The Good Samaritan: A heart-stopping and utterly gripping emotional thriller that will keep you hooked

by C J Parsons

  ‘Why can’t we go home, Josh? It’s past Sofia’s bedtime.’

  ‘Because it’s not safe there.’

  Sofia slapped his forearm, starting to cry. ‘Let me go! Mummy, I’m scared!’

  Carrie stepped towards her instinctively, but Josh shook his head and said: ‘Stay there, please.’ He gave her a brief smile. ‘Much as I’d love to have you run into my arms, it’s probably best not to barrel into me while I’m holding this lamp. Because if I were to drop it . . . well . . . These dust covers are pretty flammable.’

  Was that a threat, or an expression of genuine concern about health and safety? She waited a few moments, giving Tara time to write, then screened her eyes again as she looked towards the iPad. When she saw what was written there, her heart lurched.

  ‘Volatile. DANGEROUS. Don’t move. Let him speak.’

  Carrie stood perfectly still, fighting to keep her gaze from shifting downwards to Sofia, now sobbing noisily as she struggled to free herself.

  ‘I want you to know that you’re everything to me,’ Josh said suddenly. ‘That I’ll always be here for you. There’s nothing we can’t overcome . . . together.’

  Should she say something in response to that? Or just nod? Carrie bowed her head so he wouldn’t see her eyes shift sideways again.

  ‘Unstable, desperate,’ the iPad said. ‘Say you know he’s there 4 you.’

  ‘I know you’re there for me.’ She swallowed before adding: ‘Thank you.’

  He laughed softly. ‘I love how you do that: the way you pause before tacking on a thank you. In so many ways, you’re just like her. But in others . . . you’re very different. Good different.’ He gave her a smile. What kind of smile, though? She cupped a hand in front of her face to look towards Tara again.

  ‘Affection, warmth,’ the iPad told her. A screen-wipe and a fresh flurry of scribbling. ‘Moment of weakness. Probably won’t last.’ Wipe-scribble. ‘Pretend you want to hug/kiss him. Then get Sofia.’

  Carrie opened her arms and took a step forwards. ‘Kiss me, Josh.’

  She was hoping Josh would open his own arms in response, releasing Sofia. Instead, his head reared back and his eyebrows dipped together.

  Tara’s screen: ‘Confused. Suspicious.’

  Damn. She should have just gone to him without speaking. Because when it came to expressing affection, Carrie moved in silence, doing rather than saying.

  ‘Mummy!’ Sofia’s face was streaming with tears now. ‘Please! I want to go home!’

  Carrie felt the gravitational pull of her daughter’s distress, took a step forwards.

  ‘Hey, wait a minute,’ Josh said. She froze immediately, frightened by the kerosene lamp, rocking on its wire-loop handle, the flame sputtering inside its cylinder of glass. ‘How did you know I was here?’

  She darted a look at Tara, who stared back, motionless. They had prepared an answer for this one; it was such an obvious question to ask. But now that the moment had come, Carrie’s mind was empty, wiped blank by the sound of her daughter’s frightened sobs. Panic clawed at her. All Josh had to do was open his fingers and flaming liquid would plunge to the floor, inches from the hem of the dust cover. And . . . oh God, oh God, was that a fresh bottle of kerosene lying on the seat of the sofa? Her daughter’s life was hanging by a thread and Carrie had no idea what to say next.

  But then, like a blessing, came the faint rectangle of light in the corner of her vision. She shielded her eyes again as she read the memory prompt: ‘Find My Phone!’

  Of course. How could she have forgotten?

  ‘I . . . I must have dropped my mobile in your car when you drove me to work this morning. Her fingers moved instinctively to the underside of her wrist, teeth gritting as she administered a hard pinch. ‘When I couldn’t locate it, I did a “Find my Phone” search and saw that you’d come here. So when I . . . noticed Sofia wasn’t in her room, I guessed that you’d decided to show her this house, because I know how special it is to you. And I thought I’d come join you, since I love the design and wanted to see it for myself.’ Her wrist was stinging from the succession of pinches that had accompanied this speech.

