Suzy by Gary L Beer (easy books to read in english txt) 📕

hope so; I have been too frightened to phone him in case the police are monitoring my phone.”
“Why not phone him from a phone box?”
“I had not thought of that, do you fancy a drive, or we can always walk? The closest phone box is about a half kilometre away.”
“Walking sounds good, be able to see if someone is keeping a watch on you as well.”
“Watching me?” asks a shocked Suzy.
“Maybe you have not convinced the police like you think, they might think you have done away with him.”
“Why are you saying that? I told you word for word what they said.”
“And I have been thinking about it as I told you; and I do not think you are going to be able to relax properly for a long time yet.” Sharon tells her with a wry smile on her lips.
“Thanks, I hope Lewis is all right.” Suzy says worriedly as she stands up and going out into the hall puts her dark blue coat on.
Sharon leaves her coffee on the table and follows her out and then waits patiently as Suzy readies herself. With a final look in the mirror she opens the front door and they step out into a grey cloudy day. Suzy is glad of her coat and buttons it up tightly, walking slowly she opens the gate and stands on the pavement. Looking up at the sky and casually up and down the road she smiles with relief at Sharon as they walk along the road.
Suzy peers into gardens and houses as she walks, at times making it obvious she is looking for someone or something; “Take it easy will you? Try and be a bit more casual about it.” Sharon snaps in a worried voice.
Suzy smiles; “Just want to make sure I am not being watched.”
“Well if you are, anyone seeing you behave like that is going to keep out of the way until you have passed.”
“Yes I guess you are right, I do not like this, and it scares me.”
“Scares me too.” agrees Sharon as she puts her arm in Suzy's and pulls her away from a high privet hedge Suzy is staring into and forces her to walk along the pavement.

