About the Author
Born on the west coast of mainland New Zealand, moved to Canterbury on the east coast, where I was raised. Immigrated to Australia. Living in Queensland for many years.
Events at work caused me to develop PTSD. I was forced to retire due to ill health. I was led to writing by my beautiful therapist and discovered a hitherto untapped talent. What started as therapy became a passion.
I am married to an exceptional man, Brian, have three grown children and a beautiful grandchild.
Brian and I recently relocated to Victoria where we enjoy a quiet life.
Stalker, Stalker:
At Any Cost
Therese Sullivan
Stalker, Stalker:
At Any Cost
Olympia Publishers
London
www.olympiapublishers.com
OLYMPIA EBOOK EDITION
Copyright © Therese Sullivan 2019
The right of Therese Sullivan to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All Rights Reserved
No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication
may be made without written permission.
No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced,
copied or transmitted save with the written permission of the publisher, or in accordance with the provisions
of the Copyright Act 1956 (as amended).
Any person who commits any unauthorised act in relation to
this publication may be liable to criminal
prosecution and civil claims for damage.
A CIP catalogue record for this title is
available from the British Library.
This is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents originate from the writer’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
First Published in 2019
Olympia Publishers
60 Cannon Street
London
EC4N 6NP
Dedication
Slurg, my rock, Jo, my inspiration, Danielle, my practicalities and Peter, Christiane and Jaycob, who love me.
Prologue
Her eyes gleamed as she watched Adam Sullivan deliver his lines. She had changed her position on the stage so that she had an uninterrupted view of the show’s leading man.
He was gorgeous. Tall and strong. All the girls clamoured for his attention. She knew she wasn’t pretty enough to catch his eye. Not when he could have his pick of the senior classes. But that didn’t stop her gazing at him and dreaming.
He turned his head and caught her watching him. Her breath caught in her throat. She was glad of the heavy stage makeup because she could feel her face heating. She tried to move her eyes away to hide her embarrassment at being caught staring, but her heart was pounding, and she couldn’t drag her gaze away.
Then he winked.
A deliberate, slow wink directed straight at her. His smile lit his face, making him look like a god. She was enraptured. He had noticed her after all. He saw past the nose that dominated her face. His eyes held hers for a moment and she felt her heart stall. Her hand fluttered to her breast. She wondered that she could stay upright.
Then his attention was drawn back to his leading lady and the moment passed. Never mind, she would catch up with him after practice.
But the director soon dismissed the cast, keeping the lead actors for the balance of the rehearsal. Her father was waiting to take her home. Her moment was lost.
For the next few weeks she mostly managed to see him in the distance. Once or twice he was close enough to talk to but each time she lost her nerve.
He always smiled into her eyes, so she knew he was interested, but biding his time. With the show and finals coming up she knew he was busy: it would be remiss of her to distract him now.
With her surgery set for the end of the semester she decided to wait. He deserved the best, so that’s what she would deliver.
She was not, however, to get her chance. By the time she returned with her new nose, looking gorgeous, he had moved away for university.
She decided that perhaps it wasn’t meant to be, fate had something else lined up for her. With her new looks she was soon surrounded, spoiled for choice, as those who had ignored her before suddenly flocked around. She refused to be tied down, revelling in her popularity, knowing this was her time to shine. So she moved on, intent on having fun.
Later, when her life so spectacularly fell apart, she would look back and pinpoint this as the moment things changed.
Part One
Adam
Chapter One
Adam Sullivan rubbed the back of his neck, trying to eradicate the unpleasant tingle.
Physically Adam was a big man. Over six foot with a heavy build, (think Brian Dennehy in Cocoon). He was Manager of Financial Investments at Davis and Co. He wasn’t a man given to flights of fantasy.
Nevertheless, for the past few months he’d been getting a tingle in the back of his neck, accompanied by a feeling that he was being watched. It was disconcerting.
He looked around trying to see if he could find a source for the feeling. Maybe the SEC were watching. He grinned at the absurdity of this thought and forced himself to relax.
He was seated in Puccini’s, a popular city restaurant run by Luka Puccini. This was the first place he’d taken Lucy, now his wife, for a meal. It had been their favourite ever since.
He was waiting for Lucy. They had a rare night off as Gabe, their five-year-old son, was with Lucy’s sister, his aunt Ella, tonight.
Adam looked up as the door opened and Lucy walked in. He forgot all about the tingle in his neck as he watched her walk towards him, carrying herself with her usual air of confidence.
He never tired of watching her. To him she was simply the most beautiful woman in the world. Perfect for him. Her hair was down, how he liked it best, a cloud of chestnut waves tumbling around her shoulders. Her green eyes glowed. As she spotted him, her face lit up in a smile that seemed to make the whole room glow.
As always, Adam sent up a silent prayer of thanks, to whoever was listening, that Lucy loved him. After all this time he still couldn’t quite believe he had got so lucky.
