Every Little Breath: A Tense Psychological Thriller Full of Twists

To Casey’s relief, Psycho Steven, as Ricky had decided to nickname him, didn’t make contact on the Tuesday night show. She was already distracted enough after the almost kiss with Finn, and the last thing she needed was to be dealing with a creep as well. Given how much she had been dreading her show, it actually passed quickly, and while the music and adverts were playing, she updated Ricky on what had happened in Finn’s apartment.

She hadn’t planned on telling him, but he had picked up straightaway that something was up and had bugged her all through the drive to Mundesley to tell him. Finally, she had caved, partly to shut him up, but also because she wondered if having another perspective might help her figure out what the hell to do.

‘So he was the one that got away. But you still like him, right?’

‘Well, yeah, but he flusters me. I act like an idiot when he’s around.’

‘That’s because you love him,’ Ricky said, affecting a silly voice and Casey rolled her eyes, hushing him as the song that was playing finished. She spoke with her listeners for a couple of minutes, the whole time conscious that Finn might be among them, then lined up another couple of songs.

Ricky had made himself comfortable on the sofa, was lying on his back taking up Phoebe’s usual spot, his head propped up by a bright orange cushion and the beagle snoozing on his stomach as he played with her ears. As Casey pulled off her headphones, he glanced over at her, a thoughtful expression on his face.

‘You know, all these years later, it’s almost like fate you running into him again like this and this time you both being single. You’re gonna regret it if you don’t at least sleep with him.’

Casey chewed on that thought, the idea of having Finn’s hands all over her sending delicious shivers down her spine.

The request half hour was the segment she had really been dreading, but it came and went without incident, all of the requests coming in via text, and she was beginning to believe Steven really was just a crank caller who had been trying to push her buttons.

By the time she was into the last hour of the show, both Ricky and Phoebe were snoring on the sofa, and she was back to being on her own. She didn’t mind, though, knew she wasn’t actually alone and – snoring aside – she quite enjoyed the time with her own thoughts.

After shutting everything down, she woke Ricky, letting him take Phoebe out for a pee while she switched off all of the lights and locked up the building.

Outside, the night sky was bright with stars and a full moon, the sound of the waves lapping the beach cutting through the silence. Ricky was already unlocking his car, settling Phoebe onto the back seat as Casey went over to join them. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she spotted a figure standing on the road beyond the radio station car park and she blinked sharply, trying to focus. Although she couldn’t make out any features clearly, she was certain it was a man, and he appeared to be just standing there watching them.

‘Ricky?’ When he ignored her, still fussing with the dog, her whisper became an urgent hiss. ‘Ricky!’

‘What?’

‘There’s someone there.’

‘What are you talking about? Where?’

‘Don’t turn round. Just get in the car.’

Of course, Ricky being Ricky, he didn’t listen to her, straightening himself up and blatantly looking round the car park, before announcing loudly, ‘Well I don’t see anyone.’

Casey looked back over to where the figure was, her shoulders tensing when she realised he was no longer there.

That was all good and well, but where had he disappeared to?

‘He’s gone. Get in the car, I want to go.’

As Ricky ignored her, continuing to look around the car park, Casey opened the passenger door, climbed inside. Fair enough, it could have been someone completely innocent, maybe a late-night dog walker, but she hadn’t spotted a dog and it was 1.15am, which would make it really late for a dog walk. And whoever it was had been watching them. That was the bit that she didn’t like.

‘Can you just get in the car, please?’

‘Where was he? Let me go check it out.’

‘It doesn’t matter. He’s gone now.’ I hope. This wasn’t the time or the place for Ricky to decide he wanted to find his macho side. The walking stick put him at a clear disadvantage and also slowed him down. If anyone attacked him, he wouldn’t stand a chance. Not good when he was in possession of the car keys. Besides, she had seen enough scary movies and knew in this situation it was never a good idea to investigate. ‘Please, Ricky. I just want to go home.’

To her relief he finally stopped, hobbled back and got into the car, but Casey didn’t feel comfortable until the engine started and he pulled out of the car park onto the road. As the headlights swept ahead, over the area where she had seen the man, she couldn’t help but wonder what he had been doing standing outside the radio station in the middle of the night and where the hell he had suddenly disappeared to.

