The Girl Who Walked in the Shadows. Marnie Riches

the face was familiar.

      ‘You!’ George said, scrutinising the woman’s pinched features, barely concealed by the hood of an old, soiled parka.

      The woman’s blue eyes were sharp, focused on her goal. ‘If you want the laptop back, I need a thousand in cash.’

      George grabbed her arm, pulling her close so that she could smell the woman’s stale breath. No alcohol on it. She smelled thirsty and of sore throat. ‘You been stalking me? Have you been to my fucking place in Cambridge. Was it you?’

      ‘No,’ the woman said. ‘But I know where your laptop is. You can have that and the stick back. Intact. For a thousand in cash. I’ll come to your aunts. Call the police, and I’ll make sure it’s destroyed.’

      ‘But … I haven’t got—’

      The woman dug her fingernails into George’s hand, so that she was forced to let go of her. Nostrils flaring, she had the desperate, haunted look of someone who was standing right at the edge of life and sanity.

      ‘A thousand by the end of the week, or you can wave goodbye to your research.’