Closer: An Absolutely Gripping Psychological Thriller

by K. L. Slater

  Maisie’s distressed face flashes into my mind and I feel a spike slipping up through my torso, like a blade ripping out my innards.

  If she’s in there, hurting my daughter, I will kill her.

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Maisie

  ‘If you want to run away, I can help you. Maybe you should pretend to do it… hide out somewhere just for a few days to teach your mum a lesson,’ she said. Her face looked scary, sort of crazy. And she was standing in front of the door, so Maisie couldn’t walk out of the room.

  ‘My mum has done nothing wrong. It would kill her if I ran off,’ Maisie said, shaking her head. ‘Why do you hate her so much? Why do you hate me?’

  ‘Silly girl. I don’t hate you.’ For a moment she looked sad that that was what Maisie thought of her. ‘But your mum is to blame for all the misery in my life. I hate her, with all my heart.’

  A glint of something shone in her hand, and Maisie saw she had a knife.

  Maisie gasped and turned to run, but she grabbed her by the hair. Maisie screamed out.

  This didn’t make sense. How could this be happening?

  ‘My mum will tell the police!’

  She laughed. ‘The police aren’t interested in little girls who stop eating. Nobody made you do that; you did it to yourself.’

  ‘You told me I was fat. Ugly. You told me to cut down, to hardly eat, and the hunger pains would go away.’ Maisie’s eyes glittered with tears. ‘And they did. But something inside of me went away too.’

  Suddenly the door opened behind her and Maisie glimpsed Piper’s face. Her eyes widened and she closed the door again.

  ‘Beautiful, slim, talented Piper. No wonder your daddy loves her more.’

  ‘He doesn’t! Stop saying that. I’m his daughter, not her.’

  ‘Where did he choose to live? With Piper, or with you?’

  The door opened again and Maisie let out a sob, but the poisonous words continued in her ear.

  ‘Your mother killed my fiancé, did you know that? We were due to be married, had our whole life ahead of us. And now she has to pay for that.’

  ‘Maisie…’ a familiar voice said tentatively. ‘Are you OK, sweetie?’ Joanne stepped into the room and looked at Miss Diane. ‘What’s going on in here? Why is Maisie upset?’

  ‘I’m just talking to her, that’s all.’ Miss Diane smiled, moving the knife behind her back. ‘I think she needs help, Joanne. She’s talking about running away.’

  ‘No!’ Maisie dashed to Joanne’s side. ‘She’s lying! She’s been saying bad things to me for weeks.’

  ‘I’ve called your mum and left a message, she’ll be here soon.’ Joanne put an arm around Maisie’s shoulders. ‘I think it’s time for us to go. Step aside, please, Diane.’

  ‘You! You’re just as bad as her mother. You employed her after she killed Damian. I came here to get revenge; started the dance school expressly to get close to her. I won’t let anyone take justice for his death away from me.’

  ‘He broke the law, as well you know.’ Joanne ushered Maisie to the door just as it flew open. ‘We must work within the law, not outside it.’

  ‘Mum!’ Maisie bolted out of the door and into her mother’s arms.

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Emma

  I push open the door and fall into the room as Maisie rushes into my arms, sobbing.

  I see Joanne’s face, her features stretched and pale.

  Her mouth is moving but her words are deep and long, too distorted for me to make any sense of.

  I feel Maisie’s thin, warm body clinging to me and I wrap my arm around her shoulders while I sway with the effort of keeping upright. I feel… so… dizzy and sick, I…

  Maisie jumps away as I lash out at Joanne with my free arm, my hand making contact with her face. She staggers back, holding her cheek and then I turn, hearing a roar and fast movement to my other side.

  My eyes meet the dance teacher’s as she dashes forward and plunges the knife into my stomach, and in an instant, I just know.

  All this time, it was Miss Diane, not Joanne, who was trying to destroy my daughter.

  As Maisie’s screams grow increasingly faint around me, I slide into a dark, silent place.

  ‘Maisie…’ I whisper before my daughter’s small, frightened face fades away.

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Emma

  ‘You’ve lost a lot of blood,’ the nurse says gently when I open my eyes. ‘You’ve been sedated, so you’ll feel a bit groggy.

  She’s holding a tiny white cup and a glass of water. ‘It’s important you stay calm. No getting excitable.’

  I take the tablets obediently and settle back on my pillow. I still feel so very tired.

  ‘If you’re up to it, you have a visitor.’

  Joanne walks into the room and sits on the hard plastic chair at the side of the bed. The nurse smiles at her and leaves the room.

  ‘Shaun told me… you know about what happened on the boat,’ Joanne says.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I whisper, feeling ashamed at the scratch mark and bruise on her cheek. ‘Sorry I hit you and accused you.’

  ‘It’s OK,’ she says, reaching for my hand. ‘I should’ve faced up to all the stuff that happened to me, instead of trying to bury the guilt and pain.’

  I nod. I know how that feels.