She reached the table and leaned in to give him a kiss. She then slid into the chair opposite, noting as she did that Adam had got their favourite table.
Lucy loved to sit here by the window. She could watch the passers-by but also, and this was her favourite bit, watch the people dining around then, surreptitiously, in the reflections from the glass.
Lucy loved to people watch and try and guess the stories behind the faces. She would keep Adam entertained for hours, especially if she was in a playful mood.
‘To us and an evening alone.’ Adam raised his glass, a light beer if she wasn’t mistaken. She picked up the glass in front of her. Her favourite dry martini with an olive.
‘I’ll drink to that,’ she grinned and raised her glass also.
‘Good day?’ Adam asked, as they put their glasses down.
Lucy started to describe her day, her eyes glowing with pride as she recounted the day’s events.
Lucy owned and ran a day-care/learning centre called Unique Abilities. She had started the centre because a friend had an autistic son and had been unable to find a suitable centre for him. There were centres that catered for special needs, but all seemed to partially segregate them from the other children. None of which suited Catriona’s vision for her child.
In Lucy’s centre, children were children. Each child was special and had their own unique abilities. Each child had
things to offer, things to learn and things to teach others. Lucy had built up an excellent staff and an even better reputation. She had successfully removed the word “disability” from the culture of the centre.
Adam was immensely proud of what Lucy had achieved, but what thrilled him was the joy she still found in her choice of career.
They talked all the way through their meal. It was always like this, they talked about anything and everything. But their silences were peaceful. A balm to his soul. Adam liked to make her laugh, just to hear the joyous sound of it. He never tired of looking at her. She and Gabe were his world, and he knew he was lucky.
Lucy was creating stories about the diners around them, making Adam laugh. She was in the middle of one such story when she stopped and looked up. Her face shuttered slightly, so not a friend. Curious, Adam glanced around to see what she was looking at.
A woman had stopped at their table, slightly behind him. She was rather pretty, he supposed, but he noted her eyes were cold. She was petite, with coal-black hair flowing down her back. Not someone he knew.
‘Adam? Adam Sullivan?’ she said as he looked up. She then stopped, clearly waiting for Adam to respond.
Lucy felt slightly uncomfortable as she recognised the woman’s proprietary air. But then, looking at Adam, she realised from his face that he had no idea who this woman was, and moreover was only giving her a glancing look.
‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘Can I help you?’
‘We knew each other years ago.’ She smiled, waiting for the recognition.
‘I’m sorry,’ Adam said. ‘My memory for faces is not so good. I can’t place you, I’m afraid. What did you say your name was?’
Before she could answer, Luka came over. They were good customers and Luka was protective of his favourites. He had noticed they both looked uncomfortable. The woman at their table was clearly not a friend. There was something about the way she looked at Adam that disturbed Luka, so he made his way over. He placed himself between the woman and Lucy so that Adam needed to look away from the woman to speak to him. He excused himself and wished them both good evening. Querying if they required anything else.
‘Excuse me,’ Adam said to the woman and turned to Luka, his smile back in place by the time he faced Luka.
‘We’d like one of your special desserts, please, Luka,’ he grinned.
‘Oh! Yes please,’ Lucy grinned too, as her attention turned to Luka.
Luka’s special dessert was a decadent triple layer chocolate cake, filled with raspberries and cream and covered with chocolate ganache. It was served with a raspberry coulis and vanilla ice cream. On special occasions they would share one.
Luka smiled in response. ‘Ah, good choice. I’ll be back.’
He carefully cleared their dishes and moved away. He was pleased to note the woman had moved away. He didn’t think the Sullivan’s had even noticed her leave. He briefly wondered who she was, and what she had wanted.
‘She’s gone,’ Lucy noted. ‘Who was she?
‘I have absolutely no idea,’ Adam said with an expressive shrug. ‘She gave off a weird vibe though. I almost felt she was expecting me to know who she was and greet her like a long-lost friend or something.’ He shook his head at his fanciful thoughts.
Lucy laughed. ‘I have to admit I got the same vibe. In fact, I’ll go further and say I thought she was disappointed you didn’t recognise her, that she thought you had been more than friends—’ Adam looked shocked as Lucy trailed off.
‘I don’t remember meeting her, if indeed I did!’ he said. ‘I certainly don’t recognise her as someone I may have gone out with!’ Adam was aghast. ‘If we’d been friends, or closer, I’m sure I would remember her.’
Lucy looking at his indignant face, laughed, and soon Adam joined her.
Their dessert arrived and neither of them gave the incident any further thought, concentrating on doing justice to the cake.
As they lingered over coffee Adam told Lucy that he suspected he may soon need a new secretary.
Shirley Winter had been Adam’s secretary for what seemed like forever. He had kept her as his secretary each time he advanced in the company. They worked well together, and Adam was comfortable with her, and trusted her implicitly.
