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One More Chapter
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First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2021
Copyright © R. J. Parker 2021
Cover design by Lucy Bennett © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021
Cover images © Shutterstock.com
R. J. Parker asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008447960
Ebook Edition © March 2021 ISBN: 9780008447953
Version: 2020-12-16
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
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
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Chapter 58
Chapter 59
Chapter 60
Chapter 61
Chapter 62
Chapter 63
Chapter 64
Chapter 65
Chapter 66
Acknowledgments
Thank you for reading…
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About the Author
Also by R. J. Parker
One More Chapter...
About the Publisher
To Norma and Kayleigh Farrelly – the best neighbours anyone could wish for.
Chapter One
Leah knew exactly where the speed camera was. Even though it was dark, she’d driven home down the country road so many times she was familiar with its gradual curve but never got complacent. She could trust herself but not other drivers. There were no streetlights along Plough Lane but she knew at which overhanging branch to start her slow-down.
There it was – the length of fir illuminated and dipping to the road just after the gated entrance to the old pig farm. She eased the pressure on the accelerator of her mint Fiat 500 and focused on the bend ahead. Traffic came bombing around there, even at this time of night, so she watched for headlights on the curved wall.
Nothing. Looked like it was just her on the road. She passed the beamed cottage where there was one light on upstairs. She’d soon be home and tucked up in bed. Leah wondered if Elliot would be there yet. She glanced at the clock on the dash. At 11.45 she doubted it. He always tried to stay out later than her now. Like it was a competition. As if he was daring Leah to ask him where he’d been.
She knew she’d passed the camera on her left now but didn’t pick up speed. Gave it a little longer to make sure. She eventually put her foot on the pedal for a few moments to get her to the bend then took it off as she reached it.
She wouldn’t wait up for him, even though she wouldn’t sleep until she heard his key in the lock. If he looked in on her she’d close her eyes. Pretend she was asleep. But he probably wouldn’t open her door and would go right along the landing to his room as noisily as possible. Leah tried to recall how long ago it had been since she’d waited for him to get undressed before she entered his room. They’d had sex, that’s all it had been, fulfilling a need before she’d counted the minutes and left him in his single bed. He hadn’t asked her to stay.
She had turned thirty in the summer and didn’t know how much longer she was going to allow herself to hang on for something that might already be over. Elliot wasn’t in denial of that but Leah felt an almost physical blow to her stomach when she imagined saying goodbye to him. And it wasn’t just because she was afraid of leaving the security of the life and home they’d created together. After eight years, she still loved him but how much longer could she when he’d become so distant?
Leah went rigid as the curved wall in front of her was suddenly lit up. A motorcyclist shot around the bend quickly after and her fingers tightened on the steering wheel. The bike was in the middle of the road, its rider probably assuming it would be deserted.
She decelerated, tried to anticipate his reaction. He was still coming straight at her. Leah steered sharply left and hoped the motorcyclist didn’t do the same.
He cut to her right, but Leah had almost reached him. She was going to catch his back wheel. Leah’s headlights revealed his battered red biker’s jacket and glinted off the visor of his black helmet.
She clenched herself in readiness for the impact and heard an incoherent exclamation from herself and an aggressive one from him as he swung his bike away from her and buzzed close by her window.
Leah waited for the scrape of metal but miraculously he passed her without contact. She kept her attention locked on the road ahead. She was about to hit the bend and tugged the wheel hard so she wouldn’t collide with the wall.
If the car had been travelling any faster she would have hit it but she slowed right down as she reached it and came to a standstill a few feet from the bricks and wondered if there were any other vehicles coming the other way. No sign of any.
Leah glanced in her mirror. The bike had righted itself and was speeding in the opposite direction. The motorcyclist wasn’t hanging about to find out if she was OK. If he carried on riding like that, he’d be a statistic before long.
Leah’s heart felt like it was bouncing around her chest. It was just her on the bend, engine puttering. She checked her mirror again and watched the red light of the bike vanish into darkness. It was a still night, light drizzle suspended in the headlights as if it were holding its breath. Leah could hear the buzz of the motor but was sure he wasn’t coming back.
She breathed out, dropped her shoulders a little, accelerated forward and picked up speed as she got on the straight road that took her to the traffic lights. Leah briefly closed her eyes.
She was barely doing forty but when she opened them again there was no time to avoid the shape that darted in front of her. Two eyes glinted silver as the car harshly struck flesh and bone.
