The Librarian

Valerie Keogh

Description

‘Keogh is the queen of compelling narratives and twisty plots’ Jenny O'Brien

The brilliant new psychological thriller from bestseller Valerie Keogh.

'A wonderful book, I can’t rate this one highly enough. If only there were ten stars, it’s that good. Valerie Keogh is a master story-teller, and this is a masterful performance.' Bestselling author Anita Waller

Since that fateful night I have always kept myself to myself. Reserved. Private. Alone.

Some people think I am too quiet. That life is passing me by. But I know there is safety in my own company. That no one can hurt me if I don’t let them get too close.

Until the day I meet him. A handsome, charming stranger. A chance for me to take a risk…finally?

Or a man who threatens everything I’ve worked so hard for?

You’ll be sorry…

And that’s when my whole life begins to fall apart….

Don't miss the brand new thriller by Valerie Keogh! Perfect for fans of Sue Watson, Shalini Boland and K.L. Slater.

Reader Reviews for The Librarian

'Another great book, loved all the suspense along the way' ★★★★★ Reader Review

'Valerie keogh just keeps producing books that just keep getting better and better' ★★★★★ Reader Review

'This is an amazing book, a real page turner, that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the very end' ★★★★★ Reader Review

Sujets

• Policier & Thriller
• Policier
• Thriller
• Fiction
• Noir
• Suspense
• Family Life
• Crime
• General
• City Life
• The Women
• Feminism
• Psychology
• Woman
• General officer
• Domestic
• Psychological thriller
• Suspenso
• Women
• Thrillers
• Feminist
• Amateur Sleuth
• Hard-Boiled
• Women Sleuths
• Psychological
• Mashups

Informations

• Publié par: Boldwood Books
• Date de parution: 21 avril 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781804154748
• Langue: English

