She fell silent again and glanced through the glass to the therapy room beyond.
‘When you fell pregnant, Tom was indisputably happy. He swore he’d be a good husband and father. He was so genuine that, despite all she knew about him, Isadora hoped this was the turnaround he needed. No Mother wants to believe her son is irredeemable, and she was no different. But you were both settled then and happy, so I kept the end of my bargain until Isadora was gone.’
‘You said Isadora talked while she was on meds?’ I asked. ‘What else did you learn?’
‘When she first learnt she was ill, Isadora went to Tom’s office to see him. There she discovered that Tom’s PA, Gillian, had left. She queried Tom about the suddenness of her departure, but he wouldn’t talk about it. He was so circumspect that she became suspicious. She didn’t think he was having an affair with her. Nothing like that, but she knew something had happened to end her long career with the company. So, she brought in her own detective and she tracked her down.
‘At first Gillian wouldn’t talk. She said she didn’t know anything. Isadora had to tell her she had concerns for you in order for her to open up. Then she told her that Tom had made her pretend to be Isadora on phone calls with Abbot’s detective agency all the time they had been following you. She gave them their instructions and dealt with all their emails. Once you became pregnant for the second time, Tom decided to cut ties with them. He wanted a clean slate so he paid Gillian for her silence and she retired early.
‘But that wasn’t all she told Isadora. She said she’d become scared. Tom had a folder full of pictures of you and Daniel. She said he liked looking at them.
‘That was the only thing Isadora’s letter was clear about. And, he admitted he liked looking at them,’ I said.
‘Isadora found out that he was still having you followed periodically. It was an obsession. They had another row about it and she told him he had to start trusting you or he would lose you. That’s when he demanded a paternity test for Melody. He had no doubt at all that she was his. He knew where you were all the time because the detectives reported it. But it was another way to upset and frighten you. To make you more insecure. Isadora, as you know, got involved and I arranged the test. Because Charlotte, if by some miracle Melody hadn’t been Tom’s, my people would have said she was anyway.’
‘She was his!’ I said.
‘I know. But I’d have had it proven either way.’
‘Why?’
‘I had begun to believe that you were in real danger and if Tom had any doubt that Melody wasn’t his, he would hurt you.’
I was stunned by this revelation.
‘You … should have told me sooner.’
‘It was wrong of me, I know. But that’s why I was there that night. I’d been returning regularly. No one knows that house like I do, or how to not be seen in it. And I was afraid for you – especially after he hit you.’
I felt my face flush with shame.
‘Yes. I knew. Freddie did too.’
Mrs Tanner closed her eyes as though she couldn’t bear to see the blame on my face.
‘I have been wracked with guilt. I blame myself every day for not helping you more, or sooner. Old Freddie was a different kettle of fish. He too suspected Tom was dangerous. I’m glad he didn’t hesitate in the end when you needed him.’
‘Freddie won’t discuss it with me. But how did he know?’
‘The bones in the garden.’
‘My god! He knew they were there?’
‘Not right away. But one night, he found Isadora digging there. She had pulled the monitors off and staggered outside and was scraping at the soil. I came out and we both helped her back to her room. “He’s dead,” she said. “Tom killed him. That picture in their house … it’s just like one I had taken with Peter.”
‘She was mostly incoherent but I managed to ascertain that Tom had taken a selfie of you. She’d seen it and it was playing on her mind. After that Freddie went digging and he found something. I told him to cover it back up and we never spoke about it again.’
I tried to process everything she told me. It all made sense now. Isadora’s distress when she saw the picture Tom had taken of us. Right on the spot where Peter’s body was found and where Tom tried to dispose of me.
‘What did you do with Daniel’s body in the end?’ I asked.
‘Body?’
‘His sister deserves to know where he ended up.’
‘Charlotte, Isadora paid for him to be taken care of. Even though the doctors said it was pointless. He was in a coma and showed no sign of coming round. Even so, we kept him safe and hidden from Tom.’
‘What? He’s … alive?’
‘Yes. It’s why I brought you here. A few weeks ago he woke. The doctors couldn’t explain it. It shouldn’t have been possible, but somehow while he slept, he healed enough.’
‘Oh my god. I want to see him.’
‘Charlotte … he’s not what he was. He’s weak. Atrophy wasted his muscles. It’s going to take months of therapy. And his mind was damaged. He doesn’t remember things.’
Tears sprang into my eyes at the thought of Daniel being anything but what he had been.