Her friends had taken it in turns to sit with her and Wednesday night Casey had Zoe for company. Tomorrow was her last show of the week and with neither Ricky nor Zoe available, Casey would have to tackle that one by herself, but at least for now she wasn’t alone.

She hadn’t seen Finn to speak to, and wasn’t inclined to go knocking on his door again in a hurry, so he didn’t know anything about the man she had seen, and as Wednesday wore on, she began to question if she had imagined seeing him, if perhaps she was still so shaken from Psycho Steven, that her mind was playing tricks on her. When Wednesday’s show also passed without incident and there was no sign of the man when they made their way over to Zoe’s car, Casey began to relax.

Psycho Steven had just been trying to scare her and the man she thought she had seen was almost certainly part of her overactive imagination. Yes, she wasn’t going to lie, for a while there she had been spooked, really spooked, but it seemed everything was going to be okay.

Little did she know how wrong she was.

She knew something was up the moment she opened her door to Finn on Thursday morning. This wasn’t a social visit. He was wearing a suit and a sober look on his face, dispensing with any pleasantries when he asked if he could come in, and declining her offer to make him a drink.

Casey had been working outside on her balcony, enjoying the morning sunshine, and although it was warm in her apartment, the sunlight streaming through the doors and windows, her skin was prickling with goosebumps and she rubbed at her arms subconsciously. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Can we sit down for a minute?’

He was back to being serious, no teasing smiles or lingering looks today, and that unnerved her. ‘I don’t want to sit. Whatever it is, just tell me.’

He huffed a little at that, but didn’t push the issue, kept his eyes on hers as he spoke.

‘We had a call from Suffolk Constabulary early this morning. A dog walker found a dead woman in an abandoned cattle shed late yesterday afternoon.’

He didn’t have to say the name for her to know who it was, but Casey murmured it anyway. ‘Saffron.’

‘We’re still waiting on a formal ID, but yes, I think it’s her.’

‘Did he do it?’ It was a loaded question, she knew that, but still, she had to ask.

‘It’s too early to say. The Major Investigation Team have taken over the case and they will be exploring that avenue. They’ll want to speak with you at some point, too.’

‘Are you part of that, this investigation team?’

Finn shook his head. ‘No, I work for CID, though Saffron was my case, so there will probably be some degree of involvement.’

Casey swallowed hard. He couldn’t confirm it, but they both knew it was his missing woman, Saffron, and that there was a good chance she had been murdered by the man who had called in to the radio show. After there had been no further contact from Steven, she had tried to convince herself that it had all been a sick joke.

‘How did she die? Can you tell me that?’

Either he wasn’t supposed to or he didn’t want her to know, because his reluctance was obvious.

‘Please,’ Casey pushed.

He hesitated for another moment, eventually nodded, though didn’t look happy about it. ‘This isn’t official yet, so I need you to keep quiet about it, but she was suffocated.’

‘A plastic bag?’

Finn neither confirmed nor denied. He didn’t need to. Steven’s threat had been true. Casey recalled his words.

You have one-and-a-half hours to find her. At 2.30am I will be taping a plastic bag over her head. She won’t have long then.

Her legs were unsteady and sickness roiled in her stomach.

If she dies before you get to her, it will be your fault… Only you can save her.

She hadn’t even tried. She had thought Steven was a freak, a crank caller.

No police, no friends, no family. You come alone.

Straightaway she had ignored his warning, calling the police.

If you call anyone, the plastic bag goes on sooner.

She had caused this. It was her fault the woman had died.

She dropped onto the sofa, needed to sit down before her legs collapsed. ‘I did this. It’s my fault she’s dead. He warned me not to call the police.’ Frustrated, she put her head into her hands, raked shaking fingers back through her hair. It immediately fell forward again.

The cushion dipped and she was aware of Finn sitting down beside her.

‘Hey, don’t do this.’ He brushed her hair back again, so he could see her face. ‘Listen to me. You did everything right.’

‘But it wasn’t enough. She’s still dead.’

‘Casey, look at me.’

When she ignored him, he cupped her face, gently turned her so she was facing him.

The steady blue of his eyes that had got her so worked up just a day ago now anchored her.

‘Tell me. What do you think you should have done differently?’

