Watch Me
Angela Clarke
Copyright
Published by Avon
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
The News Building
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins 2017
Copyright © Angela Clarke 2017
Angela Clarke 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 e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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: 9780008174613
Ebook Edition © December 2015 ISBN: 9780008174620
Version: 2016-11-17
Praise for WATCH ME by Angela Clarke
‘Watch Me sees the return of Nas and Freddie from Follow Me and goes further into their past and the guilt it has left them with. Fast paced and full of excitement, it’s hard to know where each chapter will take you in this thoroughly unpredictable ride. It kept me gripped and I cannot wait for the third instalment to see what happens next.’
Katerina Diamond, author of The Teacher
‘Watch Me is another zinging thriller in this social media crime series from Angela Clarke. From Snapchat to doxing to revenge porn, each turn of the page will make you reconsider your Internet life, and will definitely leave you worrying who’s watching you. Smart, sassy and totally on point, following Nas and Freddie’s investigations are a must.’
Sarah Pinborough, author of Behind Her Eyes
‘The clock is ticking in Angela Clarke’s excellent new novel Watch Me. DS Nasreen Cudmore and her friend Freddie Venton receive a chilling message via social media – they only have 24 hours to save the life of a young woman. Who has taken her? The answer lies online but the deeper they delve the more dangerous the situation becomes. Someone is watching their every move. Creepy, clever and unnerving; you won’t ever want to log on again.’
C. L. Taylor, author of The Missing
‘Starts with heart-pounding suspense; and the excitement intensifies throughout.’
Sharon Bolton, author of Daisy in Chains
‘I loved this! An utterly addictive, gripping thriller.’
Robert Bryndza, author of international number one bestseller The Girl in the Ice.
‘Stylish, pacy and packs a bruising punch.’
Sarah Hilary, author of the DI Marnie Rome series.
‘A sharp, punchy, fast-paced thriller, that will keep you hooked until the very last page.’
Casey Kelleher, author of Bad Blood
‘Fast, feminist and sharp as a knife. Just ripped through Watch Me by Angela Clarke and recommend you do the same. If you dare.’
Anna Mazzola, author of The Unseeing
‘Clarke drags you into the dark world of the internet in this edgy, tense, social-media thriller. You’ll hold your breath, as you turn pages at speed to find out the next twist in a world filled with complex characters who are wonderfully vivid, with real depth and warmth. I for one can’t wait for the next book in this series.’
Rebecca Bradley, author of the Detective Hannah Robbins Series
‘An utterly compelling, brilliantly plotted tale that expertly ramps up the tension and drags the reader in as the pages turn and the clock ticks down.’
Neil Broadfoot, author of All The Devils
‘Ingenious, fast-paced and full of dark wit. This is crime writing with attitude.’
Mark Edwards, bestselling author of Follow You Home
Praise for FOLLOW ME by Angela Clarke
‘Written in the sharpest style, the story races along, leaving the reader almost as breathless as the heroine – but there is a verve to it that is impossible to resist … Clarke is certainly someone to watch’
Daily Mail
‘A very contemporary nightmare, delivered with panache’
Independent
‘Freddie is a magnificently monstrous character’
Saturday Review, BBC Radio 4
‘Clarke has made an appealing flawed female lead who’ll make immediate sense to readers who enjoyed Rachel in The Girl on the Train. An invigorating cat-and-mouse game, with a dark and filthy wit that deliciously spikes the regular drenchings of gore’
Crime Scene Magazine
‘Slick and clever’
Sun
‘Set in a London of East End hipsters, Tinder hook-ups, and internships, this tongue-in-cheek tale explores murder in the age of social media’
Sunday Mirror
‘A chilling debut’
Hello
‘Follow Me is compelling, a proper page-turner’
Emerald Street
‘Angela Clarke brings dazzling wit and a sharp sense of contemporary life to a fast-paced serial killer novel with serious style’
Jane Casey, author of the Maeve Kerrigan series
‘In Follow Me, Clarke creates a completely compelling world, and a complex heroine. Freddie is refreshing and fascinating – a credible addition to the crime canon and a great alternative for anyone who has grown frustrated with the male dominated world of the whodunnit. Follow Me is literally gripping – the tension levels were forcing me to clutch the book so hard that my hands hurt!’
Daisy Buchanan, Grazia
‘A fascinating murder mystery and a dark, ironic commentary on modern social media’
Paul Finch, author of Stalkers
‘Gripping, darkly funny and feminist, I loved Follow Me’
Caroline Criado-Perez
‘Pacey, gripping, and so up-to-the-minute you better read it quick!’