Chapter Two
Leah gasped as her seat belt cut into her and, momentarily, the impact made her lose hold of the wheel. It felt like the car was spinning and as she clamped both hands back onto the rubber grip, she could see only darkness ahead. Was she about to crash into the wall? Her foot was jammed on the brake, but she was still moving.
A row of bushes swung into view and Leah’s body jerked sideways as the Fiat abruptly halted. She cried out as her neck snapped still.
After a few seconds she opened her eyes and her first thought was other traffic. She quickly took in her position on the road. She was half off it, the front part of her vehicle in the briers. She turned and saw the bulk of the animal she’d collided with on the right-hand side. It was a deer. She’d seen it for a split second before the car had struck it, eyes lit up by the headlights and antlers illuminated before she’d hit it full on. Leah could see them now, partially sticking up from the road like a gnarled tree growing out of its body.
Her head swivelled back the other way and the pain of doing so made her suck in air. No oncoming vehicles but that might not be the case for long. The engine was still running although the sound seemed muted. Leah tried to accelerate forward so the back of her car wasn’t in the road. She rolled about a foot, but a dry rubbing sound emerged from the front of the Fiat before it stopped.
Even when she put the pedal almost to the floor, Leah couldn’t accelerate or reverse. She quickly undid her seat belt and as its pressure was released, she experienced a shooting pain in her abdomen. She breathed in and out a few times and it didn’t seem to get any worse. She had to move the car. If someone came tearing down the road, they might not see the rear of hers in time.
She opened the door and got out, staggering sideways on the uneven marshy grass at the side of the road. The mud squelched as her boots sank. It was freezing cold and the smell of soil was in her nostrils. Her soles squeaked on the wet blades as she negotiated the open driver’s door and moved around the front of the mint-green car to examine the damage.
She slid in the muck and supported herself on the front of the car, but the metallic surface was slick, and she knew what the warmth on her fingers was. Her headlights lit up the dark red covering the palm of her hand, but she fought repulsion and the instinct to wipe it on the grass. The car had to be shifted quickly but as she leaned down to examine the left wheel, she could see the arch was crushed against the tyre.
Leah tried to prise the green metal away from the rubber. It wouldn’t give and she grunted with the exertion as the edge of the arch cut into her fingers and almost drew some of her own blood.
She went quickly to the rear of the car and opened the door. The kit for changing the tyre was there and she took out the wheel wrench and trod gingerly back to the front. After three attempts she managed to lever the crushed arch off the wheel, but she still wasn’t sure if it was enough to allow it to turn.
Leah dropped into the driver’s seat and put her foot on the accelerator. The car went forward half a foot but stopped again. Was the tyre still jammed or was it just slipping in the mud? The back of the car was still on the road. ‘Come on!’ She put the pedal right to the floor. ‘Move!’
The Fiat suddenly shot forward and before she could lift her foot the front of the vehicle tipped forward. Leah slammed against the steering wheel as the car struck something solid.
She’d slid the Fiat down a shallow bank and now the front of the car was resting in the shallow stream of a ditch. She switched off the engine and suddenly it was pitch black. Nothing but the low mutter of the water. As her eyes became accustomed to the weak moonlight, she reached for her handbag that she’d left on the passenger seat. No sign. She scrabbled her hand about in the footwell and was relieved to find it there. Quickly clambering out of the car she shut the door and stumbled back.
The car was definitely off the road now but as she took out her phone, she confirmed what she already knew. The battery was flat. The screen didn’t even light up. She’d tried to charge it on the train, but the plug point had had chewing gum stuffed in it. She slid it back into her bag and ascended the slope to the roadside.
As she emerged from the bushes the thorny branches clung to her black woollen sweater. She extricated herself and looked up and down the road. Still no other cars in either direction. Her attention shifted to the dark shape about thirty feet away from her on the other side of the road. Her breath caught. In the darkness she could make out a small silver cloud rising from it. The deer was still alive.
Walking through the mist of her uneven panting, Leah crossed over and tentatively followed the wall to where the animal lay. This was dangerous. There was no walkway, just the edge of the road and no time to cross if a car shot around the bend. But she couldn’t leave the deer if it was still alive. It would get hit again. And the next car might have an even more serious accident.