Casey considered her answer, had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it. ‘If I hadn’t called the police, I wouldn’t have spooked him. I had the riddle. Maybe I should have tried harder to solve it.’

‘We all had the riddle to work with and none of us were able to solve it. If it wasn’t for the woman who stumbled across her, it could have been days before we found her. You honestly think you could have figured it out sooner? Look, you were never meant to save her. I’m sorry if that sounds harsh, but he wouldn’t have dangled her there as a clue unless he knew he was going to win.’

‘I didn’t even try though.’

‘And if you had? Say you had solved the riddle all by yourself, what would you have done then? Please don’t tell me you would have considered going off to try and find her by yourself, because that would have been a pretty stupid thing to do and I would have been really pissed off with you.’

‘You were really pissed off with me anyway,’ Casey pointed out.

Finn narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Okay, that’s fair enough, but I would have been a whole new level of pissed off. You really wouldn’t have wanted that.’ The corner of his lip curved and she understood he was teasing her, trying to lift her mood. It was working. ‘You did exactly the right thing, Casey. You called the police. Yes, my ego was a little bruised that you didn’t call me, but I’ll get over that. And I want you to promise me that if this creep, Steven or whatever his name really is–’

‘Psycho Steven.’

‘You’ve given him a nickname?’

‘My friend, Ricky, has. I think it suits him.’

‘Okay, if Psycho Steven gets in touch again, I want you to promise me you will call the police, regardless of what threats he makes. Do we have a deal?’

Casey nodded, knew he was right, though she was really hoping that Psycho Steven wouldn’t call her again.

‘So this friend, Ricky. You guys are close, right?’

Was he fishing? Casey thought she could detect a note of jealousy in his tone. ‘He’s a really good friend. We go back a long way.’

‘I see. How did you meet?’

‘At a therapy group.’ Casey screwed up her nose. ‘I only went to shut my mum up.’

‘Therapy groups aren’t necessarily bad. They help a lot of people.’

‘Maybe. I wasn’t so sure and after two sessions I was toying with not going back, but then at the third session, Ricky walked in. He was a bit younger than me, really anxious about being there. I guess I was drawn to him from the start, but when he talked to the group about his dad’s reaction when he came out as gay, how he had beaten the shit out of him, I wanted to help him. I think those sessions did more for him than they did for me.’

‘Ricky’s gay?’

She was right. Finn had definitely been jealous. The relief on his face was palpable. Was it bad that she liked knowing she had provoked that reaction?

‘Yeah, had I not mentioned that before?’ she asked innocently, knowing full well that it hadn’t come up.

‘Is he going to the radio station with you again tonight?’

‘No, he can’t make it tonight.’

And Casey was dreading being there alone. She hadn’t told Finn that bit yet. Knew he wasn’t going to be happy. But what could she do? Ricky and Zoe were the only two friends she felt she could impose on and they both had plans. The idea of being by herself in the studio, especially after learning about this poor woman, Saffron, scared the shit out of her, but it was her job. She had to go.

‘So who will be there with you tonight?’

Damn it, Finn. Why did he have to ask?

‘Um… no one. I’ll be there alone tonight. Ricky and Zoe are both busy, and there’s no one else I can really ask.’

Finn’s scowl told her exactly what he thought of that idea. ‘Were you actually planning on telling me this at any point?’

‘I haven’t exactly had the opportunity.’

‘You promised me you would make sure you had someone with you each night.’

‘And I have. Ricky was with me Tuesday and Zoe did last night. What do you want me to do, Finn? They have their own lives and I can’t keep making them spend their evenings with me. I don’t really have anyone else I can ask.’

He studied her for a moment, frustration clear on his face. ‘I should be finished on time today. I’ll go with you.’

‘What?’

‘Your show starts at 10pm, right?’

‘Yes, it does, but honestly you don’t need to–’

‘I’m not letting you spend the night in the studio by yourself. Not after what happened to Saffron Pollard. Do you really want to be there alone?’

‘No,’ she admitted, though her heart was suddenly beating faster.

‘Then that settles it. Tonight I’m going with you, okay?’

‘Okay.’ And as relief warred with a fresh fluttering of the butterflies, Casey wondered what the hell she had just agreed to.