The Rebel: The new crime thriller that will have you gripped in 2018. Jaime Raven

was angry as well as shocked and my mother was a bag of nerves. Her reaction was completely understandable because the same message had been sent to her mobile, which had been on silent mode in her handbag. She discovered it only after I asked her to check the phone.

      To make matters worse I’d received calls from two colleagues informing me that their family members had also received the message.

      ‘I didn’t want to worry you,’ I said lamely. ‘And the gaffer ordered us not to tell anyone about it.’

      ‘But I’m not anyone, Laura,’ Aidan said. ‘I’m your partner and I have a right to know if my life is being threatened.’

      ‘But we can’t be sure it’s not just some vile prank,’ I said. ‘We therefore have to be careful not to create unnecessary alarm.’

      ‘So you and your colleagues decided that the best course of action was to keep quiet and ignore it.’

      ‘No, not at all. It’s being looked into to determine whether it’s a credible threat.’

      ‘And while you do that you think it’s all right to leave us in the dark. Is that it?’

      I didn’t answer, just stood there in the middle of the kitchen, the breath trapped in my lungs.

      ‘Well, whoever is behind it obviously knew that you wouldn’t tell us,’ he went on. ‘And the fact that they have our private numbers suggests to me that this is not the work of some harmless prankster.’

      I couldn’t disagree with him on that point so I didn’t try.

      ‘I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you about it,’ I said, looking from Aidan to my mother who was still sitting at the table twirling a hanky between her fingers. ‘I wish now that I had.’

      ‘So what should we do?’ my mother said, her voice cracking with emotion. ‘Is it going to be safe for us to carry on as normal?’

      ‘Of course it is, Mum,’ I said. ‘Lots of people make threats and most times that’s all they turn out to be.’

      My father’s face pushed itself into my thoughts suddenly and I wished he was here with us now. He’d know how best to handle the situation, how to respond to the genuine fears being expressed by my mother and Aidan.

      It was difficult for me because I was just as worried as they were, and just as creeped out by what was happening.

      Aidan had already asked me who we thought was responsible and I’d told him we had no idea. Now he jumped to his own conclusion.