  Josh stood without moving, face aimed her way, the raised lamp casting his eyes in shadow. Then he nodded.

  The tablet: ‘He believes you.’

  Carrie freed a pent-up breath. The ‘Find My Phone’ story had been Tara’s idea, the lie coming to her easily, taking no time at all. Carrie would never have thought of something like that, not in a million years. When forced from the path of truth, she tended to get lost.

  Josh lowered the lamp so that it was just above Sofia’s head, making the light shift and flicker. Sofia was quiet now, eyes squeezed shut, cheeks sheened with tears.

  ‘I love you, Carrie.’ Josh’s voice was flat, like hers.

  She froze. The declaration caught her off guard. No man had ever said those words to her before, and some small, foolish part of her was thrilled. But she didn’t have a clue how to respond, so was relieved to see a rectangular glow on the edge of her vision.

  ‘Seeking reassurance,’ Tara’s screen told her. ‘Say it back.’

  ‘I love you too, Josh.’

  And this time, she didn’t pinch herself. Because it was true. Or at least, it felt true. Her emotions seemed to be on a time lag, not yet caught up with the information her brain was feeding them: that Josh wasn’t the man she’d thought he was. That he couldn’t be trusted.

  He gave her a wide smile.

  ‘It’s so good to hear you say that. I can’t tell you how good.’

  The screen flashed again and she placed fingertips against her forehead, palm blocking her eyes, to mask the side-glance.

  ‘Suggest u both take Sofia home because v. late,’ the screen said.

  ‘Why don’t we take Sofia home now? It’s way past her bedtime.’

  Sofia must have been listening and picked up on the change in Josh’s mood, because she looked up at him hopefully, speaking in a trembling voice.

  ‘Please can we go? I’m tired.’

  He smiled down at her.

  ‘I’m so sorry, poppet, I really didn’t mean to keep you up so late. But I think it would be best if all three of us stayed here tonight. For safety’s sake.’ That response must have surprised Tara, because there was no movement from behind the screen. Josh sighed and shook his head. ‘Look, I have to be honest with you, Carrie. The real reason I brought Sofia here tonight . . . It’s because I saw you outside talking to Tara. And that scared me. She scares me. There’s something not right there, something . . . missing. You can’t read her and she exploits that, using your condition to burrow into your life. Waiting for you to lower your guard so she can take Sofia from you . . . again. But I see her for what she is: a manipulative and dangerous liar.’

  Carrie was keenly aware of Tara, standing just a few steps away, listening. But no faint rectangle of light flickered in the corner of her eye. In fact, there was no movement of any kind.

  Carrie knew she had to say something. So in the absence of Tara’s guidance, she fell back on her old friend, logic.

  ‘If you were so concerned about her coming by the house, why not just call the police?’

  Josh began idly stroking Sofia’s hair. ‘Call them and say what, exactly? That a woman you consider a friend dropped by and the two of you went for a walk?’ Another sigh. ‘The unfortunate fact of the matter is your impairment prevents you from seeing the danger. And Tara has never been more dangerous than she is now: cornered and desperate, running out of time, knowing the police are onto her. So when she appeared out of nowhere like that . . .’ He shook his head. ‘I’m convinced she was planning to make her move tonight. And that, being under her spell, you wouldn’t listen to my warning. So I did the only thing I could think of: I brought Sofia somewhere safe for the night. Somewhere Tara couldn’t find her.’


  Carrie blinked as she took this in. There was a certain logic to it, if he genuinely believed that Tara was a threat. It did explain some of his behaviour tonight.

  But not all of it.

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me you’d taken her? You must have realised how worried I’d be, but you didn’t leave a note or call the house to let me know she was safe.’

  ‘I know, and I am so, so sorry about that. I was planning to give you a ring on the way here, but my phone battery died.’

  Carrie looked across the room at him. A lie, obviously. Although . . . his mobile had gone straight to voicemail. But that was because he’d switched it off . . .

  Wasn’t it?

  And just for a moment, the coin flipped the other way.

  What if Josh really had brought Sofia here because he believed her abductor had returned in the night, desperate to succeed this time . . . and had duped Carrie into trusting her again?