  ‘You did me a favour, Emma. Forced me to face up to it.’ She looks down at her hands. ‘I know what the locals thought happened, but it was an accident. And that was the official verdict.’

  ‘I know.’ This woman was trying to protect my daughter when I last saw her. If she wanted rid of Maisie, then she could have just walked away.

  ‘The other partners at the firm have been fine with me. They’ve carried out an internal inquiry into the accident just for the record, but it’s cleared me. There’s not really much they could do even if they wanted to; there’s no evidence I did anything wrong.’

  She seems to be labouring the point and it’s a strange thing to say, I think.

  She holds up her left hand and shows off a sparkling diamond ring.

  ‘Shaun and I got engaged,’ she says simply. ‘He’s been worried about telling you, but I hope you’ll be happy for us.’

  ‘Congratulations,’ I say faintly. She saved me from the madwoman, hit her with a chair and called the police and ambulance, so I can hardly be trite about it.

  ‘Just before the police arrived, Diane told me she was the one who sent you the note and did all those mean little things at the house. Simply to unnerve you, torture you for revenge.’

  I shake my head slowly, hardly believing it.

  ‘She’s waited all this time?’

  ‘Set the dance school up especially to manoeuvre herself into a position to destroy you.’ Joanne confirms. ‘She said she knew it was time for her to act when the rumours started about you and Shaun breaking up because you’d be more vulnerable.’

  All this time I’ve blamed myself for Damian’s death, as Diane obviously has too.

  But now, it’s as though someone has shone a bright light of truth on what happened, and I understand that his decision to end his life was his own.

  I did the right thing, and his tragic actions were not my fault.

  ‘Where’s Maisie?’ I say hoarsely, keen to get off the subject. I’m embarrassed that I got it all wrong, and somehow I have to build a relationship with this woman who is soon going to become Maisie’s stepmother.

  ‘She and Shaun are outside, but I asked him to let me just have a few minutes with you first.’

  I look at her. She looks thin and pale and there’s a manic quality about her eyes today.

  ‘I care about Maisie, you know. I promised you at the beginning that I’d look after her, and I’ve stuck to my word. It’s been difficult, because in some ways you’ve tried to set her against me.’

  ‘I know.’ I stare at the ceiling. ‘And truly, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Are you feeling OK now? You ha
d a pretty impressive meltdown earlier.’

  I nod.

  ‘I can’t really remember much… just a lot of shouting.’

  Joanne glances at the door. ‘The nurse told me they sedated you, so you’ll be confused. I won’t keep you long, I just wanted to make sure we’re cool now. No more silly fall-outs. Our aim has got to be getting Maisie back to her former self.’

  I’m encouraged at the thought of my daughter regaining full strength.

  My mind returns to Damian.

  ‘He told me he’d make me pay for what I did one day, you know. When I least expected it.’

  Joanne nods. ‘And Diane carried out his threat. She wanted to drive you into a mental breakdown through worrying about your daughter. She told me she was abused as a child herself, forced to endure an eating disorder by her own mother. In her own twisted way, it seems like she actually thought she was helping Maisie.’

  I close my eyes, unable to process such skewed logic.

  ‘But the doctors say Maisie’s making great progress now, and you can rest assured we’ll look after her until you’re strong enough to come home.’

  ‘Thank you.’ I reach for her hand and squeeze it.

  Joanne bends forward and smiles. It’s a strange smile. I think the sedatives are still making me woozy. All her teeth look sharp and small.

  ‘I know… that you know,’ she whispers in my ear.

  I look at her, unsure what she means, and shake my head.

  ‘I pushed my husband’s daughter that day on the boat. Sent Bethany flying to her death.’ Her face is close enough to mine that I can feel her hot breath against my cheek. ‘She was a nuisance, making our lives difficult. Just like Maisie does now.’

  I drift a little, red and black colours swirling before my eyes, then jump as a tall figure looms to my right. It’s Shaun.

  ‘Mum!’ Maisie rushes in and sits on the bed to hug me.

  ‘Are you OK, Emma? You look as white as a sheet.’ Shaun frowns.

  ‘She’s sedated,’ Joanne says lightly. ‘A bit confused, too.’

  ‘She just said… I… take Maisie…’

  ‘Hush, Em, you need to rest,’ Shaun says softly. ‘You’ve had a terrible shock, no wonder you’re feeling confused.’

  ‘No! I don’t want…’ Their faces are fading.

  ‘Mum! We’re going to the coast,’ Maisie squeaks with excitement, pressing her face close to mine. Her eyes twinkle just a touch, and although her face is pale, she looks more like her old self. ‘Joanne is going to take me and Piper out… on a boat!’

  ‘No!’ They’re all merging into one, in and out, like the ebb of the tide around me. My own voice sounds strange, sort of far away.

  ‘Don’t worry, Emma.’ Joanne’s face hovers above mine as she bends down and kisses my forehead. ‘Maisie and I are much closer now. I’ll look after her, I promise.’

  If you were enthralled by this hair-raising read and are hungry for more then you will love THE SECRET, available now.

