Girl Number One: A Gripping Psychological Thriller Read Online Free PDF

my stung hands under the cold tap for a
few minutes, then Hannah fills the kettle and puts it on to boil. Silently,
Tris moves a few magazines and dirty plates off the table to make room for us
to sit down. I watch him, a little embarrassed. Hannah and I have never been
great housekeepers.
    Connor leans against the white-washed wall
opposite, looking at me. His hair is damp; it looks like he jumped out of the
shower to come over here with Tris. I feel guilty to be upsetting everyone’s
day, which is ludicrous, given what has happened.
    ‘Talk to us, Ellie,’ Connor urges me. ‘We’re
all friends here. What did you see in the woods?’
    ‘I
thought Hannah told you?’
    ‘She
wasn’t very clear.’
    Hannah
makes a face at him. ‘I was half-asleep. Sorry.’
    Frankly I would rather gnaw my own arm off than
go through it again. But endless repetition is part of the game. ‘I saw a woman’s
body.’
    ‘Where?’
Connor asks, staring.
    ‘Down
by the stream.’ I watch steam begin to rise from the kettle. ‘She was naked.’
    Hannah looks horrified, as if being dead is not
that appalling on its own, but being naked too is somehow unacceptable. ‘Oh my
God, she was naked ? You didn’t say
that before.’
    I stiffen, hearing the sound of a car out the
front. The engine is quiet, ticking over as it idles outside the cottage.
    No
putting it off now.
    Tris
has heard the car too. He looks round. ‘The police.’ His dark gaze meets mine.
‘What are you going to tell them?’
    ‘The
truth.’

CHAPTER FIVE

 
    ‘Connor?’ Tristan nods
at the door.
    ‘Right,
yes, I’m on it.’ Connor shoots me a reassuring look, then disappears through
the hall and out the front door. I hear deep male voices in the lane. The
police, trying to get in to talk to me, have come up against one of the Taylor
brothers.
    My
protectors, I think drily.
    Tris starts to make the tea, pouring hot water
straight into the mugs, not bothering with the teapot.
    ‘I
wish I’d listened to you,’ I tell him.
    ‘Hmm?’
    ‘Your
text last night. Advising me not to go through the woods on my run.’ I shake my
head. ‘I’m my own worst enemy sometimes.’
    ‘I
just thought it would upset you,’ he says. ‘Not that you’d find … ’
    ‘I
know, it’s okay.’ I manage a wry smile. ‘Who knew, right?’
    Hannah
looks at me sideways. ‘Somebody knew.’
    ‘That’s
for sure,’ Tris agrees, his face solemn for once. He glances round at Hannah,
nodding. ‘It’s one hell of a coincidence.’
    I
shiver. ‘God, don’t.’
    ‘Sorry,
just putting it out there.’
    I
nod, watching him work. It’s odd that Tris is so big and broad, built like a
rugby player, yet seems perfectly at home in a kitchen, his movements assured
as he makes the tea. But like me, Tris got used to doing jobs round the house
from an early age, helping out his brother Connor. Their mum left when they
were still young, walked out after a family row and never came back. And their
dad died of cancer three months ago, so now it’s just them.
    It must be lonely at Hill Farm, I think
suddenly. Or an endless house party, depending on your point of view. Two
good-looking men muddling by on their own.
    You wouldn’t know that they weren’t related,
not at first glance. But up close, you can see that their eyes are different
– Connor’s are much lighter, more like hazel – and Tristan is
broader, more muscular.
    Tris puts a mug of tea in front of me. ‘So,’ he
asks quietly, ‘this dead woman you saw, did you know her?’
    I shake my head. ‘Why?’
    ‘No reason,’ Tris says, and runs his thumb
reassuringly across the top of my knuckles.
    ‘You think I should have known her?’
    His gaze comes back to mine, startled. ‘No. Why
would I?’
    I decide not to answer that.

 
    Connor returns with
two police officers in tow, who shuffle in after him with no apparent sense of
urgency. The narrow kitchen feels suddenly crowded. I study the two newcomers,
but don’t know