The One You Fear by Paul Pilkington Read Free Book Online Page A

that someone knew where they were staying, and had arranged for those flowers to be delivered, with that message. It was just scary. And after what had happened at the theatre…
    Dan pointed at the onscreen map. ‘It’s only just down the road. We could be there in a few minutes.’
    Emma nodded. The shop was on the main road that snaked around the coast towards St. Ives, just before the big supermarket where they had stocked up with essential supplies on their arrival. It had been her idea to trace the shop’s location. The card had contained a company name on the back – Bella’s Bouquets – and as they hadn’t recognised the name, they’d assumed it was a local shop.
    She glanced at the clock on the wall. ‘It probably won’t be open for another hour, with it being Sunday.’
    ‘I thought so too,’ Dan replied, ‘but they’re open already. It says on their website.’
    ‘Okay, we’d better get ready then.’
    ‘Are you sure about this?’
    ‘Definitely – if there’s a chance of finding out who sent those flowers, I want to know. I’m tired of running away from these kind of people.’
     
     
    ***
     
     
    ‘Can I help you?’
    The lady behind the counter laid down a bunch of flowers that she was preparing, and took off her glasses.
    Emma prayed that she’d be receptive to their request. ‘I received a bouquet of flowers last night, from your shop, and I wondered if you could tell me who sent them.’
    The woman blinked at them for a second or two. ‘We don’t usually give out names. If the sender doesn’t request it to be on a card, then we assume they may want to remain anonymous.’
    This hadn’t started well. Emma tried a different tactic. ‘The message on the card, it was threatening.’
    The woman looked confused. ‘Threatening? We wouldn’t allow something threatening to be sent…’
    ‘It might not have seemed threatening to you. But it has a specific meaning for me.’
    ‘R-i-g-h-t,’ she said. She opened the large book on the counter and began to leaf through. ‘May I ask your name, please?’
    ‘Emma. Emma Holden.’
    The woman popped her glasses back on and traced down the page with her finger. ‘Emma Holden. You’re staying at the Sunset View apartments. “I’m still your number one fan”?’
    ‘I was stalked once by someone who used to say he was my number one fan,’ Emma explained.
    The lady looked troubled. ‘I see. And you think this is from him?’
    ‘No. He’s dead.’
    ‘Oh, right, well, how…’
    ‘It’s someone who knows about what happened, and is doing this to try and frighten me. I think they followed us last night, when we went to the Minack Theatre, and they had arranged for the flowers to be delivered for when we got back. That’s why we need to know who it is.’
    Emma wasn’t totally convinced that the person who had sent the flowers was also the sinister individual from the theatre toilets, but it was certainly a possibility, and she thought it strengthened her case for being given the name.
    The lady pursed her lips. ‘Don’t you need to speak to the police about this?’
    ‘We already did,’ Dan said. ‘Last night. They’re not interested.’
    That wasn’t quite true. They had called the police in the minutes after receiving the note. The officer on the phone had been sympathetic, and offered some general advice about minimising risks in the event that this really was something sinister – making sure they stayed together whenever possible, keeping their outer door locked, reporting anything else to them straight away. But the reality was that nothing concrete had happened. And without the police really understanding the context of their concerns, it was natural for their reaction to be lukewarm. That’s when Emma had the idea of finding out where the flower shop was.
    The lady looked at Dan, then at Emma, and back down at her book, tapping the page. ‘Okay,’ she said. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you. As I said, we don’t normally