The Shadow Man Read online

  THE SHADOW MAN

  Helen Fields

  Copyright

  Published by AVON

  A division of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

  1 London Bridge Street

  London SE1 9GF

  www.harpercollins.co.uk

  HarperCollinsPublishers

  1st Floor, Watermarque Building, Ringsend Road

  Dublin 4, Ireland

  First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

  Copyright © Helen Fields 2021

  Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2021

  Cover photographs © Jane Morley/Trevillion Images (main image), Tim Robinson/Trevillion Images (shadow of man)

  Helen Fields asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

  A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.

  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.

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable 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.

  Source ISBN: 9780008379308

  Ebook Edition © February 2021 ISBN: 9780008379315

  Version: 2020-12-25

  PRAISE FOR HELEN FIELDS

  ‘Read it in two sittings. I literally had no choice. A fast and enthralling thriller’

  Paul Finch

  ‘Watch out Rebus, McRae and Perez, there’s a new detective in the running to become Scotland’s fictional top cop … a real cracker of a page-turner that is truly difficult to put down’

  Scotland Correspondent

  ‘Deliciously dark and gritty. Another winner from the hugely talented Helen Fields’

  Caroline Mitchell

  ‘Must read! With nail-biting twists at every turn, this will have readers gripped from start to finish’

  Closer

  ‘Compelling, breathtaking and a tense ride from that unbelievable opening scene right to the last word. Brilliant!’

  Angela Marsons

  ‘A tightly plotted tale of obsession and manipulation’

  Woman

  ‘An edge-of-the-seat thriller from this accomplished writer’

  Isabel Ashdown

  ‘Without a doubt, this is one of the best first detective series I have read’

  Woman’s Way

  ‘Utterly compelling and dizzyingly twisted, with characters so real they could step off the page’

  B P Walter

  PRAISE FOR THE SHADOW MAN

  ‘The Shadow Man is so chilling. With a dark, compelling plot and brilliantly drawn characters, you will be hooked from the first page’

  Debbie Howells

  ‘The Shadow Man is a terrifying police procedural, packed with suspense and a killer from your worst nightmares. A truly unique protagonist pitted against a chilling killer, it was hard to put this book down until the very end’

  Vicki Bradley

  ‘Atmospheric writing, breath-taking pace and fascinating characters. I loved it’

  Suzy K Quinn

  ‘A VERY dark read! Complex, intriguing characters, a compelling plot and good dynamics between partners make this a standout read of the year so far’

  NetGalley Review, 5 stars

  ‘From the first page to the last, this story grabs you and doesn’t let you go. An absolute page-turner of a book and spine tinglingly brilliant! Set against the backdrop of Edinburgh, the characters and the city literally come alive on the page. You feel every emotion the characters go through’

  NetGalley Review, 5 stars

  ‘This is the best book I have read for quite a long time. It kept me hooked throughout and although I’ve enjoyed all of Helen’s books, I think this surpasses her others – which takes some doing’

  NetGalley Review, 5 stars

  ‘Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Brilliant storytelling with a cracking pace’

  NetGalley Review, 5 stars

  ‘This is a standalone novel from Helen Fields – whose Perfect detective series I LOVE – and golly, it is clever. It is quick, and it is shocking in some areas – but the depth of research and quality of writing is exceptional’

  NetGalley Review, 5 stars

  ‘A five-star read! A brilliant new character in Dr Woolwine and also a very creepy villain. I like the way a character from the brilliant DI Callanach series is in the book also. Would love to see this as a new series’

  NetGalley Review, 5 stars

  Dedication

  For Caroline Hardman

  Funny, talented, kind and (thankfully) extremely patient

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Praise for Helen Fields

  Praise for The Shadow Man

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Acknowledgements

  Keep Reading …

  About the Author

  By the same author

  About the Publisher

  Prologue

  From a distance, the grave appeared freshly dug and empty. To the birds overhead though, vision sharp enough to spot the briefest wiggle of worm or skitter of insect, an older coffin was visible in the depths of the hole. Time had rotted the wooden lid. Time, and the pressure of another coffin stacked on top of it. A family grave stores both more memories and more bodies than a single resting place.

  This hole in the ground, if earth could tell tales, would be fit to burst with stories. Of bodies come and gone. Of hope and disappointment. Of dirt disturbed more often than any resting place should ever have to bear. Few visitors attended that sombre space, and those who did had not ventured to the far edge for many years. The cemetery was ancient and unused to new requests for burials. It stood beyond the outer limits of the city, in a circle of trees that kept prying eyes out and the spirits of the dead in.