She picked up her pace. Shivered against the cold. She’d left her jacket in the car but didn’t consider going back to get it. Her stomach trembled and ached, but her attention was fixed on the prostrate shape and the sporadic vapour emerging from it into the night air.
She was about twelve feet away from it when it stopped. She did as well. Waited. And hated herself for hoping that no more emerged.
Leah held her breath.
No more came.
She released hers. But she had to move the animal. Couldn’t leave it there. As she got closer, she could see that the antler sticking up had been snapped and one half of it was hanging down. She squinted into the gloom. It was pointless trying to use the torch on her phone.
As she reached the deer, she listened for any sound of it breathing but there was nothing. She could smell it now though. A musty aroma with a sour and pungent edge. Through the gloom she could see its head was at an unnatural angle to its body. And another section of its antlers lay in the road behind it.
The bulk of its body and its rear quarters were against the wall. If she could just move the head off the road, she could be sure it wouldn’t cause any cars to swerve. And she could alert the police of its presence there as soon as she got hold of a phone.
She trotted by the animal and picked up the piece of antler that was lying there. She held it for a few moments. It felt heavy and smooth. Leah threw it over the wall and felt a pang of guilt. But she had to make sure it wasn’t a hazard to other motorists.
She returned to the front of the animal, exhaled and then bent down and put her hand on the thick fur of its forehead. It was still warm, and she held it for a moment, waiting to feel any reaction to her touch. The deer didn’t twitch. Leah tensed her stomach and slid the head so it was in line with the rest of the body against the wall. She used the broken antlers to quickly push it into position there.
Leah stood, blood pounding in her ears. She had to inhale and when she did, took in its aroma again. She felt sick but fought the nausea and turned back towards the car. She wasn’t about to get it out of the ditch, so it looked like she’d have to walk all the way along Plough Lane until she reached the traffic lights at the edge of her village. A cold wind gusted towards Leah as if warning her against taking the route.
But as the current agitated the trees, she caught the twinkle of a light up ahead and to the right. She knew what it was. There was a house there. She’d never glimpsed the building because it was hidden behind high wooden gates at the front but there was a spherical light outside that lit them up at night.
Leah started to walk swiftly in its direction and wondered if there was anybody home.
Chapter Three
Leah strode towards the light. She was still very exposed on the road and wanted to get off it as soon as possible. The aroma of the deer was still potent in her nostrils, and her neck and abdomen ached. She knew she was probably in shock but, until she spoke to Elliot, nobody knew where she was.
Just over a minute later she could see the yellow spherical light on a metal pole. Its glass had a faint green tinge from the overhanging trees, but it sufficiently illuminated the tall wooden gates behind it. Maybe they’d be shut tight. They looked to be the sort that had electric locks.
But as she approached, she could see that one of them was slightly pushed inward. Leah put her hand on the cold metal loop set in the gate and shoved. To her relief it swung in easily and she was standing in a gravelled courtyard in front of a very modern three-storey house. Much of its frontage was glass and the small percentage of wall visible appeared to be made of a dark slate. Bare wisteria branches twisted along the guttering beneath the roof and three green plastic overflow barrels were positioned below. A dark blue car and a silver car were parked to the left of the property.
There were lights on in the downstairs and upstairs rooms and the gravel was sufficiently lit for her as she noisily crossed it to the wide canary-yellow front door. She examined the frame for a doorbell, couldn’t see one, so urgently rapped the heavy knocker three times.
No sound from within. Maybe whoever lived here was in bed and left the lights on as a deterrent. Leah knocked again. She waited, strained her ears and realised how fast her circulation was still pumping.
Rain started falling harder and she turned back to the gate as a car sped past. She waited for the sound of their engine to recede. The body of the deer clearly hadn’t been an obstruction. The canopy of trees over the courtyard twitched as fat droplets burst on the gravel.
The door clicked and Leah turned, relief filtering through her as it started to open. She just needed a phone. It halted briefly, as if the owner were hesitating, then it swung wide.
A man was standing in the doorway and briefly Leah didn’t know how to begin. His features frowned at her, fair brows knitted over pure green eyes. But his expression wasn’t hostile. He was probably in his early forties but maybe it was his deep tan that made him appear older. Fine yellow hair covered his ears, almost touching his shoulders, and was parted to neatly frame his face.
‘I’m so sorry to knock on your door at this time of night.’
He didn’t respond but patiently raised his eyebrows.
