Three Steps Behind You Read Online Free PDF Page A

obsessed.
    ‘Someone out there drove away knowing they’d hit her, that they might have killed her,’ she says, looking at me. ‘Who does that?’
    I look away.
    ‘It was an accident,’ I say, taking Adam’s line, in his absence.
    I see the first signs of the Heath out of the window. Red leaves on the trees, some fallen, covering up the grass. But we want the unnatural part, the funfair, the thrills laid on for families. I suppose Nicole and I are family, really. Me, her and Adam – all one loving unit. Adam knows it, because he’s read book two. He doesn’t know how much of a unit we were – particularly when Helen was alive – because he hasn’t read book three. But he knows it, really, how close we are. And he’ll have explained it to Nicole, now. Nicole, and her quest to find Helen’s killer. Nicole, who will be the star of her own show, for when I write the world according to Luke.
    I don’t know if she’ll like the show, if she’ll really feel comfortable with it. I mean, she never really did any acting, after RADA, so I hear. Not much good at it, perhaps. Then Adam coming along meant she didn’t need to work. But I need to get her on stage.

Chapter 9
    ‘Were you like this with Helen?’ Nicole asks me as I lean across her, staying close, to strap us into the dodgem. Most couples are with children, enjoying their half-term break. But then, we are an unusual couple.
    ‘Like what?’ I ask. The warning clang for the start of the next session sounds, and the dodgem gets power.
    ‘Odd,’ she says.
    ‘I’m not odd,’ I say, as I charge with the dodgem round the corner of the rink, ramming into the rubber sides. Nicole grips onto the edges of our black metallic ride for safety.
    ‘Your fingers will be crushed by another car if you do that,’ I say. ‘Keep them inside the vehicle.’ I turn us to loop round to the other side of the rink, leaning into Nicole as we take the corner. I feel her breasts press against my arm. They are less oppressive than Helen’s, but still in the way.
    ‘You call walking into the shower on someone not odd?’ she asks.
    ‘Are we still on that?’ I retort. ‘It was a misunderstanding. Besides, Adam seemed to like it.’
    I look at her. Her face blushes red, but she smiles.
    ‘Well, don’t do it again,’ she says.
    ‘I won’t.’ I pat her hand for reassurance. ‘Unless you invite me.’ She draws her hand away.
    ‘Anyway, Helen was different,’ I say. ‘Adam’s first love. Less baggage.’
    ‘Thanks,’ Nicole says drily. ‘You must know all about Adam’s baggage, right? From years back.’
    I swing the dodgem round and narrowly avoid smashing into a kid in a green car.
    ‘Phew!’ I say.
    ‘You’re meant to crash into each other. That’s the point.’
    ‘Oh.’
    ‘You must know what he’s thinking, second guess what he does, way more than I can?’ Nicole says.
    ‘I suppose,’ I say. Obviously, the genuine answer would be ‘yes’, but boasting on this point won’t endear me to Nicole.
    I drive round a bit more, crashing into other cars. They all have children in. The attendant puts two fingers to us, then to his eyes, then to us again, in an ‘I’m watching you’ gesture.
    ‘Any particularly juicy secrets you know about?’ she asks.
    I drive the car slowly round the edge of the rink, while the attendant fulfils his promise of watching us. I see Nicole’s dress has ridden up, hoisted round her upper thighs.
    ‘May I?’ I ask.
    Before she can reply, I pull her dress back down over her legs, being sure to graze her inner thigh as I do so. She tries to cross her legs away from me but there isn’t space.
    ‘No particularly juicy secrets,’ I lie. Why should I tell her what I know?
    The siren sounds for the end of the ride.
    ‘Again?’ I ask.
    ‘Sure,’ she says. ‘But I’ll have my own car this time.’
    She escapes from the car, pulling her skirt down over her bottom as climbs out. Her new car is silver. Or is it grey?
    The