Every Little Breath: A Tense Psychological Thriller Full of Twists

Saturday brought with it grey skies and July showers and Casey woke up in a mood that matched the weather, brought on by a hangover and too little sleep.

Liam had arrived later than intended, held up by an accident during the last stretch of his journey, and after eating and catching up, she had stayed up until gone midnight as she finished packing and emptying the second bottle of wine they had opened while Liam had crashed and burned, snoring loudly on the sofa. When she finally climbed into bed, sleep had evaded her, her mind returning to the uncomfortable encounter with Julie Noakes. It had been gone two when she finally drifted off into a restless dream-fuelled slumber.

She woke to the sound of Liam singing loudly and badly in the shower, then heard a lot of bashing and banging coming from the living room. God help her brother, he had never been quiet. He had obviously set Phoebe off too, as she was barking excitedly.

Casey groaned, pulled the pillow over her head, wanting just another five minutes of sleep. She didn’t get it though, as her mobile vibrated and a WhatsApp message pinged through.

She ignored it for a minute, before giving in to see who it was.

Zoe.

Be there in half an hour. I’m picking Ricky up then we’ll do a Maccy D’s breakfast run on the way as I’m guessing you’ve packed everything away. xxx

Almost everything. Casey had left out a box of cereal and there was some long-life milk, but the idea of McDonald’s was far more appealing to her rumbling belly. She sent a message back.

This is exactly why you are my best friend. I would kill for a bacon and egg McMuffin. Better get Liam one too. See you in a bit. xxx

She was about to put down the phone when she spotted she had a notification on Messenger. It must have come through while she was still asleep. Opening it, she saw it was from her eldest brother, Nick.

Hey, trouble. Is today move day?

Casey fired a message back.

It is. Liam’s here. At least one of my brothers came back to help me. ?

She waited a beat, grinning at the screen. Saw his next message flash through.

Ha ha. I’m sure super bro has got it covered. Are they letting you practise your jokes on your radio show?

Always the tease. She played along.

Why do you think they gave me the graveyard shift?

Watched the dots bouncing as he typed his reply.

Fair point. Seriously, though, you’re doing great. I’ve listened to a couple of your shows online. When I come back later this year we’ll celebrate.

That would be nice. Casey missed him. Nick had moved to Australia six years ago and she had only seen him a handful of times since he had gone. She told him that she missed him then set down the phone, went to get in the shower.

Liam was leant against the counter, munching his way through a bowl of the Shreddies she had left out when she entered the kitchen fifteen minutes later.

‘Nice of you to put in an appearance,’ he greeted her through his mouthful.

‘Nice of you to fall asleep on me last night and leave me to finish packing,’ Casey retorted.

‘Hey, who was the loving brother who drove seven hours to help you move?’

True. Casey didn’t comment on that, though, knew he would be lording it over her for the next year anyway. Instead, she eyed the bowl he was eating from, knowing Liam wasn’t a huge cereal fan. ‘Enjoying your breakfast?’

‘It tastes like cardboard. Want a bowl?’

‘No thanks. Zoe and Ricky are stopping at McDonald’s.’

Liam pouted. ‘Now you tell me.’

‘I’d better message them and tell her to bring one less McMuffin.’

‘Don’t. I have a big appetite.’

Casey knew he did. Watched as he stopped eating and put the bowl down in front of Phoebe.

‘Hey, I’m about to feed her.’

‘She’s worked up an appetite too. I took her out for you, by the way. Another favour to add to the list.’

‘Thank you,’ Casey told him, and meant it. She really didn’t have the time or energy to walk Phoebe this morning and it was one less thing on her to-do list. Plus she was worried about running into Julie Noakes again.

She hadn’t told Liam that she had bumped into Julie, knew he would go into overprotective big brother mode.

Nothing had happened. Julie had seemed as shocked as Casey and, while the meeting had been uncomfortable as hell, it hadn’t been confrontational.

Casey was moving. If Julie had returned to Norwich, chances were they wouldn’t run into one another again, and that was for the best. Julie Noakes had been innocent in everything that had happened, as had Casey. Neither of them had asked for this divide.