‘The gate was ajar and you’re the nearest house.’
‘Are you … OK?’ His face wrinkled in concern.
Leah realised she was clenching her fists, which she always did when she was trying to keep it together. She did it a lot when she was talking to Elliot. ‘Just a little shaken. My car hit a deer just back there on the road.’
His mouth formed an ‘oh’ shape.
Leah didn’t give him time to speak. ‘It’s dead but I managed to pull it out of the way. I need to let the police know because it might be a hazard to other drivers. My car’s off the road too. The wheel’s damaged. I tried to free it, but it rolled down into the ditch.’ Too much info. Stick to why you’re here, Leah. ‘My phone battery is flat. Could I please borrow your phone or just plug mine in?’
He was already stepping back to let her enter.
‘I couldn’t charge it on the train. I tried to. I just need to let my husband know where I am.’
He was nodding, gesturing her into the brightly lit hallway. ‘Of course, come out of the rain. Do you need me to call you an ambulance?’
‘No, I think I’m fine, thanks.’ Leah stepped inside the house. An exotic savoury dinner aroma hit her at the same time as the warm atmosphere. ‘So sorry to disturb you.’
He shook his head. ‘Phone’s right there.’ He closed the door and indicated the small table beside it where a handset stood in a charging unit.
‘I’ve got the plug for this.’ She took the phone out of her handbag.
He waved that away. ‘Use it to make whatever call you need.’ But his eyes dropped to her hand.
In the hallway light she could now see how much thick blood daubed the heel of it and the sleeve of her jumper. ‘Oh God. It was all over the car.’
His green eyes darted between her hand and the phone unit. ‘Maybe clean yourself first. In there.’ He nodded to a door beside the coats hanging on the wall.
‘If you wouldn’t mind, thank you. I’ll be very quick.’ She put her phone back in her handbag.
‘It’s no problem. Take your time.’
‘One minute.’ A light came on automatically when she opened the door. The room behind it was bigger than Leah expected but still only contained a toilet and a sink. She entered, closed it behind her and put her handbag on the shelf under the mirror. She turned on the tap and water ran down the length of half a shiny open steel pipe and trickled into the dark slate sink. She’d left blood on the chrome tap but concentrated on cleaning her hand first. The water turned red as it flowed from her fingers. Leah held the edge of her sleeve under the stream and squeezed the black wool. It was saturated and the water went darker.
She took a breath and felt her stomach smart. Catching her reflection in the mirror in front of her Leah was shocked at her transformation. Her pinched, white and grubby complexion looked deathly pale. Her dark brown locks had been neatly straightened and clipped to the top of her head when she’d got in the car at the station but now hung at the sides of her head. She removed the gold clip and released her hair, but it had already curled and clumped in the damp air. She looked deranged. And despite the welcoming smell of the house the aroma of the deer was still about her face.
Leah turned on the warm tap and the heat travelled through her from her fingers. She splashed some onto her face. Rubbed it around the edges of her nostrils. Her fingers shook while she did it.
‘OK in there?’
She rubbed her aching neck. ‘Fine. Coming now.’ After cleaning the tap, Leah took the tan towel hanging on the brass warmer rack beside the sink and dried her face. It smelt of coconut and, momentarily, she wanted to leave it there. She quickly dried her hands. They were clean now, but the sleeve felt cold and heavy on her arm. She pulled it down and wrung it out, dried her arm then replaced the towel as neatly as she could.
Leah took a breath, picked up her handbag and then walked back into the hallway.
The owner was just relaying his address. He hung up. ‘I hope you don’t mind. I just called the police.’
Chapter Four
‘Oh … thank you.’ Was that because of the blood on her hand or was he just being helpful?
‘Told them you’ve pranged a deer. They’re sending a patrol car as soon as they can but said it might be a while.’
‘I’m worried somebody else might hit it. As I said, I did drag it away from the road. Can I quickly call my husband?’
‘Of course.’ He extended his tanned hand and the phone.
Leah took it from him. ‘Thanks.’ She quickly dialled Elliot’s mobile and pursed her lips while she waited for a reply, taking in her host a little more. He was wearing a smart navy-blue shirt, open at the collar, black slacks held up by a belt with a gold buckle, and a pair of casual bottle-green linen slip-ons with white rubber soles that looked incongruous with the rest of the outfit. Clearly his comfy home footwear.