  Get it here!

  The Secret

  You turn your back for a minute. And now your son is in terrible danger …

  Louise is struggling to cope. As a busy working mum, she often has to leave her eight-year-old son Archie at her sister Alice’s flat.

  Alice and Louise used to be close. But there’s a lot they don’t know about each other now - like the bottle of vodka Louise hides in her handbag, Alice’s handsome new friend and the odd behaviour of her next-door neighbour.

  Archie is a curious little boy. He likes to play on his own at his auntie’s flat until one day when he sees something he shouldn’t. Now he has a secret of his own. One he can’t tell his mum. One that could put him and his family in terrible danger.

  The most gripping psychological thriller you’ll read this year from the top five bestselling author K.L. Slater. Perfect for fans of The Girl on the Train and Gone Girl.

  GET IT NOW!

  What readers are saying about K.L. Slater:

  'Omg! Slater is amazing! She is such a talented writer! Up to the very last page you will be shocked! Her cast of characters are so real!!!! Such a memorable book!... The end will have you gasping in disbelief! Whoa!!!!! 10 Stars!' Two Girls and a Book Obsession, 5 stars

  ‘One word - spectacular! This author gets better and better... This book had me on tenterhooks and there were times I forgot to breathe… She has exceeded the high standards she set in her previous books. Brilliant! An amazing, addictive, thrilling, unputdownable, fabulous read.’ Renita D’Silva, 5 stars

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  Also by K.L. Slater

  The Secret

  The Visitor

  The Mistake

  Liar

  Blink

  Safe With Me

  A Letter from Kim

  I do hope you have enjoyed reading Closer, my seventh psychological thriller. If you did enjoy it, and want to keep up to date with all my latest releases, please do sign up to my email list below to be sure of getting the very latest news, hot off the press! Your email address will never be shared and you can unsubscribe at any time. You can also connect with me via my website, on Facebook, Goodreads or Twitter.

  www.bookouture.com/kl-slater

  The idea for this book initially grabbed me because I am a mother myself. My daughter is a wonderful young woman now, but I can clearly remember her as a ten-year-old. Those pre-teen years are strange for a parent, I think. We see our young person growing, developing their own opinions and preferences, hopefully against the backdrop of parental guidance. And yet ultimately they are still very much a child and need protecting.

  Life has a funny way of throwing challenges and complications at us, and I got to thinking about how, if parents are distracted with their own problems, it might be surprisingly easy to take your eye off the ball briefly. Just long enough for a negative influence to sneak in and turn your child’s life upside down.

  As adults, we like to put the past in a box, control it as we see fit. Sometimes there are happy memories, sometimes events best forgotten. It’s a constant source of fascination to me how the past has a bearing on our present, and although we like to think we can set previous bad experiences aside, they have a nasty habit of resurfacing just when we could most do without them.

  Another occurrence that contributed to Closer was that I happened to watch an emotional interview with a pre-teen girl and her mother who, happily, had survived the child’s anorexia and emerged from the other side stronger and chatting openly about their experience.

  One thing I took from their interview and from subsequent research on anorexia in young people was that parents very often have an inbuilt alarm when it comes to ‘just knowing’ something isn’t right with their child. Doctors and friends and family may cast doubt because clear, measurable evidence isn’t always there, particularly at the beginning of an eating disorder. It’s often the pure gut feeling of a parent who refuses to rest that gets to the truth of what is happening in their son or daughter’s life.

  I chose to explore the mother–daughter bond in writing Closer. I do hope you enjoyed taking the journey with me.

  If you would like more information about or help with any of the issues covered in the book, there are many excellent resources that can be accessed by searching online.

  Closer is set in Nottinghamshire, the place I was born and have lived all my life. Local readers should be aware that I sometimes take the liberty of changing street names or geographical details to suit the story.

  Reviews are so massively important to authors. If you’ve enjoyed Closer and could spare just a few minutes to write a short review to say so, I would so appreciate that.

  Until Book 8, then…

  Warmest wishes,

  Kim x

&nb
sp; www.KLSlaterAuthor.com

  The Visitor

  A psychological thriller with a breathtaking twist

  Order now!

  Everyone has a secret in their past.

  Everyone pretends to be something they’re not.

  But someone is always watching… and that someone is closer than you think.

  Holly returns to her home town after some time away – she has been through something terrible and now she needs a safe haven in which to recover, and to plan the rest of her life. She finds a room in a quiet and leafy suburban street, in the home of Cora Barrett.

  David lives next door to Cora Barrett and he sees everything that happens on Baker Crescent. David stays at home, and he watches: he likes to feel safe and he doesn’t like to leave the house. He wants to keep his friends and neighbours safe too. So he observes them, and he records every tiny detail of their lives, just in case the information is ever needed.

  Both lonely and vulnerable, Holly and David gradually begin to strike up a friendship. But Holly can’t shake the feeling that someone from her past might have tracked her down. And David is always watching… But uncovering the secret that could save his new friend and neighbour could be the one thing that destroys him.