/>   One man came and went as needed. He visited a grave there – and sometimes brought others with him. He would sit in the grass and talk to a gravestone, listening intently, as if waiting for a response. Sometimes he would dig a coffin up, and sometimes he would bury it. Always the same one. Half the time, there was a soul to inter. Sometimes, more than one. Months later he would reappear. Then he would clear out the coffin. Place new flowers at the gravestone. Put away the remains in the boot of his car, after careful stripping and cleaning. Drag the coffin into the bushes and fill the hole in the earth.

  The birds did not sing on the days he appeared there. No rodent ran through the grounds or hopped from tree branch to tree branch. The sun hid behind clouds. The world seemed to know more tears were to be shed. Now, the uppermost section of the family grave stood empty again. Merely a matter of waiting for the space to be occupied. Time stood still here, the same ritual repeated, until the grave was little more than a revolving door between one world and the next.

  Chapter One

  A sleeping woman watched over by the stranger who had hidden for hours in the shadowed bay of her bedroom curtains. That’s all there was to the scene. He was a spider, patient and unmoving, poised to drop and stun his prey. There was no malice to it. Only need. The white sheet covering her body rose and fell with each breath in the oblivion of slumber. Three steps forwards and he could reach out and touch her, run his hands through her long dark hair, press the half moon of his fingernail into the dimple that punctuated her right cheek as she smiled. His arms would wrap around her frame perfectly.

  In his mind, he’d measured every part of her. Twice, he’d passed by close enough to brush her body with his, once in the street, once in the school playground. The latter was a risk, but it had proved fruitful. In the beginning, he’d been concerned that the watching phase might be dull. How wrong he was. Familiarising himself with the lives of the ones he’d chosen had become his oxygen as the rest of his world had started to fade.

  He ran appreciative fingers over the top of the dresser at his side. No dust. No sticky fingerprints from the children. Angela was all wife, mother, and homemaker. Her bedroom was the epitome of family. Photographs adorned the walls. A wedding, more than a decade ago, with a bride leaning into the arms of her groom, her dress demure, hair pinned up with just a few curls left hanging. A promise for later that night, Fergus thought.

  It had taken months of patience to find a time when her husband would be away, then he’d struck gold. The man of the house had treated the children – a boy of seven and a girl of five – to a camping trip for a night, enjoying Edinburgh’s idyllic August. The husband couldn’t have realised it, but the experience would be good practice. After tonight, he would be a single parent unless he married again. Fergus couldn’t imagine why anyone would try to replace Angela. She was everything.

  Each morning she walked her children to school, the boy racing ahead, sometimes on a scooter, while the girl held fast to her mother’s hand. He liked to watch them all together. Angela’s face wore an indelible smile when she was with her offspring. He’d never seen her looking tired or cross. In all the hours, all the journeys he’d witnessed, she hadn’t rolled her eyes, yawned or snapped at them. In the photos on the bedroom walls, she was not just a parent but utterly engaged in the act of parenting. He studied those pictures one last time, committing each to memory. There she was hugging her son as he clutched some sports trophy, and there she was laughing as she made cupcakes with her daughter, beaming with love. And there they were as a family on their bikes, pausing as a passerby took their photograph, defining togetherness.

  Fergus had been in that bedroom before. He’d taken pieces of her home with him. A silky soft shirt from the laundry basket. A lipstick from her handbag. Nail clippings from her bathroom, still showing the colour of her toenail varnish. There was a whole section dedicated to her in his own bedroom, and a file. Paper, not digital. He was ill, not stupid. Computers could be hacked. The information he’d gathered was from the real world. Her date of birth and marriage certificate had been obtained from official records. He knew where she shopped, which doctor’s surgery she attended, who her friends were. A timeline constructed from his labours provided an accurate structure of her week.

  Her kitchen bin was an endless source of intelligence. She rarely chose precooked meals or processed foods, preferring fresh fruits and vegetables. There were no magazines, but the odd newspaper was recycled. Angela liked hard soap bars rather than liquid soap dispensers. And she was on the pill. The discarded wrapper from the previous month was in his file, too. No more children planned, for now at least. She was content.

  Edging closer to the bed, he breathed in her scent. She’d bathed before slipping between the sheets. He’d been in the house long before that. Easier to allow her the reassurance of checking each window and door, believing that anything that might do her harm was safely beyond the boundaries of her home. As she’d soaked in the steaming water, lavender bubbles caressing her skin, he’d made sure her curtains were drawn and taken the keys from the lock in the back door. No point taking chances. If she got spooked or surprised him and ran, he couldn’t allow her to exit the property.