  Her thoughts returned to the moment when she’d looked outside and seen Tara on the other side of the street, hood raised, standing in the shadow of the oak tree . . .

  Standing? Or hiding?

  What if she hadn’t come over for a talk at all? What if she’d been looking for a way into the house, into Sofia’s room . . . until Carrie had spotted her? But if that were so, what was she doing here now, interpreting Josh’s reactions for her?

  No.

  Tara was her friend. And anyway, Josh was the one with his arm clamped across her daughter’s chest.

  ‘Mummy.’ Sofia’s voice was small and broken, twisting her heart. ‘Please take me home. I want . . .’

  Carrie didn’t hear the rest because Josh spoke over her.

  ‘I can tell that you still don’t trust me, trust my judgement – even though all I’ve done is try to help you and be there for you. I love you, Carrie. But it’s clear to me now that there’s only room in your heart for Sofia.’

  Then, at last, in the corner of her eye, the iPad flashed again, moving rapidly up and down, trying to flag her attention. When she saw what was written there, her stomach plunged.

  ‘Unpredictable, volatile!’ Wipe-scribble. ‘Convince him Sofia NOT a threat to your relationship!!!’

  Silence fell as Carrie struggled to digest this, to translate it into her own words. But before she could, Josh spoke again.

  ‘Come closer.’

  She swallowed. In three, maybe four paces, she would lose sight of Tara and the lifeline of messages. She took two steps towards him, then stopped, hoping that would be enough.

  No such luck.

  ‘Closer. I want to be able to see your face and hear your voice more clearly.’

  She took a deep breath and then moved towards him, feeling a bolt of panic as she passed beyond the wooden screen. She had lost her interpreter and her guide. She was on her own.

  Sofia was silent now, staring at her from above the clamped forearm, eyes wide with fear and confusion. What good did it do Carrie, being able to read this one face, if all it did was flood her with helpless pain?

  She lifted her gaze to Josh. His lower jaw was set slightly to the right, so that his teeth weren’t lined up properly. There was no point trying to guess what that meant; she didn’t have a clue. So instead she focused on Tara’s last message.

  Convince him Sofia NOT a threat to your relationship!!!

  He was watching her face and Carrie knew, in a rare flash of insight, that her next words would decide whether or not he let her daughter go.

  She couldn’t lie about her feelings; he would see right through that. But she could dig for the truths he wanted to hear.

  She moved a step closer.

  ‘You know what I loved about you from the start, Josh?’

  His eyebrows drew closer together, turning upward in the middle.

  ‘What?’

  ‘The way you were with Sofia. Not just the day you brought her back, but afterwards too. Your gentleness. How you made her laugh. I loved listening to your conversations with her, watching you read stories at bedtime. Seeing those things made me . . .’ She struggled to find the right words, feeling the pressure of his gaze, of her daughter’s frightened face. She couldn’t afford to get this wrong. She took a drag of air. Started again. ‘It may have seemed to you sometimes that Sofia got in the way of our relationship. But, in fact, the opposite is true. She deepened it. The feelings that I had for you at the beginning – attraction and an appreciation of shared interests – would never have evolved beyond that without her. She was the magic ingredient that transformed those ordinary things into something extraordinary. Into love. Sofia is the foundation on which my love for you is built. Without her, there would be no us.’

  His eyes were clamped on her face, mouth slightly ajar, one eyebrow a shade higher than the other, and she wished desperately that she had Tara’s screen to light her way, to tell her what it meant.

  Carrie’s whole life narrowed to this one point: standing in front of Josh, waiting to find out whether she had saved her daughter . . . or condemned her.

  He looked down at Sofia. Gave her a small smile. Then – slowly, carefully – withdrew his arm.

  And let her go.

  Carrie crouched down as Sofia raced into her arms, clinging tight, small hands locking around the back of her neck. The relief was so powerful it seemed to dissolve Carrie’s bones, making her legs feel watery.

  Josh watched them, smiling, the lamplight throwing down a wavering shadow of their embrace.

