Page 72 of The Taskmaster

“Do you know the lady who lived there very well?”

“She kept herself to herself, but we know she had financial troubles. If you ask me, she did it for the insurance...”

Abigail picked up her TV remote and switched if off. Then, she dropped the remote on the sofa beside her and ran her hands over her face in bewilderment. I don’t know why she looked so worried. The guy speaking on the TV said he thought the homeowner had set fire to the cottage herself. They probably thought she’d done a runner, too. I knew that wouldn’t hold weight for long. They’d see she hadn’t accessed her bank accounts soon enough and assume she was dead, but without a body, they were fucked. It was a win-win for us, whatever way you looked at it.

Abigail stood up, sat back down, and then she started scrolling through her phone, and I knew she needed a distraction. She didn’t know what to do with herself.

So I fired off a text.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

ABIGAIL

Ifelt lost. I was torn between following my head and my heart. My head told me I should go to my parents or even hide away completely. Go somewhere they couldn’t find me. But my heart said, ‘You’ve come this far, Abi. Don’t fall at the final hurdle. You’re so close to this all being over.’

But when would it be over?

And how the fuck was this going to end?

Because, when all was said and done, I’d started this without thinking about that. It was a situation I was dreading. He was targeting my work. He knew where I lived. He wanted me gone. I was a loose end that’d come out of the woodwork, and now, he wanted to wipe me out for good.

Dread pulled on my insides like hooks in a carcass swinging in an abattoir. I tried to ignore the stabbing pains of impending doom as I sat watching the local news on the TV. The reporter was interviewing a neighbour, who thought the fire had been an insurance job. But it was all too convenient. This wouldn’t go away so easily. I knew it.

How long before they traced it back to me?

What if the body in the lake was found?

How would I explain that to my parents?

I couldn’t bear their disappointment. No, strike that. The utter devastation that the daughter they thought they knew was a monster.

I threw my TV remote onto the sofa and let out the longest sigh, running my hands over my face and wishing my life didn’t hurtle from one shitstorm to another. I picked up my phone and started to scroll to find a distraction, and that’s when his message popped up.

Isaiah

I liked playing games with you yesterday.

How did he do it? Always swooping in when I least expected it, finding ways to distract me. A grin crept over my face despite everything. I couldn’t deny he was a distraction that was interesting, fun, and being with him last night had been an experience that’d been replaying on a loop in my head since I’d woken up and found those dice.

Me

You liked winning.

The three dots started to dance on my screen, showing he was responding right away.

Isaiah

I do. Fancy playing again?

Did I? Was losing myself in a man like Isaiah exactly what I needed right now, or was this something I might regret later down the line?

Me

I’m a bit busy today. Work is manic.

I started second-guessing myself as I waited for a reply. And when someone knocked at my door, I almost jumped out of my skin.

I shot up off the sofa and walked to the door, then hesitated. I wished I had a spy hole to look through to see who was knocking.