Read Killing You Softly for Free Online

the doorway, and in his small, mistrustful eyes.
    ‘So please tell Alex I called,’ I said, realizing that I was getting nowhere.
    He made no promises as he shrugged again and closed the door a second time.
    Head down and lost in thought, I picked up my bike at the gate and wheeled it towards Upwood House, the National Trust property overlooking the valley. If nothing else, I could make my way
    past the Georgian mansion on to Hereward Ridge then cycle the scenic route along the bridle path back towards St Jude’s.
    I’d only got as far as the entrance to Upwood House, however, when I bumped into another familiar figure, and felt that an already bad day was about to get much worse.
    ‘Watch where you’re going,’ Ursula growled, sidestepping me and my bike.
    To be fair, I had almost walked into her. Ursula was Jayden’s current girlfriend, following on from Lily and her exact opposite. ‘Hostile, doesn’t cover the impact her
    presence makes in any given situation. She’s tall, blonde and hard faced – an impression enhanced by nose piercings and rows of studs along the rims of both ears.
    ‘Sorry,’ I told her, hurrying on.
    She followed me for four or five steps. ‘So where
are
you going?’
    ‘Back home,’ I muttered.
    ‘How come? I thought you wanted to see Alex.’
    I stopped and turned. ‘How did you know – did Jayden tell you?’
    Ursula nodded. ‘He texted just before I finished work at the big house. Yeah, I work there and don’t look so gobsmacked.’
    ‘I’m not. No.’ It was none of my business where school dropout Ursula worked and I was caught off guard by the fact that she wanted to have this conversation. In the bad old
    days before Christmas, when I was involved with the whole ‘nasty mess’ of Lily and Paige, I hadn’t been able to get more than a stare and a grunt out of her. I’d even had
    Jayden’s door slammed in my face by her, which is why it felt weird to be standing in the cold, halfway up a steep hill, talking like this.
    ‘I’m a cleaner,’ she explained. ‘Five mornings a week. It’s a lousy job, but I left home over Christmas and this pays the rent. Jayden was no help to you, was
    he?’
    ‘He didn’t know where Alex was, if that’s what you mean.’
    ‘Sure he did,’ she contradicted. ‘I expect he told you to back off, didn’t he? That’s Jayden for you, trying to protect his mate.’
    This was getting more interesting by the second. ‘Why does he have to protect him?’
    ‘Why do you think? Alex is in bits – his girlfriend just died. Jayden knows you’d go in like a bull in a china shop.’
    ‘Well, thanks.’
    ‘No, Jayden likes you – don’t get me wrong. And I know you’re only trying to help. But the bottom line is that Jayden thinks you’re trouble. And you are, Alyssa
    – you and your photographic memory – you’re a pain.’
    So why was she bothering to talk to me with the wind whipping strands of straw-blonde hair across her cheeks? She was even worse prepared for the weather than me in a lightweight black
    sweater, thin denim jacket, ballet pumps and leggings. ‘You’re right,’ I agreed. ‘It’s not my business. I don’t know why I’m bothering.’
    ‘It’s the drowning thing, isn’t it?’
    Now I was really hooked into the conversation. I leaned my bike against a street lamp, folded my arms and listened.
    ‘First Lily and now Scarlett. And, yeah, I know they got the right guys for the Lily murder – D’Arblay, Harry Embsay, Guy Simons – little fascist shits. So this new one
    doesn’t look like it’s connected. It’s just that it got under your skin and wormed its way into your gut – the fact that Scarlett and Lily both drowned.’
    I nodded, said nothing and didn’t mention the ghostly hand scratching at my bedroom window, begging to be allowed in.
    ‘I get where you’re coming from and I’d feel the same if I was you. I knew Scarlett from Ainslee Comp – not as well as you knew Lily, probably, and