  ‘Shall we—’ he began. But she never found out what he was going to suggest. Because the words were cut short by a loud, clattering sound. She turned, pulse spiking, towards the source. Something was lying on the floor, just beyond the edge of the wooden screen. Carrie realised what had happened with an icy plunge of dismay.

  Tara had dropped the iPad.

  Thirty-seven

  ‘Sixteen minutes,’ Alistair said. They were deep in the countryside now, darkened fields surging past the windows.

  ‘Damn, this is taking too long. They’re at least twenty minutes ahead of us.’ Juliet called Carrie’s phone for what must have been the twentieth time. But, like Tara’s, it went straight to voicemail.

  She stared through the windscreen, at the black ribbon of road rushing to meet them. A bad feeling was creeping over her: a cold prickle that spread outward, until it covered her skin.

  Telling her that it was already too late.

  ‘Fifteen minutes,’ Alistair said.

  ‘Who’s there?’ Josh shouted. ‘Come out right now!’

  Tara bent to pick up the fallen tablet as she stepped out from behind the screen. When he saw who it was, Josh’s head reared back.

  ‘Tara! What the hell are you . . . oh Jesus, did you follow her here?’ He turned to Carrie, crouched down about halfway between the two of them with Sofia in her arms. ‘What did I tell you?! She’s obsessed!’

  Tara put a hand on her hip. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I didn’t follow her here. I came as a friend. To help.’

  ‘Really?’ His voice was quiet. He smiled at Tara with his lips closed. ‘Help in what way exactly?’

  Carrie looked back and forth between the two of them, trying to understand the emotional forces in play. Did a smile and a quieter voice indicate that Josh was calming down, becoming less angry? Her eyes moved to Tara, to see whether she responded with a smile of her own.

  She didn’t.

  ‘I’m helping her to interpret your reactions.’ Her mouth twitched to one side. ‘That’s good, isn’t it? You do want Carrie to understand how you think and feel . . . don’t you?’

  Josh stood frozen, his raised lamp stretching Tara’s shadow across the interlocking cubes of the rug she now stood on. Then he tilted his head.

  ‘And how, exactly, were you able to perform this great service to our relationship
while hiding behind the furniture?’

  Tara pressed a knuckle against her lip. Looked down at the iPad in her hand. Then back up at Josh.

  ‘You know what? I’ll show you.’ She jotted on the screen with her fingertip, showing him the resulting message (‘Puzzled, confused. Tell him how you really feel’).

  ‘See? I was just offering a bit of insight to . . . ease the flow of communication between you two.’

  ‘By flashing secret messages and keeping me in the dark? You’ll excuse me if I don’t thank you.’ He spun towards Carrie, making the lamplight swing wildly.

  ‘Seriously?! You’re letting her tell you what my voice and expressions mean? How can you not see that she only offered to do that so she could manipulate you, feed you misinformation?’ Sofia whimpered and Carrie lifted her up, holding her against one shoulder. Josh shook his head. ‘Let me guess: she told you I looked mad. Or maybe “dangerous” or “unstable”.’ Carrie’s breath caught. How could he have known that? ‘And you swallowed it all. Hook. Line. Sinker.’ His shoulders sagged as he sighed. ‘Look, maybe bringing Sofia here was an overreaction. And I am genuinely sorry to have worried you. But when I looked out the window and saw her with you . . . getting inside your head, convincing you to let her back in . . . I guess I panicked. But you have to believe that my only motive was to keep Sofia safe. And to be clear: by “safe”, I mean “far away from Tara”. Because I’ve pieced it all together, worked out exactly how she did it.’ He looked at Tara, addressing his next words to her. ‘It’s clever. I’ll give you that. Luring Sofia into the bushes, using a park vehicle to smuggle her out to your accomplice’s car. Then dashing back to the woods just in time to make a show of organising the search. Playing the good Samaritan while you bought your partner-in-crime enough time to get Sofia far away from the park before the police were finally called. If I hadn’t happened to pass that shed when I did, the poor girl would probably be in another country by—’

  ‘Shut up!’ Tara shouted. Even in the dim light, Carrie could see the spots of colour on her cheeks. The way her eyes glittered in the lamplight. ‘You can save your bullshit stories for the police, since they’ll be here any second.’