Read Acolyte (The Wildermoor Apocalypse Book 1) for Free Online Page B

oak desk and took out the remains of that morning’s pack of menthol cigarettes. If she must smoke, she tried to make the best choice as far as her taste buds went. Returning to her telephone she put it on Do Not Disturb before leaving her office.
     
    *****
     
    As soon as she exited the double doors of the main lobby at Wildermoor Psychiatric Institute, Lorraine couldn’t help raising her arms, wrapping them across at the elbows and trying to stop as much heat escaping as she could.  April was right; she should have worn her jacket.  Lorraine always loved the winter though.  The air seemed fresher and the grass crunched underfoot.  With the colder months first came the joy and celebration of Christmas – this year spent by herself with only her cat, Ryker, for company; she had chosen not to make the trip back to London to spend the holidays with her overbearing, overprotective and over-eager family.
    She no longer minded being alone.  Before she had met Truman Darke she had always craved company and attention, especially from the opposite sex. Their relationship and their break-up had left her with a new confidence that she could survive on her own. From that moment she had decided to commit herself to her career.
    The breakdown of the love affair coincided with both the end (nay, the failing ) of Truman’s attempts to convict Colin Dexler and likewise her acquisition of the accused man as her newest client.  She had known how much the case and its result had affected Truman and when he told her that he needed space for himself she did not argue.  The relationship would have been doomed from that point, anyway.
    That’s why the Dexler appointment had been so important for her.  It presented her with an opportunity to be the one to right the wrongs that the Wildermoor PD had bestowed upon him.  It was going to be a new start for her and Colin, too.
    But she had to admit that Truman’s attitude towards her plea for help had left her shaken, She felt she had woken up a sleeping beast that had lived deep within him for the last six months.  The memories, not to mention the humiliation, were still fresh in his mind and seeing the woman he had loved siding with the devil had been too much for him to bear.
    Lorraine managed to prise her arms apart for long enough to reach into the half-empty packet of cigarettes, remove the first she laid a finger on and quickly rest it between her lips. She wrestled with the chilled air to ignite the lighter in her hand.  She welcomed the burst of warmth from the flame as she brought it to her mouth.
    She inhaled deeply and felt her body sag as she relaxed; savouring each subsequent small drag she took.  The Institute was situated just on the corner of the main high street, at the point where the retail units ended and the housing estate began.  As a result of the close proximity of the centre to the houses there was very little in the way of through-traffic in this part of the village.
    When she first moved to Wildermoor she had thought it odd that a village of this size warranted its own Psychiatric Centre.  But after a few short weeks, with the dozens of patients that had passed through her doors, she no longer questioned it.  Wildermoor was home to many characters, all with their own secrets, horrors and fears.  This place had a history and you only had to listen to the sounds of the lives that passed by to realise this.  The silence told the worst story of all.
    A twig snapped somewhere behind her.
    She was so lost in her own thoughts that the sudden sound made her jump.  Immediately embarrassed, she shyly looked away from the couple of practitioners walking towards the lobby from the rear courtyard entrance.
    She then heard a soft, low dragging along the ground for a few seconds. Then nothing.
    Surely an animal scurrying to find shelter in the boundary bushes around the grounds, she reasoned.
    Just then a feeling overcame her that a pair of eyes was boring into her