Claire McGowan, author of The Fall
‘Smart, fast paced, fresh and frightening. Follow Me is a gripping debut’
Rowan Coleman, author of The Memory Book
‘Follow Me is a well written, taut, absolutely fascinating and scarily good crime novel that is too true to life … It will certainly make you look at social media and Twitter in particular with the utmost scepticism and horror. Outstanding! Clearly the start of a wonderful series, superbly written. I definitely want more’
Ayo Onatade, Shots magazine
Dedication
Dedicated to Laura Higgins
and to all those who work tirelessly to help and advocate change at www.RevengePornHelpline.org.uk
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright
Praise for WATCH ME by Angela Clarke
Praise for FOLLOW ME by Angela Clarke
Dedication
Prologue
Chapter 1: Friday 11 March
Chapter 2: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 3: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 4: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 5: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 6: Tuesday 15 March
Chapter 7: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 8: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 9: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 10: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 1
1: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 12: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 13: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 14: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 15: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 16: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 17: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 18: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 19: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 20: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 21: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 22: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 23: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 24: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 25: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 26: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 27: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 28: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 29: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 30: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 31: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 32: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 33: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 34: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 35: Wednesday 16 March
Chapter 36: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 37: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 38: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 39: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 40: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 41: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 42: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 43: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 44: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 45: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 46: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 47: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 48: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 49: Thursday 17 March
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Acknowledgements
Q & A with Laura Higgins, Online Safety Operations Manager of the Revenge Porn Helpline
Keep Reading
About the Author
Also by Angela Clarke
About the Publisher
Prologue
She gets off the bus one stop early, opting to take the muddy back path over the busy main school gate. She could slip in unnoticed. A lie, but the greasy, stone-spiked, mouldering leaves and dog-wee-splashed track give her a few more seconds of cover. Mum doesn’t believe she’s sick. But she is. A heavy, squirming bacterium has multiplied inside her, thousands of poisonous sacs settling in weighty pockets of flesh. They could see it. They could sense it. She’d never be accepted. She knew that now. Adults say it’s because she’s clever: what a joke! It’s because she’s defective. Malformed. A broken pot which has bulged and cracked in the kiln. Her stomach is looped and low, her breasts sagging boulders pulling her down. The tops of her thighs burn through her straining tights. She can feel the welts forming: raw blisters on the skin. There’s a comfort in the pain: penance. Wincing, she thinks of the restraining hands. Pushing her down. She strokes the bruise on her arm, and tries to blot out what happened next.
In the schoolyard two girls, younger than her, patent record bags slung over their shoulders, giggle. Their voices drop as she nears them. Why would they be bothered with her? There’s a shout from a group of year seven boys, she looks at the asphalt when she sees they’re watching her too. What’s going on? Her heart drums a warning in her ears. Gripping the strap of her school bag tight, she walks faster, almost running by the time she reaches her locker. The hallway and stairs teem with students, her year, the years above and below, a hundred eyes greedily turned on her. Someone shouts: ‘Slut!’ Her cheeks burn. Sweat pools under her arms, her breasts, her back, choking wafts catching in her throat. What’s happened? Anxiety surges through her. Her fingers slip as she enters the pin code for her locker. They’re waiting; the air is tense with expectation, and the joke she’s not in on. She steps back as she opens her locker, fearful something’ll burst out. What she sees is worse. Photos have been slid into the locker through the sides. Her with her shirt unbuttoned. Gelatinous mountains of breasts. Her skirt round her waist. Knickers pulled down. With clumsy hands, she tries to stuff the pictures into her bag. To cover them. To cover herself. They skitter across the floor. Panic fizzes like sherbet through her, foaming into her eyes. Falling onto her knees, desperate to hide them, she scrabbles for the photos as they slip and scrape across the vinyl.
‘Nice minge!’ a boy shouts. They’re all laughing.
‘Whore!’ a girl calls. Another spits at her. Jerking back to avoid it, her bottom bangs into the locker behind. A fresh wave of laughter. There’s a tight, jeering knot of friends around the spitting girl. All she can see are leering, cackling faces. Vicious monkeys that flood the stairs, swarm through the hallway. Someone waves the photo in the air. Another boy pretends to lick it. They all have it. She’s pinned, skewed like a caught butterfly, displayed for all the world to see.
Inside, the sacs rupture, and she’s washed in a wave of black. Her heart breaks.
Chapter 1
Friday 11 March
20:00
Melisha Khan stared at the message on her phone. An image. Words. A timer. You’ve got six seconds to view this. Her school uniform felt like it was tightening, her white shirt compressing, her striped tie snaking around her neck. Her mind scrabbled for normality. Five seconds. Her hand shook. Her fingers didn’t respond.