As they turn the corner at the end of the road Suzy cannot resist looking behind to see if they are being followed. An old man wearing a flat cap and long grey trench like coat walks with his dog towards them. The old man looks to be in his seventies; as does the scruffy wire haired black and white dog! Suzy relaxes and smiles, if this old man was sent to follow them he would have no chance in keeping up.
They turn the corner losing sight of the old man and his dog and Suzy tries to quicken their pace; “Slow down a bit will you? Plenty of time.” Sharon complains.
They walk slowly along the pavement with Sharon keeping up a constant chatter mainly about the good old days at university. Suzy notices that amongst the happy chattering Sharon is looking around them as Sharon rarely looks directly at Suzy.
They see the grey and silver telephone box in the distance when they turn the next corner and Sharon stops and looks at Suzy; “Stay here for a little while, give us a chance to see who is about.”
“You are as paranoid as Lewis, or I am a bit stupid?” asks Suzy in frustration.
“You have led an honest life, that is your only problem.”
“Meaning that you and Lewis are criminals? I always knew you and him got on well have you done any jobs together?”
Sharon laughs; “No we are not criminals, well not in the way you put it. I have never stolen anything in my life. I have smoked a bit of weed and popped the odd pill now and then but I do not think that makes me a criminal. A policeman would think otherwise and I would get arrested and have a criminal record, which would mess up my life especially if I ever wanted to work with kids; which is really stupid.”
“I see your point, smoking weed is not exactly a crime except for the damage you do to your health, and booze is a lot worse. They should change the law, most people I know when they get drunk get aggressive. And how many unwanted babies are there in the world because the parents got drunk?” asks an excited Suzy, she had been a drinker when younger and got herself pregnant one drunken night.
The father was a right bastard and when he found out she was pregnant he left her. Suzy was only eighteen and had been accepted for university and her parents had persuaded her to have an abortion.
Which made sense in some ways, as she was on her own with no means of support other than government handouts; and it had been her lifelong dream to attend university.
With university now many years in the past and the promises of getting a fantastic job at the end of it proving false, Suzy hated herself for agreeing to kill her baby. Doug's beatings on her usually happened when he was drunk and she felt a deep anger at the way of the world; especially when alcohol was involved.
“Where is the next phone box?” Sharon asks looking at Suzy's blazing eyes; “you all right?”
“Yes thanks; just a few ghosts appeared in my mind, brought back some unhappy memories, what is wrong with the one down the road?”
“If you look past it on the other side of the road in the blue car; pretend to look at the phone box and you can see him out the corner your eye.”
Suzy does as she is told and looks along the road to the telephone box; parked on the opposite side of the road is a dark blue saloon car. Inside the car a man pretends to read a newspaper which is unfolded in front of him. Suzy can easily tell the man is pretending to read as she can feel his eyes watching her; and she is not getting the feeling of being watched in a sexual manner like she normally feels.
“What are we going to do?” asks a worried Suzy.
Sharon smiles; “We are going to walk to the phone box and when we get about five metres in front of it we will cross the road to that car and have a look at this geezer. We will split up just before it and walk either side so we can have a look inside and then we carry on walking along the road.”
“You sound like a spy, you are enjoying this aren't you?” smiles Suzy.
Sharon smiles back; “In a way, it is a shame this is so serious. We must walk slowly to the phone box, then cross the road quickly and try and catch him by surprise. You walk straight towards him as if you are going to ask him something and I will go the other side.”
“Sounds good,” laughs Suzy; “let us do it.” she says as she starts walking towards the phone box.
Sharon hurries to catch her; “This bit we do slowly.” she reminds Suzy grabbing hold of her arm and making her walk slower.
“Sorry getting carried away, what are we going to do if it is the police?”
“Keep walking.” says Sharon firmly.
As they approach the telephone box, Sharon, looking behind her for any traffic on the road, pulls Suzy off the pavement; “Give him a serious look as you approach him, then walk past.” Sharon laughs as she lets go of Suzy's arm.
Separating as they approach the car the man inside looks up from his newspaper with surprise in his eyes. Not sure what to do as Suzy approaches him he stares at her making no move. He watches Suzy so intently they he does not see Sharon walk past the front of the car and look inside the passengers’ window.
Sharon sees the strange radio with its microphone on its coiled lead and the walkie talkie type radio lying on the passenger’s seat. The man inside is suddenly aware of Sharon's presence and quickly lays the newspaper over the radio on the car seat. Glaring at her with obvious hostility Sharon gives him a wave and shows a broad smile as she turns away and walks along the pavement.
The policeman (for that is obvious what he is) turns to look back in Suzy's direction; Suzy has gone and he curses in embarrassment at being caught out.
Suzy puts her arm in Sharon's and they walk casually along; “What are we going to do now?” asks Suzy.
“Keep walking, we will wander down the town and see if we get followed.” answers Sharon as she turns and looks behind her at the policeman in the car; who appears to be talking on his radio!
Sharon hopes they must have put a rookie on the job; unless they think Suzy and Sharon are really stupid. If her suspicions are correct though, it means the police must suspect Suzy of doing away with Doug, or having something to do with it.

They spend several hours wandering in the shops and sitting in cafes as they watch the people around them. Sharon being the most paranoid spots one of their 'tails' when they enter the second clothes shop. She is a casually dressed woman wearing a bright yellow T-shirt under an expensive looking denim jacket. Designer worn jeans cover her legs reaching down to her air-soled Nike trainers.
Sharon tries not to smile at her as she looks so obviously 'Police' she might as well have worn a uniform! Sharon says nothing to Suzy waiting for her to notice their new companion.
Suzy feels stressed; she had noticed the woman watching them in the last shop they had visited and thought she was just being paranoid. Suzy could see that she was watching them as she moved the clothes along the rail!
Suzy felt her heartbeat increase and panic fills her mind, she wants to shout a warning to Sharon but instead thinks she will be certain first.
Suzy wanders the store looking at blouses and dresses and suddenly turns and gives Sharon a strange look. Holding a dark blue blouse towards Sharon she gives the police woman an even stranger look; “I am going try this on, I do like this shade of blue.” she says in an extra loud voice.
Sharon gives her a knowing smile; “I am going to have a look at the jeans if you wonder where I am.” she tells Suzy as she walks away slowly looking at blouses and skirts seeming unconcerned at Suzy's now agitated condition.
Suzy hurries into one of the changing rooms as Sharon, keeping half an eye on