Lucy loved her too. It was usually Shirley who remembered to call her if Adam was going to be late, or to give her a heads up when things hadn’t gone so well.
Lucy remembered when one of Adam’s clients had committed suicide. It had hit Adam hard, but he had tried to hide it. Shirley had given her the heads up, so she could help him deal with it. They would both find it hard with a new secretary.
Lucy had been aware for some time that Shirley was unwell, and that Adam was worried about her. The doctors couldn’t seem to work out what was wrong with her, after eliminating most of the more common ailments, they were now researching to obscure but were unable to find any real clues in her symptoms. They were now wondering if she was reacting to stress in her life and wanted her to make her life simpler, hoping this would improve her condition. Adam said it was more likely than not that she would soon give in to her husband’s requests to give up work.
It was late when they left Puccini’s, having assured Luka, once again, they’d had an excellent evening, and made their way home.
As he watched Lucy get out of the car and make her way to the door Adam thought once more how lucky he had been to find Lucy. She completed him in a way he had never envisioned.
Chapter Two
It was late in the afternoon. Adam had just finished a particularly gruelling account and was thinking of packing up and calling it a day.
He reached for the phone to let Lucy know he’d be heading home and see if she wanted him to get anything. But before he could pick it up there was a tap on his door, and Shirley popped her head in.
‘Do you have a moment?’ she asked quietly
‘Sure.’ Adam removed his hand from the receiver and beckoned her in. He noted she looked exhausted. Dark circles were evident under her eyes and her face drawn and pale. He wondered if this was it!
‘Not a good day, Shirley?’ he enquired quietly, as she dropped wearily into the chair in front of his desk.
‘Lately they seem to be few and far between,’ she responded. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Sullivan, (Shirley refused to call him Adam, even after all this time. She said it wasn’t proper.) but I think it’s time for me to retire. Jim (her husband) says I can’t go on like this and with the doctors saying less stress might help, he’s insistent that I retire.’
She gave a deep sigh as she leaned back in the chair, as if too weary to hold herself up any longer. ‘I must admit that, at the moment, I don’t have the energy to argue. But I’m sorry to let you down.’
‘You’ve nothing to be sorry for, Shirley. We’ve both known for a while that if things didn’t improve for you this might happen. I admit I’ll miss you, but Jim’s right, you’re much more important than this job.’
Adam smiled at her. He was genuinely concerned for her health himself so could understand Jim’s worry. He had been hopeful that they would work out what was wrong with her and leaving would not become necessary but that hadn’t happened, and he could see she was deteriorating. Jim was right to worry.
‘I take it you’d like to go straight away?’ he asked softly.
‘If that would be okay, Mr Sullivan, it would be for the best. I’ve had so much time off over the past little while, I’m not doing the job you need done.’
Adam waved his hand dismissively. ‘Never mind about that. You’re what matters here.’
‘I’ve made a cheat sheet covering all the important aspects of the job. I’ll leave it on the desk. Marie Shephard from accounts can give pointers if necessary, she’s helped me a lot recently. Maybe you could consider her for the job. I think she would suit you well.’
‘I’ll talk to Arthur about it.’ Adam acknowledged. Arthur Benham was the CEO of Davis and Co. ‘I’ll accept your notice, effective im
mediately. You go home and concentrate on getting well.’
‘Yes. I’m sorry to let you down, but I just can’t keep going.’ Shirley was close to tears, which in itself let Adam know how unwell she was feeling. Shirley Winter was definitely in the stiff upper lip brigade.
‘You’re not letting me down. Shirley, for goodness sake, you’re not letting me down,’ Adam stated firmly. ‘Now, is Jim picking you up? Or would you like a lift home?’ He smiled encouragingly.
‘Jim’s waiting outside, thank you, Adam. I’ve enjoyed my time with you and I’m sad it had to end like this.’ Shirley stood, as did Adam. He had noted the use of his first name and it pleased him, even as it signalled the end of an era.
He stepped around the desk and enfolded her in his arms. She leaned into him, accepting the embrace and returning it. He held her for a long minute and then stepped back.
I’m gonna miss you, Shirl, old girl,’ he said softly, his eyes glittering suspiciously.
‘I’m gonna miss you too, lad,’ she replied, also with a suspicious glitter in her eyes.
He walked her to the door and nodded to Jim, waiting at her desk.
‘She’s all yours again, mate,’ he said gruffly. Jim stood and stepping forward, held his hand out to Adam, acknowledging the moment.
‘You take care of her and get her well again,’ Adam continued. ‘Let me know how things go, yeah?’
‘I will, to both,’ Jim responded and looking at Shirley with an evident tenderness. ‘You ready, my love?’ he asked. She nodded and with that, they were gone.
Adam returned to his office and picking up the phone made an appointment to talk to Arthur Benham, Managing Director of Davis & Co, and his boss. He was advised Arthur could see him first thing in the morning.
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