_OceanofPDF.com_The_Girl_on_the_Train_-_Paula_Hawkins

FRIDAY, AUGUST 16, 2013
MORNING
I’ve barely slept. I drank a bottle and a half of wine in an attempt to get
off to sleep, to stop my hands shaking, to quieten my startle reflex, but it
didn’t really work. Every time I started to drop off, I’d jolt awake. I felt
sure I could feel him in the room with me. I turned the light on and sat
there, listening to the sounds of the street outside, to people moving
around in the building. It was only when it started to get light that I
relaxed enough to sleep. I dreamed I was in the woods again. Tom was
with me, but still I felt afraid.
I left Tom a note last night. After I left Scott’s, I ran down to number
twenty-three and banged on the door. I was in such a panic, I didn’t even
care whether Anna was there, whether she’d be pissed off with me for
showing up. No one came to the door, so I scribbled a note on a scrap of
paper and shoved it through the letter box. I don’t care if she sees it—I
think a part of me actually wants her to see it. I kept the note vague—I
told him we needed to talk about the other day. I didn’t mention Scott by
name, because I didn’t want Tom to go round there and confront him—
God knows what might happen.
I rang the police almost as soon as I got home. I had a couple of
glasses of wine first, to calm me down. I asked to speak to Detective
Inspector Gaskill, but they said he wasn’t available, so I ended up talking
to Riley. It wasn’t what I wanted—I know Gaskill would have been
kinder.
“He imprisoned me in his home,” I told her. “He threatened me.”
She asked how long I was “imprisoned” for. I could hear the air
quotes over the line.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Half an hour, maybe.”
There was a long silence.
“And he threatened you. Can you tell me the exact nature of the
threat?”
“He said he’d break my neck. He said . . . he said he ought to break
my neck . . .”
“He ought to break your neck?”
“He said that he would if he could be bothered.”
Silence. Then, “Did he hit you? Did he injure you in any way?”
“Bruising. Just bruising.”
“He hit you?”