Run Away With Me : A fast-paced psychological thriller by Daniel Hurst (ebook reader ink txt) 📕

to burst and she’s carrying on like a teenager.

But I’m not in awe.

I’m disgusted.

‘Get the hell out of my bed! What do you think you are doing?’ I shout, and I expect to see the two people on the mattress in front of me wake up with a fright and scramble to gather up their clothes from the carpet.

But they don’t do that.

They don’t move a muscle.

‘Laura?’

I step closer towards the side of the bed where my sister-in-law is sleeping and reach out to touch her arm. When I do, I feel that her skin is cold.

More than cold.

It’s freezing.

‘Laura?’ I repeat, more urgently this time, and I shake her arm to try and get any response from her that I can.

But she still doesn’t move. She doesn’t open her eyes.

I try doing the same thing with the man beside her, moving his arm and praying for a response. But he is just as still as the woman beside him.

‘Oh my god,’ I say as I step back from the bed and bring my hands to my mouth.

Walking in on a crazy burglar would have been preferable to this.

Anything would have been better than this.

I’m just about to turn and run out of the room to call the police when I look down at my sister-in-law’s exposed bump.

The baby.

Oh my god, is Samuel dead too?

I slowly reach out and put my hand on Laura’s stomach, feeling the same icy cold temperature that I felt a moment earlier when I touched her arm.

A tear runs down my cheek as I rest my hand on her skin, and I’m just about to panic even more and run from the room when I feel something.

I feel a kick.

50

ADAM

I’m woken up by the knocking on my front door, and the two empty beer bottles fall from the bedside table as I reach out for my mobile phone to see what time it is.

It’s early, but the knocking on the door doesn’t stop.

Who the hell is outside my house at this time?

I get out of bed and pull on a pair of shorts and an old t-shirt before running down the stairs and reaching the door. Through the frosted glass, I can see two figures standing on the other side, but that doesn’t tell me much, so I unlock the door to find out who has disturbed my lie-in.

That’s when I see Detective Cleevely and another police officer standing on my doorstep.

‘Mr Stevenson. May I come inside?’ the detective asks me with a sombre expression on his face, and while I am extremely surprised to see him, I do have the presence of mind enough to keep my manners.

‘Er, yeah. Sure. Come in.’

I step aside and allow the detective in.

‘He’ll wait outside,’ Cleevely says to me in reference to the other officer who smiles at me just before I close the door on him.

‘What’s happened?’ I ask as the detective steps into my front room and looks around as if he is expecting to find something suspicious. But there’s nothing but sofas, cushions and a TV set in here, all of which have barely been used since Laura left this house.

‘We’ve found your wife,’ Cleevely says, turning to face me with a sobering look.

‘You have?’

How the hell did they find her so fast?

I wasn’t expecting this at all. But maybe it’s okay. Maybe my plan has still worked.

‘She was at your sister’s cottage. She went there this morning and found her.’

What was Kat doing going up there so soon after I left? She hardly ever goes to that cottage!

‘I believe you and your wife sometimes went to the cottage for a holiday? You had a spare key?’

‘Yeah, we did.’

‘It appears your wife used that key to access the cottage. You hadn’t noticed it missing?’

‘No, of course not. I don’t understand. Why would she go there?’

‘Erm...’

The detective stalls a little in answering the question, but I’m not really bothered about what he might say to that. I’m more concerned about him answering my next one.

‘Where is Laura now?’

‘Mr Stevenson, I’m sorry to tell you this,’ Cleevely begins, and I prepare to do my best impression of a husband who has just found out that his wife is dead. ‘But Laura has suffered from carbon monoxide poisoning sustained at the cottage.’

‘Oh my god, is she okay?’ I ask, putting my hand to my mouth to cover my shock just as I have rehearsed it so many times.

‘She’s in intensive care right now. They are doing everything they can to save her.’

They are doing what?

‘She’s still alive?’ I ask, and this time there is no need for me to fake my surprise.

‘Just about, but she is gravely ill. We will take you to the hospital right away. But I need to tell you something before we get there.’

‘What is it?’

The detective suddenly doesn’t look as serious as he has done for much of this conversation so far. Instead, he now just looks awkward.

‘Your wife wasn’t on her own at the cottage when your sister found her.’

‘She wasn’t?’

‘There was a male with her,’ Cleevely says, avoiding my gaze slightly as if embarrassed.

‘Who?’

Cleevely stalls again.

‘Bradley?’ I suggest.

The detective nods.

I shake my head and lower myself down onto the arm of the sofa, giving what I hope is a convincing performance of a man who has just found out his wife had snuck away to his sister’s cottage to see the man she was having an affair with. It would be a lot to take in if it was news, which it isn’t for me, but I have to make it look that way.

‘What about our baby?’ I ask quietly after a silent moment has passed.

I look up at the detective expecting more news of a serious nature, but I’m surprised there is actually a little hint of a smile on his face this time.

What does that mean?

51

ADAM

I stare through the glass incubator at the baby boy inside. Several wires are coming out of