  When all was secure, he’d sat outside her bathroom door and listened to her humming. He’d imagined her running the pale green flannel up and down her arms, her legs, between her breasts and around the back of her neck. He’d waited as she’d read the book he’d noticed on her bed, resting on a freshly laundered towel and her dressing gown. When he’d heard the cascade of water that signalled her standing, he’d shifted position into the window alcove, behind her curtains, focusing on breathing silently and remaining still. There were windows open in the upstairs bedroom to allow some of the cooler night air in, and he’d planned to close those once she was sleeping soundly. If she screamed, the noise would travel out into the crescent, and her neighbours would be alerted. Fergus couldn’t allow that to happen.

  Now, she was right in front of him. So much hard work had brought him to this moment, he almost couldn’t bear for it to end. Until he looked in the mirror. Hung on the end wall of the bedroom, opposite the window, it reflected Angela’s pretty head on her pillow, and the man looming over her. While her hair was gleaming and vibrant, his harshly shaven mat was greying prematurely, thinning more than anyone in their late thirties should have to tolerate. His eyes were pale in the scant light that entered from a streetlamp beyond the curtains, but he could still make out their watery blue, surrounded by creases of red on white. But it was his skin that told the real story. A greener shade of white. Waxy, sallow, wanting.

  Fergus Ariss was dying.

  However long he had left, there was insufficient time to achieve everything. He’d dreamed of travelling. In his twenties, he’d had a world map on his wall. The idea was to scratch off a section of chalky paint every time he took a trip. A school visit to France had offered one country beyond the United Kingdom’s borders, then came a friend’s stag weekend in Amsterdam. He’d always wanted to go to the USA. To explore Peru. The Great Wall of China was his ultimate goal. Now, he had to fulfil all of his dying wishes in Scotland. Even the borders were too far to cross at this stage.

  His body had betrayed him. There was nothing the doctors could do, in spite of their protestations that he should let them assist. He could smell the rot of his own body. No herb or spice could mask the taste of death in his mouth. There was pain and grief, then there were moments of clarity when he understood that death would be a release. Months of hospital treatment weren’t the answer. Prolonging life regardless of the quality of that time was nothing more than fading away. He didn’t want to fade any more than he already had. He wanted to blaze a trail into the next life. But there was so little time, and so much left to do. Starting with Angela.

  After creeping around the end of the bed and slipping off his shoes, he slid his body weight gently onto the mattress. A smile flitted across Angela’s face as his body joined hers. He fitted
behind her like a puzzle piece, and she murmured as he slid his arm over her waist, pushing his face gently into her neck and breathing the scent of her shampoo. She was so warm in his arms. So soft. Destined for him.

  Then she woke, took a breath sharp enough to push Fergus’ chest from her back, and every muscle in her body seized. She jolted, but he’d been ready for it. He squeezed his arm around her, dragging her backwards into him, snaking his free hand under her neck and over her mouth.

  ‘It’s all right,’ he whispered. ‘Angela, you have to trust me. I’m not here to hurt you.’

  She tried kicking, going for his shins with her heels, but the sheet hampered the force of her movements, and Fergus shifted his right leg on top of both of hers. Her breath was hot and wet in his hand, and her head was a wild creature whipping left and right. He waited it out. There were no surprises. He’d played the scenario out in his head hundreds, maybe thousands, of times. In his pocket was a handkerchief, and on it was a carefully measured dose of chloroform. There were things he wanted to do with Angela, and those things required her not to fight him. Fergus wanted her pristine.

  ‘Let it out,’ he said. ‘I know you’re scared and confused, but I chose you.’

  Angela heaved forwards, rolling her mouth hard onto his fingers and biting down. Fergus tried to keep his grip on her, but his hand betrayed him. His fingers shot out straight and his wrist flicked backwards, giving Angela the space to bend her head forwards then smack it backwards into Fergus’ face, the rear of her skull a true weapon, splitting Fergus’ nose from between his eyes to below the bridge. The pillow became a mess of bloodied hair. He couldn’t see, and his face was a mask of agony. Only his right arm and leg remained steadfast, holding her in place. She spat, and a chunk of something warm and soft landed on his hand as he pinned her to the bed. The flesh was from his finger, he realised as he rolled her onto her back and slid his body on top of hers before she could attempt an escape.

  ‘’S all righ’, lemme help you,’ he muttered.

  Blood droplets from his face burst juicily as they hit hers. Angela began to sob.