Four seconds. Her eyes spun off the words on the note and ricocheted round the room.
I can’t go on …
Pages of highlighted French GCSE notes fanned around her feet. Her laptop upended. Three seconds. A stain of red nail polish spread on the floor.
I can’t live in fear …
Melisha tried to form a sound. Her lips were lax, useless, dull. Inside her a voice screamed this is important. Do something. Anything. Two seconds.
This is the only way …
Melisha thought she was mature. Had it all sussed out. She felt the cold reality now. Cotton-wool wraps, safety, childhood, were stripped away. She was raw. Alert. Adult. This was the moment she grew up. Her eyes fixed on the words, the sentences. The note came into focus:
As I type this I feel calmer. I’m doing the right thing. It’s a relief. I can’t go on after people find out. It’s disgusting. I’ve let down my friends, family, teachers, everyone. Only those who’ve seen will know why. I can’t live in fear of it coming out. All the lies are finished. Mum, Dad, Freya, Gemma, I screwed up. I can’t hurt you more. I love you. It’s time I fixed the mess I made. This is the only way. I promise you all you’re better off without me. I know you’ll feel sad reading this, but I know that’ll be over soon. The pain will fade. Your tears will dry. You’ll live happy lives. I love you. Now it’s time to go. I’ll be dead within twenty-four hours of you receiving this note.
One second. From deep inside the command grew, forcing its way up and out of her, juddering her whole body. ‘Mum!’ she screamed. And the photo vanished.
Saturday 12 March
20:01
His bike sped through the wood, jumping the tree roots which pushed through the muddy ground like bony fingers. His brother’s bike light, lower and slower, turned birch trees into streaks of white in the dark. The wind whipped back from him. He was flying. Fifteen minutes till curfew.
A flash of orange caught his eye. Treasure. He skidded to a halt as the path gave way to a grass clearing, grey in the gloom.
His brother shouted behind him. ‘We’re late!’ Nose and cheeks pink from the cold, he didn’t want to get in trouble. ‘Whose bag is that?’
‘Dunno.’ He kicked at the handbag with his toe. ‘Looks like a girl’s.’ There were folders and books in the top. He laughed, teasing, ‘Maybe she’s shagging someone!’
‘Gross!’ His brother’s small face screwed up.
‘Let’s take it for Mum.’ He knew he’d freak. Stealing was naughty.
There was no squeal. His brother didn’t answer. He looked up at him, he was pale. Eyes wide saucers. Mouth like a goldfish.
‘What?’
He gulped as he pointed behind them. His arms shaking. Turning was like watching a replay on his computer game. Slow mo. Behind them, five, maybe six big steps away was a girl. Lying down. Curled up. His ears went weird. Like whistling. Her forehead was on the grass, face turned towards them. She had pretty yellow hair. It was cold out there. He stepped towards her.
His brother whimpered – ‘No!’ – his voice whiney. He made a sound like their cat did when it had a fur ball.
He took another step. Her eyes were open. They were black like a doll’s. He jumped. Thought he might pee himself. Gripped his trousers. ‘She’s dead.’
‘I want Mummy,’ his brother cried.
‘She’s dead.’ He stumbled back, treading on his toes. Fell over his bicycle. This was real. He had to protect his brother. He was the eldest. He grabbed for him and the bike. ‘Go. Get going!’ Tears burned his eyes. He wanted Mum. He wanted Dad. Scrambling, he pulled his own bike up. The metal was ice in his hands. ‘Go!’ he shouted as they pedalled. Faster. Faster. Looking back he saw her lying in the moonlight. Her dead black eyes watching them.
Monday 14 March
13:27
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Hello
Hey Nurse Strofton!
Long time no hear! I saw Nasreen Cudmore a few months ago. We ended up working together. You might have seen it on the news? Bit crazy – hunting a serial killer!! She said you were a midwife. That she’d seen you a few years back. So I thought I’d look you up. I found you on the hospital website and had a guess at your address – there looks like there’s a standard format. Hope this doesn’t bounce back! Well, this is weird. After all this time. It’s taken me weeks to write this. And I call myself a journalist – ha! I’ve been taking some time off actually. I had to have an operation, needed a bit of time to recover. But that’s not really important. I’m writing because I wanted to say sorry. My therapist thinks it might help to go back and apologise to those I feel I’ve hurt. Can you imagine that? Me with a counsellor! What a London twat I am! But the truth is I am sorry for everything that happened back then. I was just a kid, and there was some stuff going on with my parents. Not that that’s an excuse. I’m sorry. I hope you’re okay. I want you to be happy.
Watch Me Page 1