June Taylor - Keep Your Friends Close - A gripping psychological thriller full of shocking twists you won’t see coming

A division of HarperCollins Publishers

www.harpercollins.co.uk

KillerReads

an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd

1 London Bridge Street

London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Publishers 2018

Copyright © June Taylor 2018

Cover design by Holly MacDonald © HarperCollins Publishers Ltd 2018

Cover photograph © Shutterstock.com

June Taylor asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

A catalogue copy of 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, down-loaded, 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.

Ebook Edition © October 2018 ISBN: 9780008318109

Version: 2018-08-14

for Juice and Lemon

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Chapter 1: Karin

Chapter 2: Mel

Chapter 3: Mel

Chapter 4: Karin

Chapter 5: Karin

Chapter 6: Mel

Chapter 7: Karin

Chapter 8: Louie

Chapter 9: Karin

Chapter 10: Mel

Chapter 11: Louie

Chapter 12: Karin

Chapter 13: Karin

Chapter 14: Louie

Chapter 15: Mel

Chapter 16: Karin

Chapter 17: Karin

Chapter 18: Mel

Chapter 19: Louie

Chapter 20: Mel

Chapter 21: Karin

Chapter 22: Mel

Chapter 23: Louie

Chapter 24: Karin

Chapter 25: Mel

Chapter 26: Karin

Chapter 27: Louie

Chapter 28: Karin

Chapter 29: Louie

Chapter 30: Karin

Chapter 31: Mel

Chapter 32: Karin

Chapter 33: Louie

Chapter 34: Karin

Chapter 35: Mel

Chapter 36: Karin

Chapter 37: Karin

Chapter 38: Louie

Chapter 39: Karin

Chapter 40: Louie

Chapter 41: Mel

Chapter 42: Karin

Chapter 43: Louie

Chapter 44: Karin

Chapter 45: Mel

Chapter 46: Karin

Chapter 47: Karin

Chapter 48: Mel

Chapter 49: Karin

Chapter 50: Mel

Chapter 51: Karin

Chapter 52: Karin

Chapter 53: Karin

Chapter 54: Louie

Chapter 55: Karin

Chapter 56: Louie

Chapter 57: Karin

Chapter 58: Karin

Chapter 59: Karin

Acknowledgements

Keep Reading…

About the Author

About the Publisher

Red hair, red dress.

Karin looked at the image of herself in the mirror. She liked the clash of red against red. A clashy confidence. It seemed appropriate today, her birthday. And not just any birthday; she had made it to twenty-two. At one point, she didn’t think she would.

She wished her mother could see the woman she had grown into. Not just see, but know. The bundle of letters, tossed onto the bed earlier, reflected in the mirror. Still tied with the same string from five years ago. Her mother, Birgitta, had sent them all back, of course, and Karin wasn’t sure why she was still hanging onto them. For several reasons, she ought to get rid. There had been no birthday card this morning. She had known there wouldn’t be, there never was, but Karin had still searched through the pile of post to check. Birgitta had no idea where in the world Karin was and didn’t care. But the money had gone into her account, as promised. Karin had logged in at work to check. Always true to her word. That was the scariest thing of all about her mother.

Someone at work had asked if Karin was okay. Wasn’t she feeling well? Had she received some bad news? She felt dizzy and the pain had come quickly after that. Scurrying down the corridor, avoiding her colleagues, she had burst into Will’s room and quickly shut the door. It shocked Will; he was busy painting the walls, but broke off from his task to sit with her. Because Will understood. He had read every word that she and Birgitta had ever written to each other, and Karin was grateful for this place of sanctuary.

She could feel it coming on again now as she stared at her reflection in the mirror, the cycle repeating itself, and the sight of those letters only added to her distress. It was as if a sharpened icicle was being pushed into her head, boring a hole between the eyes. That’s how it always came, and she couldn’t stop it no matter what she did. Hands over her head to form a tight-fitting lid, as she was doing now; or elbows at right angles, squeezing against her ears to shut out the screams. Sometimes she scrunched up into a tight ball on the floor.

All this so she can never forget.

Even with her eyes closed she is still able to see his legs swinging. Side to side. A human pendulum. She runs down the garden and finds him there. In her log cabin. The steps kicked over, lying on their side. Minutes later she hears Birgitta screaming. Karin has never heard her mother scream like that before. It wasn’t what she did. Normally so cool and composed, this sound is primal and raw, yelling at Karin to help get him down.

But it’s too late.

It was always too late.

The episode passed, gradually, and Karin was used to it now. She just had to let it work its way through and back out again. But it still happened as often, day or night. Night-time was the worst. Everything was worse in those hot, twisted sheets of insomnia.

She raised her head slowly, checking to see whether it really had passed this time, and caught sight of herself in the mirror again; different from a few moments ago. Her cheeks were flushed, as though they had been too near a fire, and she would have to reapply her make-up. Her painted fingernails danced across her face as she wiped the sweat off it, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay; she hadn’t been gnawing on them quite so much lately.

How can you miss someone you really hate?

Perhaps that was why Karin had unlocked the box today. On this special day. Releasing cedar wood and iris, and something else, she didn’t know quite what, from beneath the lid, filling the room with Birgitta’s scent. Avocado. Lavender. And a whiff of her homemade Swedish fläderblomssaft . In one of those letters it said that if Karin was to contact her again, she would call the police.

Were there times when her mother felt this way too? Had Karin been on her mind at any point today? Did she wake up this morning remembering it was Karin’s birthday? Probably not. Probably never gave it a second thought. Not when she had sent Karin away to boarding school by the time she was eight and barely seen her since.

She checked the time on her phone then sniffed the letters one last time. Still another forty minutes before she had to be ready. Her heart raced as she began to work quickly on the knot, setting her teeth onto it, and picked out a letter.