‘He’ll be given treatment for as long as he needs it,’ Mrs Tanner said. ‘Isadora covered it all. Turn around. Take a look.’
I froze. ‘He’s here?’
I looked in the direction she pointed, into the therapy room and now it all made sense. I saw the man walking between two frames, legs weakened, barely moving. His once fair hair had a tinge of grey, but the hollow cheeks still bore his always familiar expression. He smiled as he reached the end of the frames and his face lit up. It was the man I had once known as Ewan Daniels, but had come to call Daniel Evans.
I had thought I had no more tears left, but they flowed freely as I watched his slow struggle to walk. Why hadn’t I recognized him? How many times after he vanished had I searched faces in the crowd, expecting to see him any time?
‘I have to go to him,’ I said.
‘He may not recognize you.’
‘I don’t care.’
‘He doesn’t even remember Tom attacking him.’
I shook my head to show her that nothing she could say would dissuade me from seeing Daniel.
She led me from the observation room out to the door that led into the therapy room.
I wiped my eyes and then pushed the door open.
‘I’ll say goodbye now,’ Mrs Tanner said. ‘If you speak to the authorities about this … I’ll deny everything I’ve said.’
‘You know I won’t do that,’ I said. ‘It would serve no useful purpose, since both Isadora and Tom can’t be held accountable.’
When she walked away, I knew that would be the last time I’d ever see her. I considered that I should have thanked her, after all. Despite the secrets she’d been hiding, she and Old Freddie had saved my life.
I stood and watched Daniel make his way back through the frames. Then, as he turned for his triumphant third round, his eyes met mine.
He faltered, and I hurried forward. He was changed and ravaged by his injury and the effects of a long-term coma, but I had changed too and I knew I was not the same woman that was left waiting for him in the rain.
He held onto the frames as I approached and he stared at me as though it was he who had seen a ghost and not me.
‘Daniel?’ I said.
‘Oh Charlotte,’ he gasped and then he staggered towards me between the frames. I was there before he reached the end.
I knew as I hugged him that I should ring Becki and finally reunite them but I wanted this moment to last before I broke the spell. The pain of our journey washed over me. I was no longer standing in the rain. As the tears flowed down my cheeks, and I held the man that was once the love of my life, I could see the brightest future coming from the darkest of pasts. Nothing else mattered in that moment.
I held Daniel tight, and I promised myself I’d never let him go.
; THE END
If you enjoyed The Stranger in Our Bed, be sure to follow Samantha Lee Howe on Twitter @SamanthaLHowe and Facebook @SamanthaLeeHoweThrillers for all the updates on her latest work, and check out her website: samanthaleehowe.co.uk.
You can also find us @0neMoreChapter_ on Twitter and @0neMoreChapter on Facebook, where we’ll be shouting about all our new releases.
In the mood for even more heart-pounding thrillers to keep you racing through the pages?
You will adore The Perfect Couple by Jackie Kabler, a ferocious exploration of the perfect lie at the heart of a picture perfect marriage set against a thrilling backdrop of secrets and serial killers. Click here if you’re in the UK and here if you’re in the US.
Similarly enthralling, The Murder House by Michael Wood is a gripping crime thriller of dark secrets and darker deeds starring the inimitable DCI Matilda Darke in the streets of Sheffield. Click here if you’re in the UK and here if you’re in the US.
You will also love The Beach by Sarah Linley, an unputdownable thriller following four friends when their backpacking adventure to Thailand goes horribly, irrevocably wrong. Click here if you’re in the UK and here if you’re in the US.
And why not try the superlative Flowers for the Dead by C. K. Williams, an irresistibly tense suspense thriller set amidst the haunted heaths of Yorkshire. Click here if you’re in the UK and here if you’re in the US.
Happy reading!
Based on a true story
Thanks to
Camilla Shestopal and Finn Cotton for their guidance and advice,
Also thanks to
Dr David Phillips for his sound medical advice.
About the Author
Samantha Lee Howe began her professional writing career in 2007 and has been working as a freelance writer predominately writing horror and fantasy under the pen name Sam Stone. This body of work includes 13 novels 5 novellas, 3 collections, over 40 short stories, an audio drama and a Doctor Who spin-off drama that went to DVD in November 2017. The Stranger in Our Bed is Samantha Lee Howe’s debut breakaway psychological thriller.
@SamanthaLHowe
SamanthaLeeHoweThrillers
samanthaleehowe.co.uk
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