CHAPTER !<br >Susan Flynn screamed and only one person heard her. It was<br >ironic that， having uttered her first weak cry naked and being<br >held head-down by a man， she should now， twenty-three<br >years later， be uttering her last cry in approximately the same<br >situation. Of course the cry was very much louder.<br > Until that night in November 1975， Susan had lived in a<br >ground-floor flat in a rather large rambling Victorian house<br >near Sale in Cheshire. An only child whose parents had been<br >killed in a car accident when she was seventeen， she lived<br >alone and worked in a small local engineering firm as a<br >typist-cure-clerk. She had a steady boyfriend， James， a<br >junior reporter on a Manchester evening paper. She was<br >pre:ty， although slightly dumpy， and made friends easily.<br >That evening she d been with James - she refused to shorten<br >it to Jim or Jimmy - to the pictures. James lived in<br >Manchester and， as it was late when the film finished， they<br >made their ways home independently. Susan s bus let her off<br >about three hundred yards from the house; and， as she<br >covered the distance， she failed to notice the dark figure<br >following her.<br > A healthy girl， she always slept with the window open<br >whatever the weather， and that night was no exception. It<br >was a pair of large french windows through which her<br >unwelcome guest entered， concealing himself behind the<br >curtains - waiting.<br > On Susan s return from the bathroom half an hour later，<br >she took off her bathrobe. She was in the，act of bending over<br >the bed， taking her nightdress from under the pillow， when<br >she heard a shuffling noise behind her. She had barely time<br >to half-turn her head and scream before her nylon tights were<br >Q<br ><br >