_OceanofPDF.com_The_Girl_on_the_Train_-_Paula_Hawkins

My heart thudding in my chest, I stood there, morning commuters
stepping around me as they continued on their way to the station, one or
two turning to look at me as they passed, as I stood stock-still. I didn’t
know—don’t know—if it was real. Why would I have gone into the
underpass? What reason would I have had to go down there, where it’s
dark and damp and stinks of piss?
I turned around and headed back to the station. I didn’t want to be
there any longer; I didn’t want to go to Scott and Megan’s front door. I
wanted to get away from there. Something bad happened there, I know it
did.
I paid for my ticket and walked quickly up the station steps to the
other side of the platform, and as I did it came to me again in a flash: not
the underpass this time, but the steps; stumbling on the steps and a man
taking my arm, helping me up. The man from the train, with the reddish
hair. I could see him, a vague picture but no dialogue. I could remember
laughing—at myself, or at something he said. He was nice to me, I’m
sure of it. Almost sure. Something bad happened, but I don’t think it had
anything to do with him.
I got on the train and went into London. I went to the library and sat at
a computer terminal, looking for stories about Megan. There was a short
piece on the Telegraph website that said that “a man in his thirties is
helping police with their inquiries.” Scott, presumably. I can’t believe he
would have hurt her. I know that he wouldn’t. I’ve seen them together; I
know what they’re like together. They gave a Crimestoppers number,
too, which you can ring if you have information. I’m going to call it on
the way home, from a pay phone. I’m going to tell them about B, about
what I saw.
My phone rings just as we’re getting into Ashbury. It’s Cathy again.
Poor girl, she really is worried about me.
“Rach? Are you on the train? Are you on your way home?” She
sounds anxious.
“Yes, I’m on my way,” I tell her. “I’ll be fifteen minutes.”
“The police are here, Rachel,” she says, and my entire body goes cold.
“They want to talk to you.”
WEDNESDAY, JULY 17, 2013