on my way home. At least wait until I get back.’

‘Please tell me you sorted that weirdo out?’

‘Yes, I mean I think so.’ She knew she hadn’t. She exhaled. What if Preston had been telling the truth? What if the messenger wasn’t Preston? She thought back to all the incidents she’d been involved in. She’d upset someone else, but who?

‘What do you mean you think so?’

‘I did, yes. He won’t bother me again. We’ve agreed to disagree.’

‘So, all is good. You worry too much, Mum. Anyway, I spoke to the police. They’ve made an arrest. They’re not telling me much yet but that’s good news. Right now, I need to be with a friend and Tiff needs me. I’ll see you later.’ With that, Lauren hung up.

Nancy roared and shook her phone. All she wanted was to keep Lauren at home, wrap her up, protect her. She’d done bad things, but it was always for the love of her daughter. Why couldn’t Lauren see that? It was the phone. Nancy knew that getting her a phone had resulted in Lauren leaving. She swallowed. A part of her wanted the police to never release Lauren’s bungalow. She wanted to keep her daughter forever and protect her from all the bad people out there, just like she’d always done. Only a mother could do that, and she wasn’t about to give up. She slammed the car into first and angrily revved it out of the garden centre. The driver she cut up beeped his horn, but she didn’t care. All that mattered was Lauren. Like always.

Forty-Four

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