Killing Eva Read Online Free Page B

think the threat – whilst minimal – is enough to warrant it.’
    â€˜But are they even connected anymore?’
    â€˜Why take the chance?’
    â€˜And her?’
    â€˜Maybe we should let Joseph Smith decide.’
    For the second time that day, Eva found herself running. Only this time it was to escape. After leaving work early she’d gone home and curled up in bed. But by the evening she had allowed herself to believe her own lie about feeling ill and decided to walk to a late night chemist for some painkillers; no amount of water had been able to soothe the now continuous thumping inside her skull. It was almost 10pm, it was a Wednesday – the streets were wet with rain but empty of the usual crowds of revellers who would populate this area from tomorrow through to the end of the weekend. But as she left the chemist and crossed the road to make the ten minute journey back to the flat, the hair had begun to stand up on the back of her neck. A figure seemed to be shadowing her, stopping when she stopped, running when she ran, sticking to her like glue. It was impossible to tell whether it was male or female. She considered turning around and shouting a challenge but the streets were completely empty and the chances of anyone coming out of their home to help her were slim to none. She crossed the wide road in front of the station, walked by the glass canopy where she had bought her coffee that morning and jogged quickly up the small hill that led home. She felt her shadow follow, she even heard the footsteps. They weren’t trying to hide.
    Eva could hear her heartbeat thudding heavily in her ears. She was exhausted and drained, as if recalling past events had somehow opened up everything she had stored away after another very similar experience all those months ago. She drew another breath down into her lungs and forced herself to remain focused. In Paris, she had ended up bouncing off Leon’s car bonnet after she had convinced herself she was being pursued and reacted like a frightened animal. This time, she would behave differently. She didn’t like to make the same mistakes twice.
    At the top of the hill, the road curved to the right and Eva quickly made her way down the turning that would take her back to her own flat. Unexpectedly, she turned left, slipping inside the narrow alleyway between two shops. She flattened herself against the wall. Her breath was fighting to escape in large, anxious bursts but she forced herself to be controlled. Sure enough, seconds later the shadowy figure slipped past the alleyway. From the brief glimpse that she had Eva recognised it was a man. But he was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and a dark woollen hat covered most of his hair and the forehead of his profiled face. Eva waited several seconds for him to pass and keep walking and then stuck her head out of the alleyway.
    What she saw made her heart skip a beat.
    The man was standing just a couple of metres away under the darkness of a street lamp with no bulb. He was still, looking directly towards the alley in which she stood, the shadow of his hood creating a dark, faceless pool from which she knew two eyes were focused in her direction.
    Eva stood frozen to the spot. Her heart was hammering frantically. The man didn’t move. It was a surreal scene worthy of the finest Hollywood horror.
    What was he going to do? Eva glanced around at her options – go further up the alley and become trapped, run at him and risk finding herself a stabbing statistic or run away from him and wait for him to chase her; wait to feel strong hands close around her neck and choke the life from her. Just like Paris.
    Suddenly, voices broke the silence of the wet, cold streets. Drunken male and female voices heading towards where they were. The hooded man reacted briefly, glancing in the direction of the noise, and then slowly, almost unnaturally slowly, his head rotated back towards Eva. She still