Just Past Midnight. Amanda Stevens
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Название: Just Past Midnight
Автор: Amanda Stevens
Издательство: HarperCollins
Жанр: Триллеры
Серия: Mills & Boon M&B
isbn: 9781472086839
isbn:
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can. Come home and we’ll go to the police together. We’ll make them listen.”
“It wouldn’t do any good,” Darian said. “I tried that before, remember? They didn’t believe me when Paul died, and they won’t believe me now. He’s seen to that.”
Nathan’s voice hardened. “Has it ever occurred to you that your little disappearing act only makes you look guiltier? Maybe that was part of his plan, too.”
Darian closed her eyes briefly. “It doesn’t matter. He can’t find me here. And as long as I’m out of the picture, Mother and Dad are safe. And so are you.”
Nathan said nothing for a moment, and in the ensuing silence, Darian heard another door open and close somewhere in his house. Then a whisper. Someone had come back into the room with him. Someone who was trying very hard not to make her presence known.
“I’ve interrupted something,” she murmured. “I should let you go.”
“No, no, I was up. I do my best work after midnight.”
Darian climbed back into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin. “So how was the latest exhibit?”
“Not bad. I sold four paintings, and the gallery has commissioned a dozen more.”
“Nathan, that’s wonderful.” Darian was still astonished by the way her brother had turned his life around. The troubled young man who’d dropped out of college at nineteen, who’d refused back then to even consider his future, was on the verge of becoming a phenomenon in the art world. Dani had even read a write-up about him in Art in America.
She had to admit that at times she envied him. She’d once wanted to be a journalist more than anything in the world, but she’d had to give up that dream when she disappeared. Dr. Gaines had advised her that the first thing her stalker would look for was her professional affiliations.
“I’d offer to send you a painting, but you’d have to give me your address. And you can’t do that, can you?”
“No.” Darian didn’t mention the fact that she’d already acquired one of Nathan’s paintings. She’d bought it from a local gallery, but she couldn’t tell him because that knowledge might give him a clue to her location.
Sometimes all the deception and subterfuge got to her, but she always tried to keep in mind that her isolation wasn’t just for her own protection, but for her family’s, as well.
“I’m sorry, Nathan.”
“There’s nothing to be sorry about. I understand.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, of course, but it’s still hard. Especially on Mother.” He sighed. “I drove out to see her the other day.”
“How is she?”
“The anxiety attacks are getting worse. She can’t leave the house at all these days. Or won’t. She doesn’t even keep her appointments with Dr. Gaines anymore.”
Her father and brother were confused and frustrated by her mother’s agoraphobia, but Darian understood it. Sometimes she wished she had the luxury of remaining behind the same four walls. It was a scary world out there. No one knew that better than she.
“And Dad? How’s he doing?”
Nathan gave a harsh laugh. “You know Dad. He makes a point of keeping himself busy when I come around.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Stop saying that.” Nathan sounded almost angry with her. “It’s not your fault. None of this is your fault. I hope you know that.”
“I do.” But sometimes Darian still wondered what she had done to bring all this on her family? Had she smiled at the wrong person? Led someone on?
Dr. Gaines had made it clear from the start that her stalker could be someone she didn’t even know. Or someone with whom she’d had only the briefest of contact. Someone who’d seen her in the store one day perhaps. Or someone who had sat behind her in class. Someone who was now convinced that she belonged to him.
“It’s late,” she said. “I’d better let you go. I…just wanted to hear your voice.”
“Promise you’ll stay in touch?”
“As often as I can.”
“And call Mother. She misses you.”
Darian swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat. “I miss her, too. I miss all of you. I love you, Nathan.”
“I love you, too…sis.”
The line went dead then, and Darian tossed the phone into the trash can where she would get rid of it first thing in the morning, just as she’d disposed of all the other connections to her past.
Turning off the bedside lamp, she snuggled down under the covers, but it was a long time before she fell asleep. Sometime after she finally dozed off, she was jerked awake by a strange sound.
Darian lay listening in the dark, her heart pounding in fear.
The noise had come from Mr. Delgado’s empty apartment. It was an odd, muted rasp that sounded as if something was being pulled through the walls.
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