Extrait

THE LIBRARIAN


VALERIE KEOGH
For my niece Sarah Hudson, with love
CONTENTS



Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Chapter 42

Chapter 43

Chapter 44

Chapter 45

Chapter 46

Chapter 47

Chapter 48

Chapter 49

Chapter 50

Chapter 51

Chapter 52


More From Valerie Keogh

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Also by Valerie Keogh

The Murder List

About Boldwood Books
1

Ava Warrington checked her watch and swore softly. ‘Eleven, and not a minute later.’ That’s what her sister, Judy, had said, as she and her husband, Harris, had headed off earlier. She’d been right there. It wasn’t a minute later; it was over an hour and still no sign of them. Babysitting for her niece and nephew was a regular occurrence for Ava. It wasn’t the first time Judy and Harris were late back either, but even if they’d gone for a drink afterwards, they should have been home by now. Ava checked her mobile. No messages, and when she rang her sister’s number, it went straight to voicemail. Rather than leaving a message, she hung up, tossed the phone onto the seat beside her and picked up the remote to switch the TV to a news channel. When there were no reports of any disasters or terrorist attacks, she turned back to the music she’d been listening to on YouTube, then shook her head and switched the TV off altogether.
Anxiety made her restless. She crossed barefooted to the window and peered out. Her Fiat was parked on the road, Harris’s Volvo parked in the driveway. The nearest streetlight wasn’t working, light from one further along doing a poor job of illuminating the street. Instead, it cast strange shadows. In the slight breeze that rolled along the street, they seemed to sway to a beat of their own. She tried to look away, but as they danced, they caught her up and dragged her back to a time when her life was filled with shade.
Ten years before. During the freedom of those first few months in university, when she’d been stupidly naïve, she’d soaked up every new experience, desperate to prove she could belong. She’d almost wrecked her life in the process… and had destroyed someone else’s. Simon Loder. His name was tattooed into her brain, his smile on the face of every young man she met, anywhere, forcing her to do a double take even when she knew it couldn’t possibly be him.
Ten years… almost to the day. Every year was bad, but this anniversary seemed more significant somehow. Perhaps it was why she’d felt so out of sorts recently… restless, snappy, easily distracted.
A noise brought her spinning around. When it came again, she went out to the hall and listened. She knew every creak and squeak in her smaller, older house, but although she’d stayed in Judy’s several times over the years, she’d never concerned herself with the sounds this house made. If she’d given it any thought, she’d have said it didn’t make any. Judy had bought it off plan almost ten years before with money given to her by their parents. A four-bedroomed, detached house, it was the first step in the future she’d wanted… house, husband, children. Ava admired her sister’s single-minded determination to have her life work out as she’d planned. Admired it, but didn’t fully understand.
Shame Judy’s plan to be home at eleven hadn’t worked out so well. Ava allowed annoyance to come to a simmer and turned to go back into the living room when the sound she’d heard came again. It brought her to a halt. She held her breath and cocked her head to listen.
Clink, clink, clink. It was coming from upstairs. She’d been up and down a few times that evening to check on the children and hadn’t heard anything unusual. One hand on the banisters, she took the stairs a step at a time, stopping to listen before moving up again. Annoyance had been washed away by a wave of anxiety… she refused to call it fear. Whatever she called it, she had no choice but to go up. Until their parents deigned to return, Cody and Melissa were in Ava’s care.
At the top of the stairway, the bedrooms of her nephew and niece were to each side. Their doors were slightly ajar and in the glow from the landing light, she could see both were asleep, the soft hush of their breathing slow and even.
Clink, clink. The other three doors – to the main bedroom, a spare room, and the bathroom – were shut tight. Both bedrooms were to the back of the house, the main having a small balcony overlooking the rear garden and the open fields behind. These doors were alarmed, the alarm switched on when the family were out or heading to bed. But they weren’t on now. Had someone broken in?
Ava strained to listen. Nothing. She lifted her mobile. Perhaps she should do the sensible thing and ring the police. It’s what Judy would have advised… as she had done all those years before, urging Ava to do the right thing, when she wasn’t sure what that was. ‘You must,’ Judy had said. So Ava had, and spent the last ten years in regret.
She sighed and pushed the memory deeper. No, she wasn’t going to ring the police to tell them she’d heard a noise. How pathetic that would sound; she could almost picture their eyebrows raising. She wasn’t a child, nor was she a naïve university student any more; she needed to get a grip. The admonishment didn’t make her any braver, but it did make her cross the landing. A large glass ornament on a small table looked like a likely ally. She picked it up. It was a good weight, solid. She imagined swinging it, hitting someone, could almost hear the crunch of broken bones, the warm gush of blood. Her imagination always did verge on the graphic and over-dramatic. If there was a bogey man or woman behind the door, could she really use her makeshift weapon? She wasn’t sure she had it in her to be that violent, no matter what the cause.
Deciding to keep it in her hand, for comfort if nothing else, she walked up to the first door, the one to the spare room, and pressed her ear against it. Nothing. She slipped her phone into her jeans’ pocket, grasped the door handle, and pressed it down slowly. Then, holding her breath, she pushed the door open.
Inside, the room was in darkness, the light from the landing illuminating the area close to her but doing nothing to dispel the shadows in the corners. She was sliding her hand along the wall, searching for the light switch, when the sound came again, this time from behind her. She spun to face it, almost falling over her feet in her haste.
It was coming from the bathroom.
The clicking sound… was it a switchblade or a gun? She listened for it to come again, hoping to be able to identify it. If she could, then surely she’d have reason to call the police? Not to say she’d heard a noise but that someone with a knife had broken into the house and she was alone with two young children. Then they’d ride to her rescue, wouldn’t they? But now, when she wanted to hear the sound, it stayed stubbornly quiet.
Thick carpet shushed her approach as she slowly crossed to the door. She raised her makeshift weapon; if she couldn’t bring herself to use it, maybe the sight of it would strike fear into whoever was behind the door. So might being caught unawares, and to that end, she pressed the handle and flung the door open in one smooth movement. Too hard, it bounced off the doorstop behind and almost hit her on its return.
Ava swore softly as she pushed it open again and stared into the space beyond. It was a typical modern bathroom: shower in one corner, bath along one wall, toilet and sink against another. Neither big nor small, light from the hallway easily reached the far corners. She held her breath, her eyes flicking from one side to the other, and slowly dropped her improvised cosh to her side. The room was empty.
As she stood staring, the roller blind on the window billowed. It was a colourful blind with a stainless-steel chain for raising and lowering it… and it was this chain, sailing into the tiled wall with every movement of the blind, that was making the noise. Clink, clink .
‘For goodness’ sake,’ Ava muttered, half-amused at how easily she’d been frightened. She reached behind the blind and closed the small window that had been left open.
Feeling faintly ridiculous, she replaced the ornament on the hall table. A quick check on Cody and Melissa, who were still sleeping peacefully, and she headed back downstairs.
She had descended only a few steps when a sound from below brought her to a halt. What the hell? The earlier anxiety had left its mark and came barrelling back now to send her heart racing. Instinct drove her back for the improvised weapon, and with it in one hand and her mobile in the other, she went slowly down the stairs.
Light was pouring through the glass panel in the front door. Something had triggered the security light outside. The sound came again as she reached the hallway. A sharp cracking noise. Someone was trying to break in. This time, she wasn’t afraid to call the police. She was about to punch in 999 when she heard a different sound. One she’d recognise anywhere. Her sister’s loud, inebriated giggle, followed by the same sharp noise. It was coming from the living room.
Confused and annoyed, Ava went through and saw Judy and Harris with their noses pressed against the window, gormless smiles on both their faces. Judy was rapping against the glass with her engagement ring. When they saw her, they started waving manically.
A