Phoebe’s barking and the intercom buzzer sounding, signalled Zoe and Ricky’s arrival, pulling Casey from her thoughts. Seconds later her two best friends were walking through the front door, Zoe with far too much energy for a Saturday morning, waving paper bags in the air, while Ricky followed, leaning on his walking stick and grumbling about the early start.

Zoe had brought her husband, Joe’s, work van and once the McMuffins were demolished, she helped Casey and Liam to load the two vehicles, while Ricky supervised.

Casey knew it frustrated him that he couldn’t help with the physical work and in truth, there wasn’t much he could do, but he had insisted on being here, wanting to be a part of her big moving day, and she would try to include him as much as possible.

By the time the estate agent called to tell Casey the keys were ready for collection, they had just about finished.

Liam, Zoe and Ricky drove ahead to Coltishall and were parked outside Kimberley House when Casey pulled up a short while later.

She studied the old Georgian building, bathed in light from the sun that had finally decided to make an appearance, still unable to believe this was her new home. It was certainly a step up from where she had been living, and the large house sat in a couple of acres of lush parkland, not far from the river. While the city centre would no longer be on her doorstep, the quietness would be a novel experience. Fewer emergency sirens and no more drunken revellers passing beneath her window when she was trying to sleep.

She had thought carefully about her decision before leaving the city, was certain she had made the right call. Phoebe had been a big factor and it helped that the building was pet friendly. There were so few flats and apartments that were willing to accept animals these days.

The building was divided into ten units and Casey was on the top level, in part of the converted attic. It was slightly smaller than the other apartments, though still bigger than what she was used to, and didn’t have a private garden like those on the ground floor, but the slightly more affordable price tag had meant it had just been, with a little bit of stretching, within her budget.

She wondered what her neighbours were like, hadn’t bumped into any of them on the two occasions she had been to view the property. Over the five years she had lived in her old flat, she had got to know most of the other tenants and, while a few of them had their quirks and some of them could be grumpy, most were friendly enough, and she had appreciated the sense of community spirit. Would the people she was sharing this building with be welcoming or did they all keep to themselves?

Glancing up at the top floor and the window she knew was her bedroom, she froze, spotting a face just behind the glass staring back at her.

Someone was in her apartment.

Her mouth was dry as she blinked, took a step forward trying to get a clearer view. But whoever it was moved back into the shadows. Her eyes caught a flicker of movement, then there was nothing.

‘Casey?’

She jerked her head, aware Zoe was yelling at her. Her friend stood by the van, arms hugging a large box and a frown on her pretty face.

‘What?’

‘I was talking to you and you were ignoring me!’

‘I never heard you.’

‘That’s because you were in a daydream staring at your lovely new home. Now come on, keys. I want to get the kettle unpacked so we can have a coffee.’

‘I thought I saw someone.’

‘Who?’

‘In my apartment, there was a face at the window.’

Zoe’s eyes narrowed as she marched over, the box making her movements clumsy. She paused beside Casey, dumped the box down and glanced up, one hand shielding her eyes.

‘I don’t see anyone.’

‘That’s because whoever it was has gone.’

‘Or maybe you imagined it. You have the keys, right?’

‘Yes.’

‘So we’ll see if the door is unlocked when we go upstairs.’

‘And if it’s not?’

‘It’s an old building.’ Zoe wrinkled up her nose. ‘Maybe you have a resident ghost.’

She nudged Casey with her elbow before picking up her box. ‘Come on, let’s get upstairs. Coffee. I’m gasping here.’

Casey nodded, stared up at the window again. Had she imagined it?

She glanced at the two vans, where Ricky was busy telling Liam how best to unload everything, noting the scowl on her brother’s face, and worried that the pair of them would come to blows soon.

Best to get Ricky in the lift and up to her apartment, out of Liam’s way. Ignoring the tiny chill that ran down her spine, she shouted to him that they were going upstairs, then followed after Zoe.

