Amy Bird - Three Steps Behind You

Dan and Adam have always been close. In fact, they’ve been closer than Adam could ever guess. And if Dan’s going to get that close again, it will take time. It will take research. It may even take practice. Fortunately, Dan is a very patient person – and Adam trusts him. With his house key. With his secrets. With his wife…

But as Dan gets closer, someone is watching. Someone who will stop at nothing to uncover the truth… and seek revenge.

It’s only a matter of time before danger steps out of the shadows. Dan has his sight fixed on the future; perhaps he should have kept one eye on what lay behind.

This chilling psychological thriller from the author of Yours is Mine explores love, obsession, and betrayal, and asks: can we ever really know another person?

Praise for Yours is Mine

‘Plenty of twists and surprises … This is excellent escapism.’ *

5 stars from London_reader

‘… impossible to put down as its plot accelerates towards the climax with an amazing final twist … An unusual and striking debut novel that will leave you thinking.’ *

5 stars from Leonora

‘a unique story that had me hooked from the start. There were moments that goose bumps spread across my arms at the chilling reality of [the] situation. And I have to say the last chapter left me a little breathless.’ *

4 stars from Katlyn

‘a captivating debut novel from Amy Bird. The author skilfully contrives a clever plot and sensitively develops believable characters, with which the reader will readily identify and come to love or despise. Amy Bird weaves together a world where nothing can be taken for granted, and the past comes back to haunt those who deserve it or not.’ *

5 stars from AdamJordan

* Reviews taken from Amazon.co.uk

Also by Amy Bird:

Yours is Mine

Three Steps Behind You

Amy Bird

Copyright

HQ

An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2014

Copyright © Amy Bird 2014

Amy Bird asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue record for 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, downloaded, 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.

E-book Edition © June 2014 ISBN: 9781472054784

Version date: 2018-06-27

Three Steps Behind Youis Amy’s second novel for HQ Digital. She has a Creative Writing MA from Birkbeck College, University of London, and is also an alumni of the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ programme, where she studied under Richard Skinner. Amy has written a number of plays, which have shown to large audiences and received critical acclaim. Her play The Jobseeker was runner-up for the Shaw Society’s 2013 T.F. Evans Award. Having moved all around the UK as a child, she now lives in North London with her husband, dividing her time between working part-time as a lawyer and writing. For updates on her writing follow her on Twitter, @London_Writer or visit her site www.amybirdwrites.com

I would like to thank all the people who have helped bring Three Steps Behind You to readers. The HQ Digital team has been a delight to work with, in particular my wonderful editor, Clio Cornish. I am ever grateful for her insight, judgement and encouragement. My fellow HQ Digital authors have also spurred me on, both online and in person. To my legal colleagues, who have embraced the author side of my existence, I am also grateful. Thanks are due, too, to the friends, family and enthusiastic readers who championed my first novel, Yours is Mine , while I was working on Three Steps Behind You – your feedback kept me going. And of course, special thanks and love must go to my husband Michael, for his unerring support, excellent advice and endless optimism.

For all of us

Contents

Cover

Blurb

Praise

Book List

Title Page

Copyright

Author Bio

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Prologue

BOOK ONE

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

BOOK TWO

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-One

Chapter Twenty-Two

Chapter Twenty-Three

Chapter Twenty-Four

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Six

Chapter Twenty-Seven

BOOK THREE

BOOK FOUR

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Excerpt

Endpages

About the Publisher

Prologue

Have you ever been really close to someone? So close not only that the hairs on the back of their neck stand on end, but you can count each raised follicle, and when you blow, you can see the goose bumps appear on the skin. Each little golden hair quavering, erect, as you observe.

Imagine the physical proximity that you would need to control those little hairs, the ease with which you could –with just one move – be touching the back of their neck. With your lips, with your hand, with both hands, encircling if you wish.

Ever been that close?

I have, once. And I will be again. For Luke.

BOOK 1

Chapter 1

Let me tell you a little about my method. If I were a good author, a published author, maybe I would show you. ‘Show, don’t tell’, they lecture you at those creative writing classes, the interminable hours spent taking dictation of how to craft your own unique ideas. But I’m not a good writer, not yet, you see. Nor am I published. That’s what this new method is all about. How I’m going to differentiate my fourth book, get it to the readers who matter. Make it the best.

It first occurred to me when my character, Luke, needed to cook a lobster. I could make Luke visualise the exoskeleton, in its abstract pre-cooked greyness. Then I could write him seeing it pink and lifeless on my kitchen slab. The in-between time, I just couldn’t capture so well. I realised it then: in order for me to write convincingly, I would have to do all the things that my character does.