Alex Lake - Killing Kate

But still, it was fun, and great to get out. She couldn’t see herself with Nate, but she could see herself in places like this with other people.

She looked back at him. He was staring at her; he blinked, caught out, and a pink flush spread up from under his collar. There was an awkward silence. For a moment she wondered whether he was going to comment on it, but then he smiled, although the smile did not quite reach his eyes. They looked a little sheepish; nervous, even.

‘Another drink?’ he said.

She shook her head. ‘No. I’m driving. Aren’t you?’

‘Nope. I bike in on Fridays.’

‘Oh? Is that new?’

He patted his stomach. ‘Need to keep an eye on this. So I got myself a bike and some tight shorts.’

‘I don’t know what you’re worried about,’ Kate said. ‘You’re hardly carrying a lot of weight.’

‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘All the sitting around in meetings, at the computer – it’s starting to bother me. It might be as much in my mind as anything else, but still – I want to nip it in the bud.’

‘Well,’ Kate said. ‘I’m impressed. Where is it you live?’

‘Sale. Not too far.’

Kate looked at her phone. She was planning to curl up in front of the TV with a glass of wine. ‘I’d better be going. Thanks. This was fun.’

She signalled the waiter. When he brought the bill. Kate reached for her bag.

He put his hand over the bill. ‘I’ll get it.’

She shook her head. ‘Thanks, but I’d prefer to split it.’

‘OK,’ he said. ‘Your call.’

She opened her bag and took out her purse. As she did, the canister of mace fell out onto the table.

Nate looked at it. ‘Is that the stuff you spray on people?’ he said. ‘It would have come in handy today. You could have used it on the clients. That would have shut them up.’

‘I wish I’d thought of it.’

He picked it up. ‘Why do you have it? Are you worried about something?’

‘I live in Stockton Heath.’

‘Oh,’ he said. ‘I see.’

‘I’ve got an alarm too.’ She tapped her fingers against the table. ‘Although – touch wood – I hope I’ll never need them.’

‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘Let’s hope so. Are you parked at the office? I’ll walk you back.’

She was on the M56 near the airport when Gemma called. She answered on her hands-free.

‘Hi,’ Gemma said. ‘Are you in the car?’

‘Coming back from work.’

‘At this time! It’s nearly nine p.m. It’s Friday night, for God’s sake. You need to take it easy.’

Kate laughed. ‘I went out for a drink after work.’

‘Oh? With who?’

‘Nate.’

‘Who’s Nate?’ she said. ‘Someone special?’

‘No. Just a colleague.’

‘But you went out for a drink with him.’

‘Yes,’ Kate said. ‘I did! He asked and I thought, why not? And it was only a drink.’

‘It’s never only a drink.’

‘OK,’ Kate said. ‘I admit it. When he asked I did wonder if there might be something there, but there isn’t. He’s lovely, but he’s not my type. Apart from anything else he tells awful, goofy jokes. Sweet, but awful.’

‘Fine,’ Gemma said. ‘I’ll believe you. Millions wouldn’t, but I will. So, have you got plans for the weekend?’

‘I’m getting an early night tonight,’ Kate said. ‘I’m exhausted. And I haven’t thought beyond that.’

‘Want to get together tomorrow? Matt’s going to Anfield – a friend of his got some tickets for the game – and they’ll be going out in Liverpool afterwards.’

‘Sure,’ Kate said. ‘I was thinking of going to the Trafford Centre. I need an autumn coat.’

‘And then we could go out. Maybe eat in the Thai place in the village?’

‘Sounds great. I’ll pick you up? Three?’

Arrangements made, she hung up, and pulled off the motorway onto the A49. Ten minutes to home, a bath, pour that glass of wine, then bed and sleep, a sleep that would not be interrupted by a six a.m. alarm, a sleep that would leave her fresh and invigorated and restored.

Half a mile from her house she turned off the main road onto a street lined with red-brick Victorian terraced houses. A left, a right, a left and she’d be home.

A car pulled out from one of the narrow alleys that ran behind the warren of terraced houses. It was moving quickly and, within a second or two, it was only feet from her rear bumper. She looked in the rear-view mirror and, before she could make out the driver’s face, the high beams came on.

They were dazzling; the reflections from the wing-mirrors blinded her and she narrowed her eyes to shield them from the brightness.

She sounded her horn; the car behind came closer.

Her first thought was that she had done something wrong, cut the guy up – she assumed it was a guy – or was driving too slowly, or had committed some other offence, but she hadn’t, she knew she hadn’t. He’d pulled out behind her, at speed, and quite deliberately.

And now he was trying to intimidate her. It was almost as though he had been waiting for her to pass so he could follow her, lights blazing, to her house.

She felt the first fluttering of panic, and then, shortly afterwards, the real thing: heart-racing, palms sweaty, mind struggling to focus.

It was him. The killer. No one else would be waiting for her like this. She was the next victim. She scrabbled in her bag for the alarm. If he ran her off the road, she would open the door and press it as hard as she could.

Had he done this to the other victims, too? Was this part of his sick routine? She knew from TV shows and films and books that these kinds of people did things in a certain way, a way that allowed them to reap the full pleasure they got from their twisted activities.

She was approaching her street, but she couldn’t go home. Even in the panic, she knew that. She couldn’t lead him straight to her door.

She carried on past her street, then turned towards the village centre.

Where there were people. Pubs. Restaurants.

And a police station.

She wasn’t going to take this. She wasn’t about to let this bastard – serial killer or drunk fool or casual bully – intimidate her. The station would be closed at this time, but there would be cops around, policing the village. She’d park right outside it and go and find one.

The car behind her flashed its lights, on and off, on and off. She tried to make out what type of car it was, but it was impossible to see through the dazzle of the high beams. She turned right, back onto the main road. For a moment she thought about accelerating, about putting some distance between her and the other car, but she decided not to. She was not going to show fear. She was going to drive at a steady, measured pace to a safe location.

But God, she was frightened. It was all she could do to stop herself dissolving into a tearful, gibbering wreck.

And then, the lights went out. She looked in the rear-view mirror. The car – a dark saloon of some description – was turning into a residential street, and then it was gone.

She parked by the police station – closed, as she had thought – and dialled 999. The operator picked up and Kate asked for the police.

‘I’ve been followed,’ she said, when the dispatcher came on the line. ‘In my car.’

‘Where are you now, madam?’ asked the dispatcher, a woman with a neutral BBC accent.

‘I’m outside the police station in Stockton Heath,’ Kate said.

‘And can you explain what happened?’

Kate took her through it: the car pulling out, dazzling her with its high beams, and then leaving her alone when she headed for the village.

‘I think he was hoping I’d go home,’ she said. ‘So he could follow me there. I live alone,’ she added.