Deep Water by Mark Ayre (best big ereader TXT) 📕

to exhaustion by the time her head hit the pillow. With day two being the day, a decent night's sleep could make all the difference.

Abbie assumed.

Her mind infected with fears of what could go wrong on day two, sleep often alluded Abbie. Though the stranger she sought to save still lived at this point, Abbie struggled to prevent her mind contemplating failure and the guilt and tormented dreams that would mean.

Tossing and turning in a comfortable bed, Abbie found sleep harder than ever to come by. Alice had invited Abbie to stay in one of the house-by-the-sea's guest bedrooms. Abbie would have preferred to sleep in the hotel, but it made sense to keep close to Alice. Those Abbie came to save rarely died before sunset on day two, but only a fool would take that risk when the chance to prevent any trouble presented itself.

Alice had joked that she hoped Abbie's tension would ensure she woke if anyone broke in, seeking to do Alice harm. As it turned out, Alice needn't have worried whether an intruder would wake her protector, as Abbie couldn’t fall asleep.

In the early hours: footsteps on the landing. At once, Abbie sat. The feet came from the other end of the hall towards Abbie's room. They progressed for ten seconds after Abbie first heard them, then stopped. When they did, Abbie closed her eyes, held her breath, listened for the feet moving on to Alice's room or downstairs. Although she didn't think either would happen.

Pulling back the covers, Abbie rose. She was dressed only in knickers and a loose tee Tony had loaned her. Abbie added no additional items of clothing before tiptoeing across the room.

Someone rapped lightly on the door.

Half undressed, nor did Abbie grab a weapon. No one had climbed the stairs, and all the windows were closed. Abbie believed it was possible to scale the building, but if someone had, Abbie would have heard them breaking in. By the time she swung open the door, she had deduced who would be on the other side.

"Abbie, I'm sorry. I wasn't going to do this, but I can't—"

"I understand." Every time Abbie closed her eyes, she saw the numerous ways in which she might fail Alice and watch the birthday girl die. She knew when Tony closed his, he would see Blondie, the bullet, possibly his sister. "I can't sleep either."

"I thought that might be the case. That we might be the same." Tony wanted to look at his feet. Taking a breath, he forced himself to hold Abbie's eye. "I thought we could…"

"Yes," said Abbie. "So long as you understand, it still doesn't mean anything?"

"I understand."

He was lying. That much was plain to see.

Abbie didn't care. Right then, she needed someone, anyone to distract her, to blot out her mind. Maybe it wasn't fair on Tony. She couldn't think about that now.

She pulled her top over her head, discarded it.

"Why don't you come in and close the door?"

He did just that.

Twenty-Three

Come the rising sun, Abbie had received two texts. One from Ben, one from Bobby. One on each phone.

She replied to Ben at once. He wanted to know if Abbie needed support and when they could debrief. She told him it would be over by day’s end. For now, she needed no help. After hitting send, Abbie took the second phone, and her fingers hovered over the screen. Bobby had text three times since her last message. Something tugged at her, demanded that she answer, but she resisted.

Dumping the phone on the bedside table, Abbie put her head in her hands and crushed her palms against her face.

Tony had shared her bed. In the end, Abbie had slept well. Later, she might feel guilty about using Tony for a distraction when it was clear he was developing feelings for her. For now... she slapped his chest, and he woke with a start.

“I’m going in the shower,” she said. “Make of that what you will.”

Tony complained about the heat of the water, but not for long. Afterwards, he flopped into bed, watching as Abbie towelled herself and laid out her second set of new clothes.

"You don't need to get dressed. Nothing's going to happen this morning."

Abbie pointed to the window. "Sun's up, it's nearly nine am, and you should never, ever, assume nothing's going to happen at any time. Something could be happening right now."

Putting on her socks but leaving her feet unshoed, Abbie went to the door.

"I can come. Show you where everything is… for breakfast?"

"No, you rest," said Abbie. "We'll talk later."

Before Tony could say anything else, Abbie stepped into the hall. At the opposite end of the corridor was a painting of the house in which Abbie now stood. On either side of the hall were two doors leading into rooms belonging to Alice, Alex, Tony and, once upon a time, Aurora. The second guest bedroom and Ariana's room were around the corner, out of sight. To Abbie's immediate right was a short corridor leading to the top of the stairs.

Abbie planned to knock on Alice's door but didn't expect the now sixty-year-old to answer. Alice would be spending her birthday morning trying to protect Louis' sons from her daughters and herself from Pedro.

None the less, Abbie thought it prudent to check Alice was not enjoying a birthday lie-in, so she approached the homeowner's door, reaching up to knock before a strange sound stole her attention. It was coming from one of the rooms that now surrounded Abbie. A low sound, not talking but human, currently indistinguishable.

From which room did the sound creep? Tony was in the guest room, which meant his room was presumably empty. Alex had stayed with Louis last night, and Aurora now had permanent accommodation at the nearby graveyard. That left Alice's room, but Abbie didn't believe the sound originated from there.

Having stopped outside Alice's room, Abbie closed her eyes, listening. Years of practice had made her a dab hand at locating a noise's origin. This