Quiver: Watched by Shadows (Quivering Shadows Book 2) Read Online Free

you’re a good boy.”
    “Well, we tracked him down. Never guess what he was doing?”
    A pause.
    “Perving on one of your girls! Er, Kate, I think. Max’s bit, you know, the new one; brunette with the baps upfront,” Squeaky chuckled.
    “Anyways, Eric’s a goner, having a whale of a time in the North Sea I imagine.”
    “So be it… it had to be done,” Terry sighed, “And the girl? Anything we need to worry about?”
    “Nah, Max vouched for her.”
    I couldn’t believe my ears and pressed my hand to my dry mouth to stop from crying. They were killers, casually talking about the demise of another human being. Eric. My Eric? I prayed that he was not my stranger. Could he really be dead? God, I hoped they would not find me, as I would surely be disposed of just as easily.
    The gun handle was slick with sweat from my tightened grip; I doubted I would be able to use it if they threw open the door and found me. I wasn’t a killer. I was just an ordinary filing clerk. Damn Eric!
    A tear escaped. I didn’t want to die. How could the most exciting night of my life lead me to this point, trapped in a cupboard scared for my life, re-evaluating the only friendship I’d been able to cling to?
    “Where’s the sodding ledger?” Terry continued.
    “Check the other drawer.”
    “I did, it’s not sodding there.”
    “Max must have that with him, too,” Squeaky voice said.
    “Can’t trust him with anything. Get on the phone and ask him, will you?”
    I winced, coming back to my senses. If they called Max, he’d tell them he didn’t have it with him. They’d start searching, and they’d find me.
    “Straight to voice-mail,” Squeaky reported.
    Max would soon receive a brutal talking to due to my interference, but if there was ever a time I felt relief, this was topping the all-time charts: Top of the Pops, eat your heart out!
    “Sod it, we’ll have to do without it. We need to be at the docks now. We don’t have time for this shit,” Terry said, temper flaring, patience all but extinguished.
    I listened and waited. They’d stopped talking. I couldn’t hear what they were doing. Had they heard me?
    A switch was pressed, and what little light had bled through the cracks of the doorway was now gone. The slight shuffles of feet diminished, receding as Terry and Squeaky, to my relief walked away.
    Resisting the urge to come out of my hiding place, I started to count. I would wait for five minutes before emerging from the cupboard. I don’t think I would’ve been able to move anyway. The fear I felt pulsing around my body held me firmly in place. And I didn’t have the strength to even lift my arms.
    All I could think about was Eric… it had to have been him, right? They mentioned him watching me, I was the only Kate working at the Quadrello office, and now he was gone. When had they taken him? When had he looked upon me without me knowing he was there?
    Silent tears streaked down my face; he would never touch me again, never stroke my neck or hold me from behind. Weak with grief and stunned with fear, I managed to stand, unstable in the awkward space. I dropped the gun into my bag and reached to open the door to freedom, ready to make a hasty exit.
    ***
    T he door creaked open and I stumbled out into Max’s office. Pins and needles surged up my legs, protesting my hurried movements.
    I shook my legs to get the blood flowing when a tall, looming figure, too skinny to be Terry, burst through the private office door. His breathing was laboured as though he’d just run a couple of marathons back to back.
    I screamed and fell as he approached. He was head to toe in black, coming for me. Searching in the bottomless pit of my bag for the gun, I propelled myself backwards. I drove my legs into the floor and pushed myself away, scrambling towards the wall… towards a dead end.
    My fingertips grazed the cool steel of the gun, and just as I was about to pull it out, a familiar voice registered in the air.
    “Kate,