It was late when Zoe and Ricky left, the sky a pretty canvas of mauves and oranges as the sun disappeared. While Ricky was put on coffee duty, Casey, Liam and Zoe had worked hard, unpacking boxes and finding a home for everything, erecting shelves, hanging curtains and putting her big wrought-iron bed together. Casey had treated them all to a takeaway curry when they were finished and began clearing away the dirty plates and empty containers after waving her friends off. Liam, who was staying for one more night before his drive back, had volunteered to walk Phoebe again and she was glad to have twenty minutes to herself to take in her new home.

The open-plan style of the apartment suited her and she liked having one spacious room which served as a kitchen, diner and living area. Aside from the bedroom and bathroom, which led off down a hallway, the only other closed-off space was a cupboard.

Open spaces made Casey feel safer as there were less places to hide. She knew only too well that monsters existed.

Which led her mind back to the face she had seen at her bedroom window.

The apartment had been locked and as far as she was aware, she had the only sets of keys, other than the building’s owner, who didn’t live on-site. It made no sense, yet she was certain she had seen someone. A quick sweep of the apartment had revealed it to be empty, but still it niggled, to the point where she had eventually admitted to Liam what she thought she had seen.

He had taken her more seriously than Zoe, but after a quick search round, she could see the doubt on his face too.

There was no way someone could have been inside. It had to have been a trick of the light or something. Either that or she was losing her mind.

Gathering up the takeaway bags, she let herself out of her apartment, careful to lock the door behind her. There was just one other resident on this floor and as she stared down the hallway past the lift at the closed front door, she wondered who occupied it.

The thought remained with her as she went downstairs to get rid of the rubbish. Although they had used the lift to bring her boxes up, Casey planned to mostly rely on the stairs, figuring it would all be good exercise. As she headed down to the ground floor, she told herself she was being stupid even considering that it could have been her new neighbour at the window. Whoever lived there wouldn’t have keys to her apartment and why would they want to be in there anyway? The place had been empty.

Perhaps she should knock on the door, introduce herself to whoever lived there. Once she had a name and a face, the whole thing would seem less sinister. Plus, it would be nice to know who she was living next door to.

She glanced at her watch, saw it was gone nine o’ clock. Too late really to knock and if she wanted to make a good first impression she would be better to wait until the morning.

As she was making her way back up to her apartment, was about to head up the final flight that led to the attic, a creak of the floorboards had her head jerking around.

A sandy-haired man appeared behind her, making her jump.

Initially, he looked a little startled himself, but then he smiled at her wide-eyed expression. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.’

‘You didn’t. Well, okay, maybe a little bit,’ she elaborated when his smile widened further. ‘I didn’t see you there.’

‘I know.’

He continued to stare at her, the smile not slipping and the moment passed from a pause in conversation to an uncomfortable silence, which Casey attempted to fill.

‘I guess you live here. I’m your new neighbour. I just moved in upstairs.’

He nodded at that, still didn’t speak, still kept smiling. His sandy hair was thinning on top she noticed, his light-brown eyes were too close together, and there was a dubious stain on his pale-coloured jumper.

‘I’m Casey.’

She automatically held out her hand, regretted it almost immediately.

Although she couldn’t quite place what exactly, there was something creepy about this man, and she didn’t really want to make physical contact with him. It would be rude to withdraw her hand, though, and she tried not to grimace when his soft, cool fingers wrapped around hers.

When he didn’t let go, didn’t offer his name, she prompted, ‘And you are?’

‘Rupert. Number seven.’

Casey faked a smile, yanked her hand free. ‘Well, it’s lovely to meet you, Rupert. I’m sure I’ll see you around.’

‘You will.’

She backed away a little too sharply, almost losing her footing when her heel caught the bottom step. Keeping the smile plastered on her face, she turned and hurried up the stairs, not looking back, but certain he was still watching her. As she reached the top hallway, she glanced back down, saw she was right. And when he realised she had seen him watching, he raised his hand, gave a creepy little wave.

‘Bloody weirdo,’ she muttered to herself under her breath, as she unlocked the door, bolting it again once she was inside her apartment.

She made a mental note to herself. Avoid the neighbour in number seven.