Runaway Sister Read Online Free Page A

boat, where they had entered. Here the deck space was open to the sky and she found a spot in the shadow where she was quite alone.
    Leaning on the rail, she watched the glitter of the lights from the boat reflecting on the slowly moving canal water, occasionally illuminating a floating leaf or a scrap of paper as it floated slowly past to disappear into the darkness beyond the barge. The night air was cool but not too cold, and Samantha stood silently in the darkness, grateful for the peace and quiet.
    She heard the sound of girls’ voices giggling behind her, and turning, she could see two staff nurses she knew slightly, because she had given tutorials to them, standing in the doorway. They had obviously come to the doorway for a breath of fresh air like her; they didn’t come out onto the deck where Samantha was, but stayed leaning against the doorway.
    Suddenly she heard her own name mentioned in their conversation and realized that although she could see them, they couldn’t see her.
    â€œYes, fancy that,” one said to the other, “Steve Johnson giving Samantha Roberts the old heave-ho, after all those years!”
    â€œA bit mean, I say,” said the other girl. “After all, she’s given him the best years of her life. It’s not going to be easy for someone as old as her to find another man.”
    â€œYes,” agreed the first girl, “I feel really sorry for her. Of course she was putting a very brave face on it, but I could see it was an effort.”
    They wandered back into the crowded barge still gossiping, leaving Samantha standing dumbstruck in the darkness. Had everyone really been able to see through her determinedly bright façade? If that was the case there really didn’t seem much point in bothering, she thought grimly. She knew it had been a mistake to come, and now it had been proved to her. Impetuously she made up her mind there and then; she would leave now and make her own way home.
    Going back into the lounge, she grabbed the first person she saw who she knew was friendly with John and Jennie.
    â€œDo me a favor, would you?” she asked. “Tell John and Jennie not to wait for me, I’ve managed to get a lift and I’m going now. Tell Jennie I’ll see her in the morning.”
    The registrar she had grabbed looked slightly puzzled, but Samantha gave him no time to ask questions, just dumped her wineglass in the first available space she could see and made for the steps leading off the barge.
    Hastily she made her way along the dimly lit narrow little road running alongside the canal. At the far end of the road she could see the bright lights of the main road; there she would be able to catch a bus, or pick up a taxi, even. She had never walked it before, and suddenly she realized that it was much farther and much darker than she had ever imagined. Jennie’s words came back to her: “I can just imagine a murder being done here.”
    â€œDon’t be ridiculous,” muttered Samantha out loud to herself, but far from giving her reassurance, her half-whispered words seemed to echo round in the leafy darkness, and to make matters worse she reached a long patch of darkness where one of the streetlamps wasn’t working. It was then she heard the footsteps, and she thought also there was a voice calling her to stop, but she didn’t. Blind panic overwhelmed her, Jennie’s joking remark became a frightening possibility, and she started to run.
    Her legs seemed made of lead, she was running as fast as she could, but the bright lights at the end of the canal road seemed as far away as ever. Her heart was pounding fit to burst—and now she knew it was not anything in her imagination, there really were footsteps, and they were catching up on her fast.
    Suddenly her foot slipped on the wet leaves scattered on the uneven paving stones and she went flying, landing in a heap in the gutter. The footsteps were upon her, a