Ashamed he cannot relate to his girl, Gerard accompanies and stays with her for violin lessons at the home of tutor, Ruth Stein.

Ruth, fascinating him for her musical sensitivity, becomes a confidante. Against his better judgement and his wife’s reservations – the paranoid, Gerard, can only cling to believing the tutor can bring him to bond closer to Rosie.
But soon he must wrestle with his suspicions again, for Ruth mothers Rosie, almost smothers…

Reaching out to a broken doll, propped in the darkness at the bottom of Ruth’s garden well, Gerard wants to believe that what he touches and smells is just the decay of rotting sacks enfolding a doll; the closest to a child that the lonely old spinster could cling. Investigating, Gerard’s fears for Rosie’s safety begin to mount.

Rosie notices her father’s new concern and begins to draws closer to him but, if she is in real danger, can Gerard save her?

And even then, can he triumph over the emotional void of paranoia; feel, accept, he and Rosie could share the love of which others speak? $0.99 on Kindle.

‘Meet the Author’ interview: https://raymondnickford-psychologicalsuspense.weebly.com