Only Darkness

Only Darkness
Danuta Reah

Dark, edgy and unbearably tense, this extraordinarily accomplished first novel is both a love story and a gripping psychological thriller of immense power.Debbie Sykes is a young college lecturer whose ordered life is about to be changed forever. One stormy winter’s night, waiting for the late train home, Debbie is acutely aware of being alone – the woman who usually shares her evening vigil is not there. Vulnerability turns to fear, though, when she turns to see a sinister figure looming between her and the safety of the street. The next day, she hears that the missing woman has been found murdered by the man they call the Strangler, a brutal killer who dumps his victims on isolated stretches of railway track.The police renew their efforts to find the murderer before he strikes again, but how much time do they really have? When Debbie’s story is publicized by an unscrupulous journalist, it seems as though the jaws of an invisible trap are beginning to close around her – strange things start to happen and the foundations of Debbie’s life subtly shift. Only Rob Neave, ex-policeman and college security officer, appears aware of the danger but he is distracted by his own tragic past. The clock is ticking, and it will be midnight far sooner than anyone thinks.

DANUTA REAH

ONLY DARKNESS

Copyright (#ulink_8b5f0a60-9f45-5bfd-8be7-361dfc104188)

This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF

www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/)

First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublisher 1999

Copyright © Danuta Reah 1999

Danuta Reah asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks

HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication

Source ISBN: 9780006513155

Ebook Edition © OCTOBER 2016 ISBN: 9780007476558

Version: 2016-10-04

Dedication (#ulink_ecf9f5fc-d4cb-5c71-a0ae-21e8fb5795c0)

For my mother, Margaret Kot, who died

before this manuscript was accepted for

publication.

Contents

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Title Page (#u95fdf733-93a0-52d7-b03b-93926ad7a949)

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About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

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1 (#ulink_33a1c9c8-d680-5cf6-b323-f87ea6943082)

It was a Thursday in December, the night that Debbie saw the killer.

She had just finished her evening class and was on her way out of the college. It was late – about nine-thirty. The students had kept her talking after the class was finished, and by the time she had dumped her books in the staff room and grabbed her coat, Les Walker was standing in the entrance lobby waiting to lock up after her.

He jingled his keys as she approached and tapped his watch meaningfully. ‘Not got a home to go to?’

‘Doesn’t seem much point now,’ she said, looking at her watch in response to his gesture. ‘Sorry. Are you on again first thing?’ Debbie hated keeping people waiting. ‘Have I stopped you from going home?’

Les shook his head. He didn’t seem too put out. ‘No, it’s gone ten by the time we’re finished here. Got to check all the rooms on the top yet.’

He opened the heavy entrance door. A gust of wind pushed it in against him, and a spatter of rain hit the floor. ‘Wild night,’ he observed. ‘Got your car in the top car park? We’ve not locked it yet.’

‘No.’ Debbie looked apprehensively at the shiny dark of the pavement. ‘I’m on the train.’

‘You be careful then.’ Les was serious now. ‘Remember those girls …’

Thanks, Les, I needed that. ‘That was way over outside Doncaster.’