S is for Stranger: the gripping psychological thriller you don’t want to miss!. Louise Stone. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Louise Stone
Издательство: HarperCollins
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Зарубежные детективы
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9780008189914
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       LOUISE STONE

      worked as a teacher before turning her hand to fiction. She was brought up in Africa and the Middle East and then ‘as an adult’ travelled extensively before moving to London and finally settling in the Cotswolds with her partner, and now baby. When she’s not writing, you will find her scouring interior design magazines and shops, striving toward the distant dream of being a domestic goddess or having a glass of wine with country music turned up loud. As a child, she always had her nose in a book and, in particular, Nancy Drew. S is for Stranger is her first psychological suspense thriller and it was shortlisted for the Harry Bowling Prize. She also writes women’s fiction under the pseudonym Lottie Phillips. Readers can find Louise Stone, otherwise known as Charlotte Phillips, on Twitter @writercharlie or at www.writercharlie.com

       S is for Stranger

       Louise Stone

      

www.CarinaUK.com

      To my wonderful parents.

       Fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has injured the other, so he is to be injured.

      Leviticus chapter 24: verse 20

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

       COVER

       ABOUT THE AUTHOR

       TITLE PAGE

       DEDICATION

       EPIGRAPH

       CHAPTER 8

       CHAPTER 9

       CHAPTER 10

       CHAPTER 11

       CHAPTER 12

       CHAPTER 13

       CHAPTER 14

       CHAPTER 15

       CHAPTER 16

       CHAPTER 17

       CHAPTER 18

       CHAPTER 19

       CHAPTER 20

       CHAPTER 21

       CHAPTER 22

       CHAPTER 23

       CHAPTER 24

       CHAPTER 25

       CHAPTER 26

       CHAPTER 27

       CHAPTER 28

       CHAPTER 29

       CHAPTER 30

       CHAPTER 31

       CHAPTER 32

       EPILOGUE

       EXTRACT

       ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       ENDPAGES

       COPYRIGHT

       September 2011

      I tapped the rim of the table with my right forefinger: one, two, three. Bad things didn’t happen when I counted to three.

      ‘Don’t you like strawberry?’ I asked, twiddling my straw with my other hand. ‘You can have mine.’ I pushed the chocolate milkshake in her direction and she shook her head. I gave in and took it back. ‘So, how’s school?’

      ‘OK.’

      We had been playing this game for over an hour now: I asked the questions and she offered one-word answers. Licking my lips, I went in for another drag of the sweet, sickly chocolate drink. I turned to look out the window and pulled a face. Milkshakes were not my thing. I had thought it was what all eight-year-old girls liked doing – eating junk food and visiting Claire’s jewellery shop.

      ‘You don’t like it, do you, Mummy?’ Amy asked me and nodded toward the milkshake.

      I smiled – caught out. ‘Not really. What about you?’

      Amy revealed the first small smile of the day. ‘No.’ She looked down at her lap. ‘I don’t like milkshakes. Daddy knows I don’t like milkshakes.’

      ‘I